Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk vs traffic and/or livestock

Cougars don't have much impact on elk. Deer, maybe. Bighorns, it sure appears big cats can put a big dent in them........


Casey

No, no--TORCH the starter castles......torch 'em.


Give me a fast pickup, a driptorch, and a good lawyer, and I'll make LOTS of good big game habitat on the cheap..........



Casey

Pointer,

That would be great. Let me know. I suppose it would be expecting too much for some crested seed to be thrown in the mix.

Here's an update on my post of 6/30 (I must be having fun, because the time sure flew by!).

Anyway, during this past 3 weeks, I've continued to see that bunch of elk in the field across the road below my house. I see them almost every day and they've numbered from around 10 to 23. Mostly cows and calves, although on the 23 day, there were three 5-pt bulls in the herd.

Four days ago, the farmer began cutting his hay. While he was cutting, there were 4 elk grazing in that same field. Two days ago, I counted 18 elk, including one 5-pt bull, in the field the farmer had just baled.

An hour ago (10:15 am) I looked outside and saw a large herd of elk lying down and grazing in another farmer's field about 1/2 mile south of where I had been seeing them. I got out my spotting scope and counted 99 elk.

A half hour later I again looked out, and that entire elk herd was in a tight bunch in the field below my house. Something had spooked them (maybe the other farmer, as they were in a hayfield not yet cut, and 100+ elk can do alot of damage) .

I grabbed my camera and took this picture of them in the field below my house. I tried counting them in the picture, and there is more than 99.

The county roads in this area are a mile apart. These elk have been living in this mile wide area for at lease two months. There are ranches/farms with people, horses, and cattle in this area, and there are houses, such as mine along the roads. The hayfields are semi-secluded with trees between them and the roads. The area is also within a mile or so of Interstate 90.

All of our mixes have varying amounts of AGCR. Only time it doesn't get included is when the DWR gives us the seed, which is quite rare.

'Crick- Funny you mention the drip torches. We had a smallish lightening caused fire that was burning towards a cabin and the firefighters got it stopped about 1/4 mile from the cabin. About a month later I ran into the cabin owner who asked why we put out the fire and I responded, "To keep your cabin from burning" He replied, "Heck, burning a couple more sections there would have paid to rebuild that cabin, TWICE!"

Elk can survive well in livestock areas as long as the food supply is available, and dont' seem to stress at all...I do believe that elk are damn sensitive to traffic and encroachment of man and his big homes built on his traditional feeding grounds...

Yes,

Ever notice that they don't seem to spend a lot of time around sheep (range maggots)?

Sheep must stink to elk?

I know of a ranch that uses sheep to move elk out of drainages/areas so as to let the feed come back a bit. They've got enough elk that many areas get grazed a bit too hard by them.