Part 10

Visher (1914:87) reported that the last native elk in Harding County was killed in the Long Pine Hills in 1879, and also mentioned skulls picked up in the Cave Hills. The origin of a wapiti allegedly shot in the Slim Buttes in 1956 (Robert Kriege, personal communication) is unknown, but presumably this individual was a wanderer, possibly from the Black Hills to the south where elk were reintroduced some years ago.

~Odocoileus hemionus hemionus~ (Rafinesque, 1817)

Mule Deer

Specimens examined (6).--2 mi. N, 5 mi. W Ludlow, 1; 9 mi. N, 10 mi. W Buffalo, 2; 10 mi. S, 5 mi. W Reva, 3.

The mule deer is common in the buttes and adjacent badland areas of the county, and many were seen by members of each of our field parties. Local residents reported "black-tails" to be widespread in the area and State Game Protector Merritt Paukarbek reported to Andersen that even though hunting success was high in the autumn of 1967, there was no apparent reduction in numbers in the spring of 1968. In contrast, Visher (1914:88) found this species absent in Harding County in the early 1900's, and stated that it was "exterminated by 1900."

An adult female taken on June 26, 1961, in the North Cave Hills was molting and evidenced no indication of reproductive activity.

~Odocoileus virginianus dacotensis~ Goldman and Kellogg, 1940

White-tailed Deer

Specimen examined (1).--8-1/2 mi. N, 1-1/2 mi. E Camp Crook, 1.

The white-tailed deer is less abundant in northwestern South Dakota than is O. hemionus, but a number were seen by members of our parties (in Deer Draw of the Slim Buttes, for example), and local residents reported many sightings to us. Visher (1914:82) earlier recorded this species as once "fairly plentiful in the forest reserves" in Harding County, but stated that it had become rare when he made his biological survey of the area in 1910 and 1912.

~Antilocapra americana americana~ (Ord, 1815)

Pronghorn

Specimens examined (2).--Sec. 28, R. 8 E, T. 23 N, 1; 12 mi. S, 10 mi. W Buffalo, 1.

This species is the most conspicuous (and possibly the most abundant) ungulate in Harding County. It ranges throughout the county on flat and rolling grasslands where small groups, and occasionally herds of up to 50 individuals, were seen in 1960, 1961, 1963, 1968, and 1970. Visher (1914:88) reported that the pronghorn was common in the area until about 1900, but that it was near the point of extinction when he visited the county in 1910 and 1912.

~Bison bison bison~ (Linnaeus, 1758)

Bison

According to historical accounts (Anonymous, 1959), the bison was rare or absent in Harding County at the time of settlement in 1876. By the early 1880's, however, herds were of regular occurrence, and there is one record (op. cit.: 95-96) of thousands crossing the Little Missouri near Camp Crook in November of 1882.

One report has it that the last bison killed in the county was shot in the summer of 1884 (op. cit.: 73-74), but Visher (1914:88) reported that an "old settler" had seen "a small bunch in 1886." Visher also reported finding bison remains, probably in 1910 or 1912, to the northeast of the North Cave Hills and west of the South Cave Hills.

~Ovis canadensis auduboni~ Merriam, 1901

Mountain Sheep

According to Visher (1914:88), mountain sheep formerly inhabited all the areas of buttes in Harding County but were extirpated in the 1890's. Sheep Mountain, a large butte just below the south end of the Slim Buttes, was reported to be the last area in which these animals occurred. Over and Churchill (1945:54) mentioned both the Cave Hills and Slim Buttes as localities formerly inhabited by O. c. auduboni.

Early in 1961, the South Dakota Game Commission introduced 12 animals, four rams and eight ewes, from Alberta (subspecies O. c. canadensis) on the Slim Buttes, but none is known to have survived to 1968.

SPECIES OF UNVERIFIED OCCURRENCE

The ten species of mammals listed below are not known certainly to occur in Harding County, but there is a strong likelihood that some will be found in the area or once occurred there. Three were mentioned by Visher (1914) as having been seen or taken in the county at the time of, or prior to, his biological survey of 1910 and 1912, but his accounts were not supported by adequate documentation. In addition to the kinds listed, several other mammals, such as Keen's bat (Myotis keenii septentrionalis), the red bat (Lasiurus borealis borealis), or the least weasel (Mustela nivalis campestris) are known to occur near enough to the area that the possibility of their presence cannot be discounted.

~Sorex cinereus haydeni~ Baird, 1858.--No shrews presently are known from Harding County. This species almost certainly will be found in relatively mesic habitats there, however, as our field parties have taken specimens in adjacent Bowman County, North Dakota, and only a few miles to the west of the county in the Long Pines Hills of Montana.

~Sorex merriami merriami~ Dobson, 1890.--This shrew inhabits somewhat more xeric areas than most other members of the genus and surely occurs in northwestern South Dakota. Specimens are on record from western North Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, and in the summer of 1970 a field party from The University of Kansas took one but a half mile west of the Harding County (state) line in Carter County, Montana.

~Spermophilus richardsonii richardsonii~ (Sabine, 1822).--Visher (1914:88) reported that he saw individuals of this species "in the extreme northwestern corner" of Harding County. However, the limits of the presently known range of the species are approximately 150 miles distant from that area.

~Sciurus niger rufiventer~ E. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 1803.--The fox squirrel presently is unrecorded from much of the West River part of South Dakota. Hoffmann et al. (1969:589), however, recently have reported specimens from along the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana and this squirrel now may occur also along the Little Missouri River. It was not surprising, therefore, when residents of Camp Crook reported to us that in recent years they have seen what were believed to be fox squirrels along the Little Missouri near that town. Specimens now are needed to verify these reports.