Virginia Game Elk Cam

Virginia Game Live Elk Cam! 

Brought to you by the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries • Powered by HDOnTap

 

About Elk

• Male elk are called “bulls”, while female elk are called “cows” and young elk are called “calves”.
• Elk can grow to be 7-10 feet from nose to tail and are generally 4.5 – 5 feet high at the shoulder.
• Adult bull elk typically weigh 700-900 pounds and adult cows weigh between 400-600 pounds.
• Bulls have antlers that can grow to be 5 feet in length, which they shed each year in February or March and re-grow the following spring and summer. These discarded elk antlers are mostly calcium and are quickly consumed by other wildlife species.
• Elk can live up to 20 years, though the vast majority of wild animals do not live that long.
• During the fall breeding season, known as the “rut”, bulls will bugle loudly enough to be heard as far as a mile away and spar with each other for dominance.
• Cows typically give birth to one calf per year starting in their second year.
• If you find an elk calf, walk away quickly. The mother is likely nearby, deliberately staying out of sight of you. Elk cows will leave their young in a secluded location while the mother feeds. This is normal behavior for elk and deer. Do not remain to “make sure the mother returns”; she may not return if you are there and if she does she may attack.
• Predators of elk in Virginia include black bears and perhaps coyotes. Even then, they mainly target newborn calves or infirm adults.
  Elk are herbivores and will eat a wide range of vegetation. They prefer early-successional habitats such as fields and younger forests.

 

History of Elk in Virginia 

Elk were historically found throughout eastern North America, including Virginia. However, by the late 1800s, unsustainable hunting and habitat alteration resulted in the extinction of the eastern elk. The last survivor of Virginia’s original elk herd was killed in 1855 in Clarke County.

In 1916, the newly-created Virginia Game Commission authorized the importation and release of elk in 12 counties in Virginia, but most releases quickly failed due to a lack of suitable habitat and a lack of knowledge of elk ecology. By 1970, elk once again were gone from Virginia. Factors such as disease, unsustainable harvest, removal of crop-depredating elk, poaching, and isolation of small, unsustainable herds contributed to the elk’s demise.

From 1997 through 2002, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources translocated approximately 1,550 elk from six different states and released them in various sites throughout the southeastern portion of the state. Almost immediately, the fast-growing herd began to spill over into Virginia.  By the mid-2000’s, with public interest mounting, the Board of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries began to consider the prospect of restoring elk to Virginia.

 

Elk Resortoration 

Between 2012 and 2014, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, a total of 71 elk were relocated into Buchanan County, Virginia, from southeast Kentucky, plus 4 additional calves born in quarantine. By September 2015, Virginia’s restored elk herd was estimated at 120 individuals. Since their release, the elk have largely stayed close to the release site. During aerial surveys completed in 2014, two herds of non-translocated elk were seen in Wise County (a herd of twelve and a herd of four). These elk were likely natural immigrants from Kentucky. Elk that are not part of the restoration effort have also been spotted in Wise, Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, Lee, Tazewell, Bland, Scott, and Washington counties. VDGIF is currently developing a new Elk Management Plan to guide management actions related to the growing elk herd. For more information about Virginia's elk restoration program visit the VDGIF's website. 

 

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Last Edited on 2018-3-10

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