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In certain areas, Elk are a commonly seen K-Country critter. In others, they’re plentiful on the landscape but are much more ghost-like. At certain times of the year, Elk are VERY dangerous, They’re a key prey species for Wolves, Cougars, Bears and even Coyotes. Join us on a deeper dive into this majestic and occasionally problematic species.
Elk Seasons
Elk are active in all seasons, and are well adapted for winter. But Elk behaviour is VERY cyclical and seasonal indeed.
In the fall, it’s rutting season. Males fight using their antlers to achieve dominance and build a herd of females. A big, strong male can collect up to 100 females, but 30 or so is more common. The winning, strong dominant male’s job is then to mate with as many of his herd as he can, then lead and protect them through the winter. The unsuccessful males form small herds of other males, typically up to 10 in size. They’ll spend all winter together.
Come the spring, the males drop their antlers, usually in mid-March. The dominant male’s job is basically done, and he’s often killed by a predator because he’s in a pretty weakened state, having done a lot of mating and keeping his herd together for almost 6 months. The females generally stay with their herd, but often a large herd will break up into several smaller ones. May and June is calving season. Pregnant females leave the herd and give birth alone so that the calf is not harmed by the other females. Those newborns are the target of every predator species.
In early summer, the females with calves return to the herd. The males are re-growing antlers, but they’re fairly fragile because of it. All that calcium for the antler bones has to come from somewhere. They actually pull it from their own bones, getting osteoporosis while doing so. Their bones become brittle and easy to break. Predators will chase these males, hoping to cause them to break a leg or trip.
The male’s antlers are strong and solid by September, and they’ve rebuilt their strength, too, ready to start the rut. The cycle starts all over again.
Food is where you find it
Elk are ungulates, and mostly eat grasses and twigs. But in the winter, they have an affinity for the bark of Aspen trees. Pound for pound, Aspen bark contains almost as much chlorophyl and grass. If you look at a young Aspen tree in the winter, the smooth bark is almost green, especially on the sunny side of the tree. Elk commonly gnaw this bark off. In some areas, large stands of old Aspens will show evidence of Elk gnaws on every tree. These gnaws may start off white, but eventually they turn black. You can find large stands of Aspens that are black up to the height of your face.
Dangerous in the fall
There’s a saying: “Everyone worries about bears, but Elk do far more damage to the tourists”.
In the summer, male Elk are docile because they’re fragile. But in the fall, they’re big and strong, have nasty pointy antlers on their heads, and are itching to fight with something. Fighting is how they show dominance, so they want to fight with everything to demonstrate to the females they’re a worthy mate. Male elk will attack vehicles; the photo to the left is a Jasper Park Warden’s truck that was rammed by an Elk. They like to flip golf carts. And they will readily attack you. Male elk love to have sparing matches on Larch Island and along the river in Canmore. There are a lot of Elk-human conflicts there in the fall.
And dangerous in the spring!
In the spring, those female Elk that want to calf leave the herd and try to find somewhere out of the way and safe. They’ll give birth, then spend ~3 weeks feeding the calf and protecting it, never leaving it and not eating. Come across a solo female in the spring? That’s likely a mom with a calf nearby, and she will readily attack you to protect her hidden calf. She sees canids as major threats, so REALLY doesn’t like your dog. Every year, there are on- and off-leash dogs attacked and kicked. People get attacked, too. This is especially so because female Elk like to give birth where a lot of people are, like Canmore or Kananaskis village. All those people may be threats to her, but those people also tend to keep the cougars, wolves and bears away, so she feels safer in the townsite.
Urban Elk are, in fact, a major issue for these reasons.
An animal with many names
A better name for Elk is Wapiti; that’s a Shawnee word for “white rump”, which is fitting, because they all have white rumps. In Northern Europe, “Elk” is the name for what we call Moose, so Europeans are often confused by our Elk, calling them Caribou or Reindeer. They’ve even been called Red Deer. However, Red Deer is a species of Europe through to western Asia, and not related to our Elk. The Blackfoot name for Elk is Ponoka.
They migrate!
Almost all elk migrate in some fashion, although given the number that always seem to be in the town of Canmore, that may be difficult to believe. Studies have shown that Elk herds move through a range of up to 30 square kilometres. Stoney Trail in K-Country, running along the west side of Barrier Lake, is a migration route for a herd, and is closed from April 15 through June 15 for this reason. But Elk can also migrate up and down, spending winters in valley bottoms and summers in higher meadows.
Common today, but not in the past
While cougars, wolves and bears like Elk, the number one killer of Elk is humans. They’re actively hunted all over the province – including the Wildland Parks and Public Lands in K-Country – and are both good eating and relatively easy targets. Too easy, in fact. Elk were virtually wiped out in Alberta by hunting in the early 1900’s. Elk Island National Park in Edmonton was created in 1907 to protect one of the last remaining herds in the province. K-Country Elk are mostly the descendants of Elk introduced into Banff (in 1917 from Yellowstone) to re-establish extirpated herds.
Meet more of the critters of K-Country here!
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