The Elk

The American elk, or wapiti, (Cervus canadensis) has been affected by encroaching civilization as much as any big-game species. Once considered a plains animal, its range included most of the United States. When popula­tion and land settlement created too much pressure, the elk didn't move in a mass migration into the Far North as did the moose. Instead it stayed and was slaughtered into near-extinction in the East, the plains of the Midwest, and the Southwest. The remaining bands gradually learned to condition themselves to man's pressure by retreating into the highest and most in­accessible regions, where most of our elk population remains today

The biggest area of elk habitat lies coincident with the Rocky Mountains in a long strip of country ranging from north-central Alberta, Canada, to near the Mexican border in New Mexico. Four other smaller areas virtually complete the elk range. These are West Coast spot areas overlapping the California-Oregon border, the Oregon-Washington border, Olympia Island, and an extensive region in Canada covering the central portions of Sas­katchewan and Manitoba. States having the greatest elk populations are Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Due to the increasing popularity of elk hunting, the elk population is gradually diminishing.

In some areas, migration routes which the elk once used in descending to their winter ranges have been fenced off, as have the ranges themselves. But in Yellowstone Park and the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, area this attempt to help the elk is currently backfiring. As with other species, the winter range is the determining factor in the size of the elk population. At Jackson, Wyoming, the largest winter feeding grounds for elk in the world, thousands of animals annually congregate for refuge feeding. This has tended to create

The regal elk, monarch of the high country, bears a set of stately antlers armed with long, deadly tines which are directed forward to inflict damage in the brawling battles of the rutting season. A mature bull's antlers may have a spread of as much as 50 inches. To measure your own trophy, see the scoring chart on page 440 of the appendix.

an artificial balance in that this man-fed herd can now survive during the winter but are eating their summer ranges—part of which are in Yellow­stone Park—into depletion.

DESCRIPTION

The elk is a most imposing and regal-looking game animal. Its size varies according to sex, age, area, and the incidence of food. Large cow elk weigh from 500 to 600 pounds or more; mature bulls reach 1,000 pounds and exceptional animals in certain regions will weigh more. Both sexes are long-legged and rangy-looking. Bulls often stand 5 feet at the withers, appearing even taller because of their massive antlers. The elk is tan over most of its body, with a brown head and neck, and a yellowish rump, aptly named its "sunflower."

HABITS

When elk are not moved by molestation, their cycle becomes a fixed pattern. In summer, the bands range high, just under the remaining snow lines, feeding in alpine pastures where it is cool, free of flies, and the ani­mals don't have to compete with domestic cattle for feed. The tender antlers of the bulls grow through the velvet stage, and toughen.

With the first frosts and early snow, the bulls remove the velvet from their massive antlers by rubbing them on small pine trees, and begin bugling with the advent of the rut, or mating season. From early September till mid-October, the bulls will bugle in wild country. They fight for the cows and will hold up to thirty or more females in a harem. The herd bull's mating call is his piercing bugle. The whipped bulls and young bulls just learning to bugle will challenge the mature herd bulls with the same piercing call— one of the most thrilling sounds in all the wilderness.

In regions where the elk are not bothered too much in winter by man, they will start moving downward with the first deep snows of October and November. Elk can predict a heavy storm as much as twenty-four hours in advance, and move with it, or ahead of it.

Where elk have become conditioned to winter feeding grounds, the animals will often delay their downward migrations until their canny wis­dom tells them the fall hunts are over. Then, with deep snow and the next

Part of the famed Jackson Hole, Wyoming, elk herd on its winter feeding grounds at the foot of the Grand Tetons.

roaring blizzard, they will come down through the migration routes in a body. Often several thousand elk will migrate single file over the same trail in a couple of days.

Elk differ from deer in one important respect. Ordinarily, deer will re­main in the same general area. If disturbed, they will circle, and filter back into the home region in a day or so. Disturbed elk, however, tend to head out in a straight line. They may not stop for five or ten miles, and may stay in another area for a week or more.

HUNTING THE ELK—BUGLING

The three ways of hunting elk are bugling, stalking, and drift-hunting. Bugling for the bulls is the most thrilling of sports and very productive for the experienced hunter. It entails the use of an artificial bugle, or call, on which an experienced hunter can simulate the natural bugling of the wild bulls. Such bugles are made of bamboo, elderberry stalks, metal conduit, or plastic water hose. Only bugles made of bamboo have perfect sound qualities. Such bamboo must be node-free and of sufficient length and proper diameter to make a call on which the four distinct tones of the bull elk's natural bugling may be duplicated, both as to arpeggio and register.

