Its no secret that elk migrate from winter range to summer range in most areas where they reside in North America. However the extent to which juvenile elk will expand into new range isn't as clearly understood. In 2005 Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologists tagged a variety of Fossil Butte National Monument elk as part of migration study.

According to the Billings Gazette [2] one of these bulls was taken this fall almost 200 miles from where it was originally tagged.

“As the crow flies, this is around 184 miles from capture site to kill site, while crossing several big mountain ranges,” Green River wildlife biologist Jeff Short said. “Seems like a few of those Fossil Butte elk have traveled far and wide.” Biologists have been tracking the Fossil Butte elk herd as part of a five-year study conducted by Game and Fish, the U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center. As part of the study, more than 70 elk from the West Green River elk herd were fitted with radio collars on Fossil Butte National Monument west of Kemmerer — and on neighboring BLM lands near Cokeville — beginning in 2005.