History of the herd

History of the herd Fantastic elk and where to find them

JOE NELSON

I’ve lived in the Rocky Mountains for 31 years, and I’ve hunted elk every year of that time. (Though I can’t say I was successful every year.) I’ve encountered elk unconcerned by my presence on backpacking trips into the Weminuche Wilderness and the La Plata mountains, and was once witness a type of National Geographic scene when I stumbled across a pack of coyotes attacking a large elk trapped in a tree well while backcountry telemarking the south face of Grizzly Peak above Purgatory Resort.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The elk, aka wapiti, cervus canadensis, is one of the largest species in the deer family, for that matter one of the largest terrestrial mammals in North America. It is also found in Northeast Asia. The word “elk” in British English refers to the animal known as “moose” in North American English, so the Shawnee and Cree word “wapiti” (meaning white rump) is used to describe cervus canadensis in Europe, and often, to a lesser extent, here. Clear as mud?

Before European settlement, an estimated ten million elk roamed the North American continent. The elk formerly had the largest range of any deer species in North America. For centuries, the elk was a picturesque icon of the American West and provided recreational opportunities for hunters, photographers, artists and other wildlife enthusiasts, according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

The American elk population was reduced to less than 100,000 individuals continent-wide by the early 1900s due to several factors, including unregulated hunting, grazing competition from domestic livestock and habitat destruction from unrestrained timber harvesting. Urbanization and westward expansion throughout the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century also contributed to the problem.

Fortunately, the elk’s ability to use a variety of habitats, its opportunistic feeding habits and positive response to management efforts allowed the species to survive both natural and human-induced pressures over time. These factors, coupled with concentrated wildlife management efforts, have returned the North American elk to stable, and in some areas increasing, populations in the United States and Canada.

By the early 1900s, after hunters and development nearly wiped out the species in the state, titans of Colorado industry (including F.O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer motorcar fame) imported more than a dozen elk from Yellowstone. Legend has it Stanley acclimatized the critters in a controlled environment near his namesake hotel in Estes Park (The Shining) before releasing them into the wild. Colorado is now home to some 287,000 elk, more than any other state. Other groups and organizations soon followed. A major contributor of reintroducing elk into the San Juan Mountains was the BPOE Lodge # 507 in Durango.

HABITS & HABITATS

Elk are grazers, unlike mule or white tail deer, who are browsers. This contributes to the fact that elk is closer to beef than venison, thus more palatable to the average western imbiber. Elk is high in lean protein without being tough or gamy. According to the USDA, elk has only 7 grams of fat and 18 grams of protein in a 3-ounce serving. Higher in protein and lower in fat than most beef, studies show that elk is also high in iron and B vitamins. (If you are fortunate to harvest an elk, make sure you are prepared to pack it out. Elk are heavy animals and cannot be dragged to your hunting vehicle like a white tail deer.)

In regions that experience high snowfall and severe winter conditions, elk typically migrate to higher elevations in summer once adverse winter conditions subside. Protection from human disturbance is a major factor luring elk to summer ranges. Deer can, and probably do, live in the alley behind your house, which is absolutely unacceptable for elk. A general lack of disturbance provided in the high country woodlands and pastures of national forests, wilderness areas and national parks make these lands common elk summer ranges. New grasses, forbs and woodland areas provide the necessary summer food and cover requirements for elk.

In states where weather conditions do not prompt migration, elk summer and winter ranges may differ little from one another provided that necessary food and cover requirements are present. A key element of summer range is suitable areas for calving that are free of human disturbance, particularly during May and June when calves are most vulnerable. With the explosion of people using the backcountry/ high country year round, these areas are fast disappearing, contributing, in many people’s opinions, to the recent dipping of elk populations.

In areas with moderate to severe snowfall, elk winter in lower-elevation wooded areas that provide hiding and security cover. Dense wooded lowlands and north/northeast-facing slopes provide valuable hiding cover. Drier, open south/southwest-facing slopes can provide available forage. Because of their large body size and thick coat insulating them from the cold, elk can be found bedding down on open slopes in winter as well. Located together with open woodlands that receive ample sunlight, these habitats create an ideal complex of cover and foraging opportunities that provide elk with suitable winter range.

Unfortunately, the explosion of development on the Western Slope in recent years has created housing developments on prime winter elk habitat, forcing a disruption of traditional migratory patterns. Since human disturbance causes elk to expend more energy, just like their calving areas, a lack of disturbance is an imperative factor for good winter habitat, and ultimately, a thriving elk presence.

It’s nothing short of a miracle that there are enough elk to have a sustainable population that can be hunted, and your participation in the season, including the purchasing elk licenses, goes a long way to making sure this is a possibility for future generations. So, go hunt that elk! n

Here’s a brief breakdown of the four subspecies of elk that live in North America today.

Tule elk, C. elaphus nannodes, the smallest of the subspecies, once freely roamed the valleys of central and northern California. They were declared to be extinct by 1870. Nothing short of miraculous, in 1874–1875 a single breeding pair was discovered by Buena Vista Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Today, most of the approximately 3,000 tule elk that remain are managed by state and federal agencies on California public lands.

Manitoba elk, C. elaphus manitobensis, once lived primarily north into Canada from Colorado along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains and east into Minnesota and south into northern Texas. Today, the majority of the Manitoba elk population, (approximately 20,000 individuals) are found in the provincial and national parks of Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan, Canada.

Roosevelt elk , C. elaphus roosevelti, is the largest living elk subspecies in North America. The Roosevelt elk population, approximately 91,000 strong, ranges in temperate rain forests along the Pacific coast from northern California to Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. Almost exterminated, the desire to protect the Roosevelt elk was one of the primary forces behind the establishment of the Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909 by President Teddy Roosevelt.

Rocky Mountain elk, C. elaphus nelsoni, is the most plentiful of the four elk species (800,000 to 900,000 individuals), and is found mainly throughout the Rocky Mountains. However, because of its adaptive nature and variable diet, sustainable populations of Rocky Mountain elk have been successfully introduced or repatriated into historical habitats in many states. Rocky Mountain elk now live in parts of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.