Elk are native to all of Wyoming. They were extirpated from most of Wyoming during the 1800s and early 1900s. Elk remained in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. After a few hard winters, elk in the Jackson Hole Valley were starting to disappear, too. Local ranches around Jackson started feeding elk in 1909 to save the elk, and the Nation Elk Refuge was created in 1912 just north of Jackson. Elk populations started recovering through the 1900s and dispersing to mountain ranges across the state. By the 1960s, Yellowstone had more elk than was desired. 

During the winter of 1967-68, 677 elk were transplanted from Yellowstone National Park to the Seminoe Mountains,  Rawhide Buttes, Southern Big Horns, and Laramie Mountains. These efforts were to elk numbers in other parts of Wyoming. Elk continue to thrive in Wyoming and expand back into their native range. Elk can be found all across Wyoming, from Yellowstone to the Red Desert to the Black Hills to corn fields in Southeast Wyoming.