The hunter bugles only from those locations in which a bull would nor­mally bugle; at the same time of day; and for the same ostensible purpose. His hope is that either the herd bull will consider it to be the challenge of a bull whipped from a band and trying to horn in, or that a traveling, whipped bull will hear and respond. In either case, if the call is authentic, a bull within a half mile or so will probably answer.

Bugling on an artificial call requires a thorough knowledge of elk, a perfect memorization of a wild bull elk's natural bugling, and a real skill in blowing the call. The first toot must be perfect—any sour note adver­tises the presence of something suspicious and alerts the game. In most cases, the hunter uses an artificial bugle merely to locate the elk band or lone bull, then uses his skill as a stalker to get into rifle range. Elk aren't "called up" to the hunter as one honks geese in to decoys.

Good places to bugle are canyon heads, high ridges, rim country, and the apexes of slash-canyons. The best period is just at sunrise. The hunter should be concealed from view when he bugles. The artificial bugling should not be repeated oftener than at ten-minute intervals. If there is no answer

Bugling for elk on an artificial call requires skill and a thorough knowledge of elk habits.

to the second toot, the hunter should move quietly on, and try again within the next half mile or so.

The best weather for artificial bugling is a frosty, clear morning. It is use­less to bugle in high wind, fog, or heavy rain as the animals are normally huddled. Not only will they refuse to answer even though in the area, but regard any such unnatural tooting with suspicion.

If a bull answers an artificial bugle once, then won't respond to a second calling, the hunter should not give up for thirty minutes, but sit tight and as concealed as possible. Many times a bull becomes a bit suspicious after a first call, will circle, and come silently into view from an opposite direc­tion. It wants to size up an opponent, unseen.

STALKING ON HORSEBACK

Elk are stalked on horseback in many areas, except in late season. Oc­casionally, with deep snow, stalking is done on snowshoes. Horses are often needed to cover the necessary ground in hunting this long-legged species; and horses or mules are needed to pack in its meat quarters.

When stalking elk on horseback, first climb the big ridges leading upward out of camp. Then cross the long, undulating crests, the ridges and canyon rims, into the high timberline country. Utilize old game trails for getting to the upper elevations.

Study all canyon sides, brushy bottoms, promontories, open alps, and "patchy" country. Elk usually are spotted at great distances. They appear in dark, timbered areas as tan spots, or simply shapes that don't belong with the landscape. Binoculars are a must for such hunting.

When the top country is reached, it is best to leave the horses just under the crest, tied so they won't leave, and cautiously climb to the crest on foot. Then study the next basin, slope, canyon, or creek bottom.

Often when riding through patches of timber, the hunter will unwittingly come upon elk. Many horses used to hunting elk will either stop short and turn their heads, or turn their heads while moving. Invariably, if the hunter will sight between the pointed ears of such a good hunting horse, he'll see the game which it has already spotted.

Elk move mostly between daylight and sunup, and between dusk and darkness. They feed most at these times, bugle most, move about most, and are in the open more. From around nine o'clock in the morning until four or five o'clock in the afternoon, elk will head back into heavy timber and shade up for the day. They have learned that the thick foliage in heavy timber which enemies must traverse offers built-in protection—it makes for a noisy approach.

Therefore the two best hunting periods are daybreak and dusk. For the hunter on foot, especially if he is bugling for elk, these periods are best.

This superb six-point bull elk was in prime condition and its antlers were fully developed when it was brought down.

The daybreak period is the better of the two. The bulls bugle more at that period of the day, and if a kill is made, there is all day for the heavy work of dressing and hanging a large animal. Many a hunter has come upon his elk at dusk, several miles from camp, and has either had to camp out at his kill overnight, to take care of it properly, or has hastily gutted it, neglected to hang the quarters or get the carcass off the ground, and has had a soured elk the next morning.

Using horses often makes daylight hunting for elk impossible. Camps with horses must be set far enough away from a game area to prevent spooking the game. Horses must be wrangled each morning, and intervening distances must be covered. Such country can't be ridden by average hunt­ers in the dark. In short, the horseback hunter can't be in a game area by daybreak.

Because of this, many horseback hunters consider the last hour of day­light worth all the others. One advantage is that the kill will cool out better during the night, if properly cared for in advance.

