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Elk were valued
by the early settlers and Native Americans as a valuable food
source, hides and fur for clothing, and
antlers for utensils and truphys. Today elk are economically
valuable for hunting and tourism they bring to the mountains
of the west.
Elk were named by the early
settlers, but some people prefer to call it by the Shawnee
name wapiti (WAA-pi-tea) meaning “white rump.” The
name "elk" is a bit confusing because in Europe,
moose are called "elk." and the European "red
deer" is the same as the north American elk,
which muddies the watereven furthur. evidentilly the same
nameing scheme that called for the american bison to be called
a buffalo.
At the turn of the century, commercial game hunters,
hired riflemen and subsistence hunters had left few elk in
the west.
In
1910, the U.S. Forest Service estimated that fewer than 1,000
elk remained in Colorado. A 1918 survey of Forest Service
lands in Idaho showed only 610 elk remained. Where elk had
been protected, these prolific animals rebounded quickly .
They
were pounded by hard winters in 1897, 1909, 1911 and 1917
all coinsiding with the loss of their traditional wintering
grounds to cattle ranching. About 10,000
elk
starved in Jackson Hole during the winter of 1897, a decade
before Jackson Hole became the home of the National Elk
Refuge.
At the turn of the century
efforts to "bring
back the elk" were started in a partnership between government
and Hunters.
One of the
most
ambitious
of
game transplanting
projects began
in when starting in 1892 Yellowstone over several decades
5,200 of the park's elk were shipped to 36
states as
well as to Canada and Argentinain a transplantation effort
to restore elk to many of their native areas. That effort
and many since have paid off. From a total elk population
of 41,000 in
1907,
elk on U.S. ranges have now come to number nearly a million.
Elk
belong to a group of
animals called ungulates, the
Latin word for "hoof." All ungulates have hooves. Elk
are second in size only to the moose in the deer family. At
birth, an elk calf weighs about 35 pounds. At
the start of its first winter, an elk
may weigh five times as much as when it was born.The
average weight of an adult male
is 650 pounds, and some individuals attain weights of
1,100 pounds. Cows and calves mew to each other.
Adult elk often bark when they sense an intruder
just outside their "immediate threat" zone. Elk being herd animals have eyes are on the sides
of the skull, this enables them to see what is happening ahead
of them, beside them, as well as what is going on behind them.
This is the reason they used to put blinders on horses (a
herd animal) so they could only see where they were goingwithout
the destractions of what was beside them and behind them.
An elk's big ears can capture faint sounds and other sounds
of movement. Elk also have a keen sense of smell. Combine
the sharp senses of a group of five, 10, or even 50 elk and
it's easy to understand how they avoid predators. Elk that live in mountainous country migrate to
lower elevations as the winter snows drive them out otf the
higher elevations. in the spring as the snow retreates the
elk follow the snow line up the mountains because the higher
elevations provide remoteness and less insects. Elk are social
animals and during the summer they live in large herds. These
herds are dominated by a single
cow. In spring the bulls and cows
separate and the females leave to calve, while bulls form
their own separate herds for the untill fall.
 Elk being herbivores eat only plants. Their diet
includes grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees.
being herd animals they must eat and watch for predatorseat and at the same time
. An elk herd always has at least one animal looking up while the others are
eating. Even so the animals that are feeding are always on the lookout for warning
signs of predators.
The males have antlers that
can span five feet and have six sharp points or "tines." per side
upon maturity but a few have as many as 10. The width
bredth and weight of an elks rack is determined by the abundance
of food as well as age, bull elk shed their
antlers in late winter. Testosterone is the hormone in
the
bull's body controlling the "cement" that
holds the antlers to his skull. In winter a
bull's testosterone
level drops and so
do his antlers. Increasing daylight later In
spring, elevates the level of testosterone
in the animal's
blood, which triggers the growth of antlers.
The antlers grow
from the bony bumps on their skulls called
pedicles.
Antlers are cartilage
that slowly mineralize
into bone. A
soft covering called
velvet carries blood to
the growing bone
tissue and helps protect the them. Antlers
are fragile until
they completely mineralize and harden in time
for
rutting season.
 September brings rutting season (mating season),
bulls form
harems of cows, which they defend with their seasonally aggressive
nature, One bull may have a herd
of fifteen to thirty cows, but some may have
achieved a many as sixty. During
the rutt, the bull elk engage in a fight for dominance, they
bugle, they
wallow in the mud holes they have cented with their
urine,
they urinate on plants that they toss onto
their antlers.
It is thought that this activity makes
the bulls more fearsome to other bulls
and more attractive
to potential cows.
Bull elk make a sound
called a "bugle," a
true sound of the wilderness
that starts as a bellow, changes to a loud whistle,
and ends in a series of grunts.
The bugleing serves to
challenge to other bulls and to attract the cow elk.
This timeless wilderness show can be seen in the meadows
of Yellowstone and other places where there is no hunting
pressure,
where elk are hunted they are unaproachable and are often
hiding in the trees. Elk don't make just one sound and
what they communicate is still largely a mystery. The
typical "Unh-ai-EEEE! yuh, yuh" has been called
a challenge. But many bulls give voice when they have
no intention of fighting. Some bugle a lot, others infrequently.
Besides bugling, you'll hear chirps, grunts, gurgles
and squeals.Bulls are only territorial during
the mating season and are
otherwise
not aggressive toward other elk.
Hunting
Elk hunting in The Greater Yellowstone
region can be one of the most remarkable experiencesof your
lifetime. Here in the Greater Yellowstone region you will
see either the
splendor of
the Grand Tetons, the Gros Ventre Mountains,
the Woming Range, the Absoraka Range, Snake River Range,
or the Big Hole's.
Jackson
Hole
is also
the home
of the National Elk Refuge where 6 to 12 thousand
elk spend their winter tawnting you into thinking that your
hunt is going to be easy. In the Greater Yellowstone area
there are many outfitters and guides to choose from if you
choose to not go without a guide. Any hunter planning an Elk hunt should sight his
rifle for long range shooting, and practice till you have
it right. The most popular caliber rifle for elk hunting are
the.30-06, 7mm mag , .300 mag, and the .338 magnum. recomended
scopes are 2x7, 3x9, or even 4x14 power of the best quality
that you can afford.
Elk will evade hunters by hiding
in the toughest country imaginable. When
you are on your hunt is not the time to find out
that you are not in shape. You will
be hunting in elevations
of up to Between 6,000 and 10,000 feet or more. Conditioning
may not be the answer to hunting success but
it will have a part in it. Exhaustion and
fatigue can kill you in the mountains. It is important
to remember that the air is thinner at higher elevations
than it is at sea level and getting enough
oxygen for some might be tough. Don't let you poor physical
condition ruin your hunt. The elk, are not going to
come to you.
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