Elk (Cervus Canadensis)

    The elk is also called the wapiti. This is a Shawnee Indian name which has never gained wide acceptance. In Europe the animal we call the moose is referred to as the elk, or elch, and the red deer which is similer to the elk is called a stag. Elk probably originated in Asia then spread west to Europe and East to North America across the Bering Land Bridge at about the same time as the ancestors of the moose and deer.

      After the moose, the elk is the largest antlered mammal in North America. Ordinarily a large bull elk will weigh in the vicinity of 600 to 800 pounds. The cow will be about 25 percent lighter. Occasionally the elk rivals the moose in weight. Three elk killed in Washington and Oregon weighed 737, 758, and 857 pounds field dressed. The estimated live weight of these animals was between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds. Three elk killed on Afognak Island, Alaska, where they were introduced in the 1920s, each weighed over 1,000 pounds field dressed and had an estimated live weight of up to 1,500 pounds. A large bull will stand 5 feet high at the shoulder and be 8 to 10 feet in length. Elk have one of the blockiest body builds of any of our big game. A good bull will have antlers measuring 5 feet across from tip to tip and over 5 feet long following the outside curve of one beam. The elks basic body color is a brownish grey. The head and neck is covered in long hair of rich chestnut-brown, The short tail and the large rump patch are a whitesh-yellow. The belly is almos black and the legs are very dark.

     In the summer the elk climb to the highest alpine meadows where they find ample food and relief from the insects. In late summer or early fall, when the snows  begin, the elk start to move down to the sheltered valleys. Most of the migration occurs at night. Elk may not migrate as far today. They may be stopped by all sorts of man-made obstructions or be able to obtain food from haystacks. Some elk still migrate more than one hundred miles. The cows usually lead the way.

    Grasses form the bulk of an elk's diet, although it also feeds on browse. Just about anything that will appeal to a horse or cow will satisfy an elk. Some of the important grasses are bluegrass, bromegrass, wheatgrass, pinegrass, junegrass, bluebunch grass and sweet vernal grass. Elk eat almost all types of conifers as browes as well as aspen and willow. They also eat serviceberry, maple, alder, blackberry and, on occasion, ferns, berries, and fungi. Elk are ruminants. They eat enough to fill their paunch, then retire to regurgitate their food in small lumps as could, which is rechewed then reswallowed and passed along to be digested.

    An elk can run for short distances at speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour. For longer distances, it can maintain a trotting gait at about 28 miles per hour. Elk walk, trot and gallop. they are very strong swimmers, and even calves have been seen to swim distances of a mile whith no trouble.

    Jumping is the elk's forte, for it lives in areas where blowdowns and fallen trees are  common. Elk have no trouble clearing an 8 foot fence, they have also been seen do this on many occasions. Observers have also witnessed jumps or10 feet in height. An elk never jumps any higher than it has to and always seems to hit the top of the obstructoin with its feet. Barbed wire fences are rarely obstacles for an elk; when excited, it will run right through the wire, breaking the strands like straws.