Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Survival of an elk calf

I was hunting the the foothills of the Sierra Madres in southern Wyoming a couple of weeks ago. It was during bull season and I saw a cow walk past me with a calf that looked to be nearly half grown. Then two days ago I was in that same area and shot a cow. I didn't see a calf but my son was with me and said he saw a calf run out of the brush when I fired, so I am thinking it was the same cow I saw during bull season.

From the size of the calf I saw earlier I assumed it would have been weaned. It was way too big to still have its spots. But when I field dressed that cow her teats were swollen and the milk bag was full.

A blizzard hit southern Wyoming last night so we just got out of camp in time, but I cannot help wondering about that calf. Not much I can do now, but do you people who know about these things think it will survive? How long after a calf is weaned will its mother still make milk?

in good habitat they'll be (at least mostly) weaned by 2 months (late Aug-early Sept). As long as the calf is near other elk and over 125#, it should be fine.

If it takes up with a group of adult cows and their calves, the odds of surviving the winter are very good. If it doesn't socialize with other elk, the odds are somewhat slimmer.

I'd agree with that last one... the calf will do something stupid to get itself killed if it doesn't find a herd to follow around. And that's exactly what it will be doing. The blizzard won't likely kill it, it'll know how to stay warm enough on it's own, but it needs to follow the habits of other elk so it doesn't walk in front of another hunter or predator

The mortality rate among calves the first winter can be high even when the calf is with the cow. It can be a dilemma whether to shoot the cow or the calf. Other elk will adopt orphaned calves quickly. Being part of a herd is more critical for survival further North, higher up, or during harsher winters.

To put it another way, I've read some results of a study recently that indicates that elk in the more mild climates tend to have far more of the loner elk that live their entire lives without joining a herd or joining with only 1 or 2 other elk. The point of the study was that in mild climates it is not critical to be part of a herd for survival.

The point made by exbiologist is excellent as well. Learning from other elk is also very important for the reasons mentioned.

Yeah, I figured if it finds its way to other cows it could make it. Even if it's still nursing surely it's eating grass too (?). I remember as a kid my grandad would have yearling calves that would still be sucking on their cow way after they should. There were a lot of other elk in the area so hopefully it will join up with other cows, but it didn't have much time. Lot of snow falling there now.

I don't know how many more years I'll have to live or animals I'll kill before I stop thinking about stuff like this. Probably never.

When it comes to antlerless tags I'm prone to killing the tender young of the year instead of a potentially 10 year old cow/doe. The young of the year are the most vulnerable to predation and winter loss, the old cow/doe knows the ropes already and has a better chance of survival and producing next years offspring.

If I had a choice I think I would have taken the calf too, but like I said I didn't see her before I shot. My son saw it run off. Considering that the pack back to my camp wasn't that close, if I did not have my son with me, that surely would have been another consideration.

Chances are pretty good that calf will do alright unless it can't get feed due to deep snow this winter.
I've seen here calves that have probably lost their moms to being shot form up their own little band and hang out.
A few years ago the roads were terrible so I had to drive the wife out to the oil and back everyday where we left here car. A bull calf everymorning would be sleeping right beside the car when we'ld get there in the morning. The weather broke and we never saw that calf again. Couple years later she shot a young 6x behind the barn. I always teased her that was probably that calf being close to his adopted mommy car.

Elk calves actually have a very low mortality rate, unless it is a tough winter and there are a ton of wolves. They are far bigger than deer fawns, have a more diverse diet, better insulating hair and longer legs to get through snow and brush. I see a lot of young calves on the winter ranges each year without mothers, especially after cow season. I would easily say that 15% of calves are motherless, but do just fine. Since elk are herd animals, the herd really doesn't care if the calves are orphans or not. The bulls are off in bachelor herds, so they don't pick on the calves. I often see the motherless calves hanging out together and romping around. If the calf elk still had spots, I "might" worry about it a bit, but again, they get VERY vocal and will find the herd and be fine. Even if the herd is a canyon away, they will find each other. They have the same migration routs and they are all very vocal and stink, so they easily find more of their kind. Flinch

Elk calves have a fairly high mortality rate, but that should not influence your decision on whether to harverst a cow or calf. As previously noted, orphaned calves will be adopted by other elk.

20% mortality during the first 13 weeks is pretty standard and that doesn't deviate much from one study to another. That 20% is during summer - well before the calves first winter. Even farm raised elk have 5% to 15% calf mortality. Winter survival is far less predictable and has far greater variance.

Also consider that even in those areas where the 1 year survival rate is considered low (20 surviving calves per 100 births) that is still enough in many areas for the total herd size to actually increase.

I shot a cow elk this year and didn't see the calf till she was going down. Felt bad about that, I would have taken the calf it I'd noticed it in time. My brother went back to the same area the next morning. Used a cow call and called the little guy and shot him with no trouble. he was lost and lonely. I was glad brother had an antlerless tag and was willing to help out. In my opinion shooting a cow with a calf is killing two animals around here - but we are on the very northern edge of the elk range and our winters and wolf predation are both pretty hard on big game.
We had an open bull/calf moose season here for many years, the biologist's reasoning was that to increase the population, breeding cows need to be protected. Many calves will not make it anyway, and like bulls, calves are far more "expendable".

20% is still very low in the grand scheme of nature. Deer mortality is more than double that. Big horn sheep, goats and moose are really high. Elk have one of the lowest mortality rates of any cloven hooved animal. They are very adaptive in diet and climate. The whole "herd" structure and body size doesn't hurt much either. Flinch

Our calf/to cow ratio in Western Montana these days is anywhere from 11/100 to 25/100. With these numbers we aren't raising elk. We're going the other way, and fast.

I'm not sure what our calf/cow ratio is, but our bull to cow ratio is 44/100. Sounds like we need to kill some bulls. what do you guys think is a healthy bull/cow ration? Sorry for hijacking the thread, just seeking knowledge. Tim.

44/100 in an unconfined population is pretty high, even a well-managed one. The competition means that most of the big-antlered bulls do the breeding, and the selection pressure is for larger antlers. I think that most game managers would be more than satisfied with that ratio. Whether or not the genetic potential of that competition is realized depends on the quality of the habitat.

It sounds great, but I have gotten excited about areas with high numbers of bulls before only to learn that most all of them were raghorns, margin bulls, or spikes. If there are antler point restrictions it can be tough to find a legal bull.
You should still check it out. Maybe you will have found something. Good luck.

50/50. The chances of surviving the winter are reduced somewhat. But elk are also herd animals, and so the calf can hook up with tolerant cow/calf bunches, and continue to "learn the ropes" of migration, winter feed, ect......



October is when the calves are at the end of weaning, but the cow will still have milk. Virtually every cow accompanied by a calf will have milk in her breasts if killed in October. But very few still have milk if killed in November. The lack of milk is unlikely to affect the calf's survival--mom has had enough of nursing by then anyway......


Casey

In unhunted elk populations (like around Banff National Park), 44/100 isn't high. We are just used to hunted population statistics--which are often skewed far from the norm.......

Wildlife agencies stateside used to think elk died of old age at 10-12 years, it's now been demonstrated that cow elk can normally live until 14, even 16 years old. Bulls probably don't live near that long.

So the average age in a hunted population is a lot younger than what would be "natural" in a unhunted or lightly hunted population. And that always begs the question how much does the younger age structure affect the physiological make-up of a population? How does it affect survival, breeding behavior, foraging ability, ect?


Casey

Exactly--it's all about age.....


Casey