Often when a kill is made at dusk, it will be pitch dark or even later before the hunter can care for it and head for camp. However, horses that wouldn't know their way at pre-daylight to elk, will have no trouble re­turning back to the camp oats from where they happen to be. Experienced horses often will bring in a hunter who couldn't find his own way.

However, not all horses will head for camp after dark if given their heads. For the unbelieving, it is quite an experience to ride some knot-headed old crowbait at night in mountain country and have it walk right off a trail, a high bluff, or even into a river—as this author has done.

DRIFT-HUNTING

Drift-hunting means to take advantage of the normal movement of elk during the fall hunting season. That is, the general routes of the game, moving gradually downward after storm and late season in the high country, are ascertained; then the hunter plans his hunting so as to coincide with the areas in which the game may be expected to be during this normal movement. It does not mean the hunting of elk along a single migration route, once the game has been endangered by sudden deep snows and is leaving a region en masse out of high snow country before being trapped by winter.

STALKING ON FOOT

In average elk country, the game is located at long ranges except when spooked in timber. And stalking to within rifle range of elk is one of the most difficult of hunting arts.

Elk are normally spooky and will often choose to leave an area for no apparent reason. Impending weather changes will often make elk nervous to the point of abruptly running from one elevation to another. And elk can detect danger by sight or sound for unbelievable distances. Elk will often spook at the sight of a hunter or horseback rider at distances beyond a half mile. Often, after making up their minds, they will continue their flight for several miles, or into an adjoining basin.

Since the normal elk season is set to coincide with the rut, the sexes are mingled. One elk located, in the majority of cases, means a number of elk near by. The lone elk, located by sight or spoor, is usually a traveling bull, possibly whipped by the herd bull from a band and in search of other cows.

A traveling bull, except in instances where it may pause or approach in response to a call on an artificial bugle, is generally out of sight and range by the time the hunter has stalked to where it last was seen.

A band of elk usually has an old cow standing guard. When the elk are feeding, bedded down, or moving about, the cow will habitually be at some vantage point several rods removed from the band, in order to spot danger and warn the rest. The cow will stare hard at approaching danger, its ears will become erect, the yellow hairs of its sunflower-like rump will suddenly raise, or it will whirl away in an alerted manner. To warn its calves the cow elk will bark a warning which scarcely can be distinguished from the yap­ping of a small dog.

In stalking any elk, the hunter must first determine if he has been de­tected. If so, the elk have fled the area and his strategy must be to find them. If he is undetected, he must stalk to within range before they have moved.

Elk stalking is a slow process. Elk habitat is country of thick foliage and trees, and is therefore noisy. The hunter must move silently, utilizing all foliage and unevenness of terrain so as to approach unseen.

The relative elevations of hunter and game often indicate where startled elk will go. Elk startled in a canyon will move up one side of the canyon, the better to watch their backtrack. Elk startled on a sidehill, with the hunter on the crest above, will usually duck back into timber, cross the basin bottoms, and leave via the opposite crest. And elk spooked at the same level as the hunter will retreat in a generally upward route.

Elk seasons in most high country usually entail some snow. This in itself can be a great aid to the hunter. The lower edge of snow line is an ideal elevation at which to hunt unmolested elk. And startled elk will leave a readable trail in snow.

Two hunters can work patches of timber known or thought to contain elk. One hunter will circle and post himself at the timber's probable outlet. The partner follows the spoor, and spooks the game ahead of him. The likelihood of game being in a certain patch of timber is often authenticated by the presence of fresh tracks going into the area, but none coming out on the opposing sides.

SNOWSHOES

Hunting elk in deep snow, on snowshoes, is becoming passé. Because of the popularity of the elk as a game species, the slowly dwindling herds, and increased hunting pressure, more stringent conservation measures are con­tinuously necessary. The policy of the various game commissions now is to forbid late hunts when elk may be caught along deep-snow migration routes. It is felt that early seasons offer more chance of hunting to more people, and less damage to the game.

RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES

An elk is tough. A trophy bull especially is hard to put down an<i make stay down. Bulls with one leg shot completely out of commission will often travel five miles and then be lost. Bulls have been shot through the heart, and have wandered off for over a hundred yards. Elk have been cut shot and pursued for miles on end without the hunter ever catching up. In short, a bull elk is one of the three hardest animals in North America to kill.

