History of the Elk

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http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=622078&mode=2

 

By Joe Kosack, Wildlife Education Specialist - Eastern elk once ranged statewide, but colonization and exploitation by European settlers eventually led to the species

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Happy 100th birthday to Pa.'s elk

 

Fighting through farmer conflicts, disease, poor habitat and lack of star power, majestic elk are at their highest numbers in state's mountains.

 

Sunday News

 

Jan 13, 2013

By AD CRABLE, Outdoor Trails

 

Welcome back elk!

 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the return of North America's largest deer to Pennsylvania, whose residents shot them all the first time around.

 

The story of bringing back the elk to the Commonwealth ranks up there with bald eagles, otters and fishers as successful comeback stories for native wildlife.

 

It's not been easy reestablishing these magnificent creatures and they still have their detractors.

 

But Pennsylvania's herd, currently close to a record 900 animals, is the largest in the Northeast and instills wonder for tens of thousands who travel to elk country each year.

 

They go to hear a 1,000-pound bull elk lift his head skyward and bugle, or to find a massive shed antler, or just to marvel at a herd grazing peacefully in the wilds of Pennsylvania.

 

The Pennsylvania Game Commission, which manages the herd, gets a tip of the hat for chaperoning the elk while doing a delicate dance to balance biological, social, economic and environmental issues.

 

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which promotes elk, and boosters such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the new Elk Country Visitor Center, similarly should take a bow..

 

The native eastern elk -- not the current elk which were brought here from western states -- were found throughout Pennsylvania.

 

Beginning with European settlers, the less-than-shy elk became constant targets. By the 1850s, the herd had shrunk to the remote mountains of northcentral Pennsylvania -- pretty much where they are found now.

 

The last native elk may have been taken by a hunter in Centre County in 1877.

 

In 1912, the Game Commission decided to take advantage of the federal government's efforts to relocate overabundant western elk in Yellowstone National Park.

 

The idea was to deposit them in remote areas in the middle of the state, as far away as possible from cultivated lands.

 

The first shipment of 50 Yellowstone elk arrived by train in 1913 and were turned loose in Clearfield and Clinton counties. Another batch of 22 elk from a Monroe County preserve were released in Monroe and Centre counties.

 

Ninety-five more arrived from Yellowstone in 1915 and were released in Cameron, Carbon, Potter, Forest, Blair and Monroe counties.

 

Despite being in strange terrain and eating unfamiliar vegetation, the elk increased slowly in numbers, even though they were hunted and shot by resentful farmers.

 

The Game Commission asked legislators for money to compensate farmers for crop damage, but were refused.

 

Angry farmers were somewhat mollified when the Game Commission authorized the first hunting season on bull elk in 1923. Twenty-three bulls were shot the inaugural season.

 

In 1930, only five were killed. Sportsmen voiced concerns over the future of the herd. When only a single bull was harvested in 1931, the hunts were stopped.

 

The elk declined, the herds shrinking to only Cameron and Elk counties, where they had made their last stand 50 years earlier. Perhaps only 200 remained.

 

By 1952, the herd had dwindled to less than 50, the Game Commission reported. Restocking was considered but rejected.

 

Although no studies had been done, it was believed the elk were hindered by low reproductive rates due to poor habitat.

 

Even with the lower numbers, conflicts with farmers increased. Tensions grew. What to do? Fences? Compensation? Hunts? Relocation?

 

The brouhaha came to a head in 1970 at a meeting in Emporium that attracted both disgruntled farmers and those who wanted the elk protected as a tourist attraction.

 

A Game Commission representative's comment that landowners harmed by grazing elk had the right to kill them set off a killing spree.

 

The first elk census in 1971 counted 65 animals.

 

Then, in 1973, brainworm was detected. The parasite, taken into the elk when they ate snails, affected their brains, eventually killing the animals.

 

By 1975, the herd had slipped to an anemic 38.

 

Then the herd's fortunes took an upswing. Brainworm lost its killing power. And, for the first time, the Game Commission adopted an elk policy to expand the elk's range while also improving habitat.

 

Working with the state Bureau of Forestry, clearrcuts were made to produce browse. Reclaimed strip mines became favorite haunts. The RMEF to date has acquired 8,500 acres of prime elk habitat and enhanced 15,000 more acres.

 

From 1973 to 1985, the herd increased from 38 to 135.

 

Crop damages also increased and the Game Commission in 1982 proposed a limited lottery hunt for 30 hunters.

