In my opinion, elk are the monarchs of the West. They are magnificent creatures, especially mature bull elk with their massive antlers. Mature bull elk can weigh up to 1,000 pounds and their antlers can weigh as much as 50 pounds. They are handsome animals with dark brown heads, necks, legs, and bellies. Most of their body is a lighter brown and their rumps are a light beige color.
During their mating season or rut in September and October, bull elk produce one of the most distinct and eerie sounds of the natural world. This sound is called bugling and it starts with a low guttural sound followed quickly by a long, hoarse, whistling sound sometimes followed by a series of yelps or grunts. They bugle to announce their presence and warn off other bulls. The first time I heard this bugling was while camping in the Ashley National Forest in northern Utah. There is no other sound quite like it and once you experience it, you will never forget it. This audio file provides an example of a bull elk’s bugling.
My very first encounter with elk came on my first trip to the West. I was driving from Yellowstone NP to Grand Teton NP and stopped at a roadside viewpoint of the Tetons. Across the Snake River was a long, level, treeless plateau. I was focused on the jagged mountain peaks of the Tetons when a movement on the plateau across the river caught my attention. The top of the plateau seemed to be in motion. Curious as to what was moving, I retrieved binoculars from my car. Focusing on the movement, I was amazed by what I saw. Elk, hundreds of them, moving along the plateau. It was mid-May and I was witnessing the movement of an elk herd from their winter range in the Jackson Hole Valley to their summer range in the mountains.
Since then, I have seen elk many times and much closer. They are found throughout the West where there are forests. They spend most of the day resting in the protection of forests and emerge into meadows and fields in the late afternoon to feed and socialize. They can also be found feeding in the open in the early morning but they retreat to the safety of the trees as the sun rises higher. So, if you want to see elk, late afternoon/early evening and early morning are the best times.
When you are near elk, it is important that you treat them like the wild creatures that they are and keep your distance from them. They will see you as a threat if you are too close. Bull elk antlers can be lethal and even cow elk with no antlers can deliver a devastating blow with their front hooves. Cows are easily provoked when they have calves and bull elk are extremely dangerous when they are in the rut, gathering and protecting their harem of cows. Don’t think that if you are in your vehicle elk will not charge if you are too close. There have been many instances of bull elk charging and denting the sides of vehicles.
Once, while visiting Yellowstone National Park, I witnessed a nearly catastrophic encounter between a person and an elk. It was September and bull elk were gathering and defending their cows. While driving in the park, I noticed a fly fisherman in the distance, standing in a stream and casting for trout. On the bank of the stream and behind him was a bull elk and some cow elk. The bull elk, with a massive set of antlers, was intently watching the fisherman who seemed oblivious to the presence of the elk. The bull started moving forward and then charged the fisherman with his head down and his antlers forward. With his back to the elk, the fisherman had no idea of the danger approaching him from behind. Luckily, the elk stopped at the water’s edge and didn’t continue its charge into the water. The bull then returned to his harem and they moved away. The man continued fishing, never knowing how close he came to being gored or injured by the bull elk.
There are four existing subspecies of elk. The most common is the Rocky Mountain variety. Roosevelt elk are in the Coastal Pacific Northwest, Tule elk in central California, and Manitobin in the northern Great Plains, specifically North Dakota. Elk once inhabited much of the United States but were hunted to extinction in the eastern states. They survived in the western forests and today there are an estimated one million elk in the western states. Colorado alone has an estimated 300,000 elk. They have also been reintroduced into their former homes in some of the midwestern and eastern states.
It is possible to see elk in many places in the Mountain West but some likely places are Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota; Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area, Oregon; Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, Colorado; Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, Montana; Olympic National Park, Washington; Redwood National and State Parks, California; and the National Elk Refuge (in winter), Wyoming.