Hyrum — Another season of bundling up and riding a sleigh or wagon through the middle of hundreds of wild elk is almost here! The winter season at the Hardware Wildlife Management Area begins Dec. 5 and will offer a variety of fun activities for visitors.
Rides through the elk herds
Haviland's Old West Adventures has contracted with the Division of Wildlife Resources to offer horse-drawn sleigh or wagon rides on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Dec. 5 through Feb. 15.
New this year, in addition to rides being available on the weekends, they will also be offered during some additional days at the end of December:
- Dec. 22 and 23
- Dec. 29, 30 and 31
Rides start at 10 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. each day. Each ride lasts about 45 minutes. The fee to go on a ride is $12.50 for those 9 years of age or older and $5 for those 4 to 8 years old. Those 3 years of age or younger ride for free.
Tickets are only sold at the Hardware Wildlife Education Center, and you must buy them in-person on the day of your ride.
Before or after your ride, you can also buy food from a food trailer near the sleigh ride line.
Activities and displays
In addition to the unique experience of riding through the middle of hundreds of elk, you can also spend time warming up and learning more about elk in the Hardware Wildlife Education Center. An "All About Elk" exhibit will be available to tour in the center. Fun activities for families will also be held each day that rides are offered.
"Making Christmas ornaments using sagebrush, bitterbrush and other plants found at the WMA is a fun and popular activity each winter," DWR Hardware Wildlife Education Center Director Marni Lee said. "We'll offer the ornament making for visitors during December."
Visiting the education center and participating in the indoor activities is free.
For more information about the wagon/sleigh rides and other activities, visit the DWR website. You can also call the Hardware WMA at 435-753-6206 or email Lee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Brucellosis concerns
The elk that visitors to Hardware WMA will see this winter have been known to migrate long distances. Elk at the Hardware WMA that have received GPS collars have traveled as far as Montpelier, Idaho and Cokeville, Wyoming.
However, the farther north the elk migrate, the greater the chance they'll contract brucellosis and bring it back to Utah. While the disease has not yet been detected in elk in Utah, brucellosis is affecting elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone Area of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Brucellosis in cattle, elk and bison is caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus. The disease causes abortions and low fertility rates in animals that contract it. Animals contract the disease when they come in contact with an aborted, infected fetus or contaminated birth fluids. In elk, the risk for abortions is highest from February through June.
"Congregating many animals in one area during the high-risk period increases the risk that elk will contract the disease," DWR Northern Region Wildlife Manager Jim Christensen said. "The prevalence of brucellosis in elk wintering on feeding grounds in Wyoming is much higher than it is among elk wintering outside the feeding grounds. Ending the viewing and feeding season at Hardware in early February should cause the elk to disperse at exactly the time when cow elk that might have the disease start aborting their fetuses, and will reduce the risk of other elk contracting the disease."
You can reach the Hardware WMA by traveling 16 miles east of Hyrum on state Route 101. You'll drive through scenic Blacksmith Fork Canyon on your way to the WMA.