 

But farmers and residents upset that "outsiders" would be brought in to kill "their" elk, showed their displeasure by shooting 11 elk in 1982 for crop damage. Another 15 were shot illegally.

 

The hunt was dropped. Habitat enhancements were stepped up to keep elk on public lands and away from trouble. The private RMEF paid to place tall fences around farmers' fields.

 

The elk responded. In 1992, herd size rose to 205. By 2000, aerial surveys estimated it at 566. From 1998 to 2001, elk were relocated to other areas with vast public forestlands to expand the elk's range from 350 to 800 square miles.

 

In 2001, the Game Commission again revived a limited hunt without a backlash this time.

 

More than 50,000 hopefuls sent in applications for the drawing. Thirty were selected and 27 bagged male or female elk.

 

The lottery hunt has been an annual fixture since. In November 2012, 65 hunters killed 52 elk --19 bulls and 33 antlerless.

 

In 2010, a hunter from Doylestown shot the state-record bull elk in Clearfield County. The nine-point-by-eight-point bull ranks ninth on the Boone and Crockett Club's record list of nontypical elk racks in North America.

 

The elk count last winter, after the hunt, estimated the herd at 824 animals, the highest since the 1913 re-introduction. The animals may be found on approximately 835 square miles in portions of Elk, Cameron, Clearfield, Clinton and Potter counties.

 

Hunting is the number one cause of mortality in the elk herd each year. From 2007 through 2010, 38 elk were hit by vehicles, 20 were shot by landowners for crop depredation and six died from brainworm. Poaching, sadly, continues to take a few animals each year.

 

"We're now in a monitoring and maintain phase," says Chris Rosenberry, the Game Commission's deer and elk section supervisor.

 

"Right now, in terms of habitat management, our folks' plates are full. There are not a lot of active efforts to move elk anywhere."

 

Meanwhile, elk viewing is as popular as ever.

 

You used to be pretty much on your own traveling to elk country, usually cruising back roads and peering into open areas.

 

Viewing is much less a crapshoot and more accessible now.

 

The most recent advance was the opening in the fall of 2010 of the Elk Country Visitor Center near Benezette, Elk County, in the heart of the most popular elk-viewing hotspots, such as Winslow Hill and Hicks Run Viewing Area.

 

The facility includes state-of-the art interpretive and interactive exhibits, a multi-sensory 4-D theater, wagon and sleigh elk-viewing rides, wildlife trails, viewing blinds, year-round restrooms and parking for cars and buses.

 

The 245-acre property also includes the Elk Mountain Homestead, with three bedrooms available for lodging.

 

Since the facility opened, about 460,000 people have stopped through and there's no question it's ramped up the number of people heading to elk country each year.

 

For more information, go to www.elkcountryvisitorcenter.... Another source of information for visiting elk country is the Keystone Elk Country Alliance website at www.experienceelkcountry.com. The group runs the visitor center, in partnership with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

 

Both the visitor center and Game Commission are planning special events this year to mark the 100th anniversary of the elk comeback.

 

Although you can spot elk anytime of year, late summer through spring is the most popular. The top months are September and October when the bulls are bugling to attract females and locking horns to show dominance.

 

An estimated 75,000 to 100,000 people crowd Winslow Hill and Benezette during this time and roads can get downright citylike.

 

All the binocular and camera-toting crowds provide a nice boost to the local economy. And with the new visitor center packing them in, lodging and food venues have been growing "by leaps and bounds," according to Rawley Cogan, president and CEO of the Keystone Elk Country Alliance.

 

In winter, hardy horn hunters scour elk hotspots in search of a coveted shed antler.

 

No question, Pennsylvania's elk have their worshippers. Still, Rosenberry says he gives talks around the state and some are flabbergasted when he starts talking about elk in the state.

 

Says he: "It would be interesting to know how many Pennsylvanians even know Pennsylvania has elk."

 

Still plenty, agrees Cogan, who was the Game Commission's elk biologist for 20 years.

 

Overall, though, he thinks most Pennsylvanians are proud of their elk.

 

"It's a wildlife success story," he says. "Here's an animal that was extirpated and introduced, and that introduction has gone well.

 

"There are conflicts, there are highway kills, there are elk depredation incidents. Those things happen.

 

"We're able to hunt them, which is a management tool, but we're also able to spin the wheels of economic development on the backs of elk watching and ecotourism.

 

"It's all good."

 

 

Ad Crable is a Sunday News outdoors writer. Email him at acrable@lnpnews.com.

 

 

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