Elk (Cervus elaphus)
Elk Description
The North American elk or “wapiti,” Shawnee for white rump, is the second largest animal in the deer family. These are large, long-legged, hoofed animals. At maturity adult males weigh from 584 to 1,100 pounds and the females range from 414 to 660 pounds. In summer, elk can be distinguished by their dark brown face, belly, legs, and neck. The rump and buttocks are a paler brown. In winter, the head becomes a darker brown and the rest of the body becomes more pale. Males have a long, thick mane and heavy, wide antlers that can weigh up to 30 pounds and span 5 feet. Their antlers have one single beam with many tines branching upward. The number of tines on the antlers are a result of health and food supply and are not direct indications of years of age. Antlers are a sign of strength and dominance among males and are used to lure females during the breeding season. Four or 5 months after the rut, usually in late March, males will lose their antlers and grow a new set for the next breeding season.
Elk are very vocal animals. Bulls use their high-pitched bugle both to attract females and to ward off other bulls. The call can be heard for miles across open space and canyons. Female elk are also vocal. The female elk will bleat to her young in order to signal danger.
Habitat
Elk, once abundant across North America, now are common only in the west and in mountainous regions. Today in South Dakota, more than 4500 elk live in the Black Hills and about 250 elk roam free elsewhere in western South Dakota. Elk are gregarious animals that prefer to live in groups. Outside of the mating season, male and female elk travel in separate groups. Elk are found in woodlands, mountain meadows, foothills, plains, swamps, and coniferous forests. During the spring, elk live in higher elevations. They migrate to the lowlands during the fall to avoid deep snow.
Subspecies
Four varieties of elk live in North America. The most familiar is the Rocky Mountain Elk that ranges throughout the Rocky Mountain states,including Idaho.
The Manitoban Elk of Saskatchewan and Manitoba has a larger body but smaller antlers. The Roosevelt’s Elk of Oregon and Washington has
an even larger body but has modest antlers. The rare Tule Elk of central and northern California is the smallest with bulls averaging a mere
550 pounds.
Life History
They are active at night, but most active at dusk and dawn. diurnal feeding is more common in summer than in winter, but feeding periods are more prolonged in winter, and are concentrated in morning and evening. Individuals tend to bed down in meadows in the afternoon and again after midnight to chew their cud. In Idaho, and throughout the northern Rockies, herds move to lower elevations in winter to feed. Elk tend to avoid roads in all seasons. Individuals exhibit a high fidelity to their home range, but may abandon it if they are excessively disturbed. The species is gregarious , though some bulls may be solitary. Males tend to spend much of winter spring and summer in separate male groups or solitarily from female and young herds. Females form herds which includes young of the year and even some yearling bulls. Males shed antlers in March and April. They are preyed on by mountain lions and wolves where these predators are present. Grizzly bears prey heavily on calves in the spring in the first month of the lives of calves. After about a month old, calves can usually outrun grizzly bears. Coyotes occasionally will also take calves, and on rare occasions golden eagles have been known to kill a calf. Elk are heavily hunted and many populations are controlled by hunting as a recent Idaho study points to hunter access and intensity, not habitat parameters, as a major factor in population control. A Yellowstone National Park study showed 31% calf mortality during the first 28 days after birth, and in Yellowstone 68% of the total elk mortality is due to predators.
In September and October, during the rut , mature bulls establish harems of up to 30 females. The bulls “bugle” which actually starts with sort of a bellow, then changes to a whistle and ends with a series of grunts. Bugling is common during the rut as the bulls are advertising their presence to their harem , and to other bulls as a challenge. There is some fighting among mature bulls during the rut , and a lot of wallowing, pawing of the ground and conducting much behavior which appears to be “marking” their “territory”, although rutting bulls are not thought of as territorial. Older, dominant males do most of mating, and younger males, although capable, rarely breed with adult females. Females breed at 2 years. Most births (late spring) are single, but twins are common. Calves are about 28 pounds at birth. Females have their young away from the herd, and commonly plant their young, spotted calf, in thick cover while they feed. After a week or two the cow and her calf will join with other females and their calves. Elk calves grow rapidly and can outrun most predators by 3 to 4 weeks of age. Gestation lasts 249 to 262 days. An Idaho study reported that winter herd composition included 16% calves.
The vitals of an elk are similar to that of a deer and moose.
States that allow Elk hunting are as follows a few other states offer hunts on preserves