The ideal elk cartridge should be at least .30 caliber. It should shoot a bullet of at least 180 grains in weight. And that bullet should be of proper type for deep penetration and expansion on elk; and travel at a minimum of 2,900 feet per second for that weight, proportionately slower for heavier weights in the same caliber.

With this as a basis, the following are good elk cartridges:
.300 H&H Magnum, using 180- and 220-grain bullets
.300 Weatherby Magnum, using 180- and 220-grain bullets
.30/338, .30 Short-Magnum, .308 Norma Magnum  (all similar), using
180- and 220-grain bullets
.338 Winchester Magnum, using 200- or 250-grain bullets .375 H&H Magnum, using 270- or 300-grain bullets .358 Norma Magnum, using 250-grain bullets

The popular .270 Winchester, the newer .280 Remington, and the old standby .30/06 represent the minimum in cartridges to be used on elk; and these should only be used by the experienced hunter with the patience and sheer guts to turn down all shots on elk until he is certain his bullet is going into the heart-lungs area.

The newer, fast-stepping 7 mm magnum cartridges such as the 7 mm Weatherby Magnum and 7 x 61 Sharpe & Hart are marginal elk cartridges —they perform well on long-range open shots, but lack the bullet weight for timber shooting.

Slower-velocity .35-caliber cartridges such as the .35 Whelen and .358 Winchester are good elk cartridges at close range—for timber shooting up to 250 yards—but lack the punch for the longer ranges.

The elk is a big animal, and looks big at long ranges in clear mountain air. The temptation for most hunters is to shoot at animals at extreme range. This is ethically wrong, and impractical, resulting in wounded and lost game. Elk should not be shot at ranges beyond 400 yards. The extra punch of the high-powered magnum cartridges recommended above is not to ex­tend this range, but to accomplish a better job within those liberal limits.

A low-powered scope, from 2½ to 4 power, is the best sight for the elk rifle. Due to the animal's considerable size, no more magnification is needed, and a low-powered scope is better for running shots than one of great magnification and small field of view. A rifle sling is a must.

SHOT PLACEMENT

The best spot to aim for on elk is the lungs area, just behind the shoulder blade. This is a generous-sized target, and a lung-shot elk will not go far before it bleeds and dies from hemorrhage—if the shot doesn't tip it over in its tracks. Also, a lung-shot animal generally leaves a good blood spoor.

Shots directly through the shoulder should be avoided. The heavy shoul­der blade often turns bullets from such cartridges as the .30/06 and .270.

This is especially true of light, fast-expanding bullets meant for are on thin-skinned game such as deer.

When stalking in timber, the hunter occasionally encounters an animal partly concealed by timber or foliage. When necessary, a spine or neck shot will break the beast down, permitting a quick finisher after the hunter comes up. Most beginners, incidentally, don't know that the neck bone of an elk is approximately halfway down on the neck. They see the high brown ruff on top, and conclude that the bone lies nearly that high. They bang away, see the beast drop, and yell, "I gottim!" Then they find that the animal was only "creased," and immediately jumped up and took off.

When a wounded elk must be followed any distance, after a botched job of shooting, the same general procedure is followed as with wounded deer. Wounded elk will head for the most impenetrable cover, usually faster than the hunter can travel. They will circle, or double back to throw the pursuer off the trail, and even wade considerable distances along the shoreline of small lakes, then come out or double back in an unexpected direction.

Signs to look for are leaves and pine needles freshly turned over, and drops of blood on both the ground and on bushes at animal height. Places to watch for blood especially are any logs or blow-down where the animal may have crossed. Blood or intestinal juices from wounds will drain down and often smear big logs in contact with the beast's belly as it crosses. An elk can walk over high logs that a horse would have to jump.
Any wounded elk approached when down is dangerous, especially a male, whose antlers are like pitchforks. Any approach should be from above and behind. No attempt should ever be made to finish off a wounded elk with a knife. A shot into the neck or base of the head is better.

BOW AND HANDGUN

The elk is too large, too tough, and must be shot at too great a range to be considered fair game for the average archer or handgun hunter. It is true that archers and handgun enthusiasts alike have killed elk with their specialized weapons. But there is where the matter should rest—with the specialists who have the enthusiasm, time to perfect their skill adequately to do the job, and the moral courage to turn down all shots at elk until the opportunity for a certain kill comes along. The sport is not sporting for the casual archer or pistol shooter. For the average hunter, the job of taking an elk with a rifle in wilderness country is big enough. So is the thrill.

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