Horn hunter , you have a point . Oregon`s native elk were almost extinct by the 1800s. The only herds remaing were on the coast . In 1912 there were 15 elk transplanted from Jackson Hole Wyoming to somewhere around Joesph Or. There were 2 mature bulls in the herd , the larger nick named " Roosevelt " and the other bull named "taft" . All the elk that we have today on the east side are descendants of these 15 elk ...