Elk - Coming Soon to a County Near You

Once in a while I write an off topic piece.  Since I do blog about my trips to the mountains, it is only marginally off topic.  Last year I wrote an article for the blog entitled The Thing in the Woods: published on the blog on Wednesday, May 21, 2014.  The article was about animals that were in the woods near my home that one would not normally expect to be there.  The list of creatures included chimpanzees and alligators.  I wrote the article as a cautionary tale to remind people that they need to be aware of their surroundings and not take it for granted that animals not normally found here won’t show up in unexpected locations.  The blog post also touched on animals that were once in Virginia and were thought to be coming back such as wolves or animals recently migrated to Virginia such as coyotes.  Today’s blog post is about another animal coming back to Virginia, Elk.

 

My husband and I were returning from a trip to the Mountains earlier this year.  As we drove down the I-64 corridor towards home, my husband said that he had seen a large horned animal and thought it was an elk.  I was surprised.  As far as I knew there had not been Elk in Virginia for a long time.  (The last Elk was thought to have been shot near Front Royal in 1855.) I decided to do some research to find out if Elk were back in Virginia.

 

Yes, Elk are back in Virginia.  An Elk restoration project began in three Virginia counties began in 2010.  The counties are Buchanan, Dickenson, and Wise.  It is illegal to hunt Elk in those counties, but according to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries website it is legal to hunt Elk in any county except those three counties. (Hunting is allowed during the appropriate hunting season and in the approved manner of course. See the Game and Inland Fisheries Website for details.)   And now that Elk are back in Virginia, there are a few things you should know about them.  I am passing this information on because sometimes what you don’t know can hurt you.  Right now, there are so few Elk in Virginia that an encounter is unlikely.  However, lessons learned from western states that do have significant Elk populations can be useful here.  (By the way, a group of Elk is not called a herd.  It is called a Gang). 

 

Elk can be four to five feet tall and weigh as much as 1,100 pounds.  For the most part, Elk are fairly calm.  However, there are two times of the year that the animals are more likely to be aggressive.  The spring calving season, generally May and June, is one of those times.  Mother calves are very protective and have been known to stomp people who get too close to their calves.  Authorities in parks out west recommend getting no closer than 25 yards from an Elk even if it appears calm or tame.

 

Elk calves are known to be food for wolves, black bears, grizzly bears, coyotes, and cougars.  We have wolves, coyotes, and black bears in Virginia.  As I wrote in my last article, there have been reports of cougars being seen in Virginia although it is not officially confirmed.  If the Elk are calving, it is possible that predators are nearby.  You should be keeping an eye out for them as well. 

 

If an Elk starts coming towards you it is recommended that you back away quickly, raising your arms to look bigger, and swing your jacket if you have one.  Do not turn your back and run.  You can’t see if it is charging if your back is to it.  If the Elk does attack and you are unable to get away, drop to the ground and use your arms to cover your head and neck. 

 

If you come upon an Elk and calf while walking your dog the Elk is more likely to attack the dog than the person.  Release the dog so it can run away and back away.  Reconnect with your pet once you are well away from the Elk.

 

In some states, Elk may come in contact with populated areas.  The Elk are generally ambivalent about people but can become aggressive if disturbed.  If it is calving or rutting season it has been recommended that people peer around the corner of a building before stepping around it.  Suddenly confronting an Elk may make it think that you are a danger to the calf or challenging it.  Elk can and will stomp a person even if it was calm just a moment before.  We are a long way from having Elk in populated areas in Virginia, but it might be good to know if you happen to live in area where Elk might be roaming.

1. The other time of year that Elk are more likely to be aggressive is the mating season.  The mating season generally runs from early September to mid-October. When males are in rut, they are more likely to be aggressive to people and vehicles.  Elk have also been known to mock fight with items on people’s lawns.  Wires, shrubbery, and other objects can become tangled in their antlers.   Some states ask people to remove lawn ornaments, nets, or objects that may tangle in antlers during the mating season.

Right now the Elk population in Virginia is small, but it is growing.  As I said earlier in the article, my husband saw an Elk on the I-64 corridor.  That is a fair way from the original counties where the Elk were reintroduced.  As the Elk population grows, more hikers and campers are likely to come across one unexpectedly.  It is a good idea to be familiar with the animal and its behavior because Elk may soon be coming to a county near you.