|
The elk is the second largest cervid in North America; the moose is the largest. Elks’ body lengths range from six and three quarters to nine and three quarters feet, while they stand four and one-half to five feet tall. Adult males weigh six hundred to one thousand pounds or more, and females weigh between four hundred and fifty to six hundred pounds. The males have antlers that can span five feet and ordinarily have six sharp points or "tines." Elk (and the other members of the family) have even numbers of toes (two) on each foot, a characteristic that separates them from other hoofed mammals. Adult males and females are tannish brown above and darker below, with long legs and short tails (up to eight inches long). In late spring they molt or shed their tan winter coats for reddish brown coats. The small whitish tail is surrounded by a yellowish white rump patch that is bordered by darker hairs. Bulls have a dark shaggy mane that covers their necks.
This largest of the deer was once much more widely distributed throughout
North America, even reaching to the seaboard states. The Algonquin Indians
knew it by the name of "wapiti". The popular name, "elk" more properly
belongs to a European mammal that is rather like our moose. Today, these
big deer are found mainly in the northern Rocky Mountains. In some areas
such as the Yellowstone-Jackson Hole region, elk make seasonal migrations
from the mountains to the lower elevations. A bull may stand 5 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh 600 pounds. The cows, which are smaller, are collected
into small herds by the individual bulls who successfully fight off rivals.
Elk program faring well, manager says....
Wildlife officials hear about herd's successful growth
from an article by Joe Knight, Leader-Telegram staff
So far the elk reintroduction effort in northern Wisconsin
is a smashing success, wildlife officials say.
In the three years since their introduction in the Clam
Lake area the animals have doubled in number, growing from
a herd of 18 cows and five bulls to an estimated 50 animals.
The elk have survived two of the harshest winters in recent
history: 1995-96 and '96-97.
At the current rate of growth the herd could number about
500 animals in 11 or 12 years, according to Ray Anderson,
the retired UW-Stevens Point wildlife professor who is coordinating the program.
Elk are native to Wisconsin but were wiped out in the 1800s
by hunting and habitat loss.
Wisconsin's elk reintroduction originally was scheduled
for the Bayfield peninsula in the early 1990s, but that
plan was scrapped largely because of protests from farmers
in the area.
The Clam Lake area, where the elk were released in spring
1995, comprises mostly public land in the Chequamegon Nat Forest.
The elk have stayed in an area of about 35 square miles.
They use different parts of that area in winter and summer.
From a tourism and economic standpoint, the growing elk herd should attract people to northern Wisconsin during the mating
or "bugling" season, from mid- September to mid-October,
Anderson said. In Michigan and many areas of the Rocky
Mountains people travel to hear the bugling of the elk. | 
