There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years.
![roosevelt elk roosevelt elk](https://www.goabc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/species-rooseveltelk2.jpg)
Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. You will also need to carry a rifle capable of hitting with authority at 500 or 600 yards, but hope for a shot at 300 or 400 yards. Unless you have horses, plan on long steep walks and carry binoculars to scan the area being hunted. Idaho Fish and Game has relocated or killed a number of wolves in the area so that there is only one pack in the area in hopes of seeing the elk herd rebound to pre-1996-1997 numbers.Ĭalling is also an effective method of hunting Rocky Mountain Elk, but under hunting pressure, Rocky Mountain Elk, which are nomadic by nature anyway, tend to leave the area for greener and safer pastures.
![roosevelt elk roosevelt elk](https://i0.wp.com/qlandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roosevelt-Elk.jpg)
The Lolo Zone along the Idaho/Montana border is of some concern as the elk numbers have not rebounded as fast as hoped since the harsh winter of 1996-1997 killed most of the elk in Units 9 and 10. In Idaho, elk numbers have remained at healthy levels in most pars of the state, and the hunting forecast remains good. Sometimes we have heard them bugling after we have turned in for the night. Visitors at the Madison Campground in Yellowstone National Park are often treated to bugling elk in the meadows along the Madison River from about 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. They may come down to lower grasslands during part of the day during spring and summer, but return to the higher elevations during the evening. They stay higher up during warmer weather and migrate down to lower elevations in the winter. In the summer, they migrate to the subalpine forests and alpine basins. Rocky Mountain Elk have winter ranges that are typically in open forests and floodplain marshes in the lower elevations. These elk have more impressive antlers than Roosevelt Elk. Rocky Mountain Elk are found in the Rocky Mountains and the adjacent ranges of Western North America. One of the best places to see them is at the Dean’s Creek Elk Viewing Area, which is 10 miles east of Reedsport, Oregon, on Highway 38. Roosevelt Elk are less likely to wander than nomadic Rocky Mountain Elk, but they remain invisible, and when pressured by hunters, Roosevelt Elk tend to hunker down in the dense Pacific forests they call home.
![roosevelt elk roosevelt elk](https://cdn2.outdoorphotographer.com/contests/625611/mt_shooter_72092_635952_18240eb973_b7db73093d-mt_shooter-ceb1804crop.jpg)
The demeanor of Roosevelt Elk seems to be similar to white-tailed deer than Rocky Mountain Elk.
![roosevelt elk roosevelt elk](http://stevewphotography.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Roosevelt-Elk.jpg)
However, bugling will often bring Roosevelt to you. In the congested, wet confines of the coastal range, hearing them bugle is less likely since the sound is quickly soaked up by the dense vegetation. There is a myth that Roosevelt Elk don’t bugle. They are the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk in North America, having bigger bodies and smaller antlers than Rocky Mountain Elk.Ĭalling is how most hunters bag Roosevelt Elk. Roosevelt Elk, named after President Theodore Roosevelt, inhabit the rainforests of Oregon and Washington and were introduced to Kodiak, Alaska, in the Afognak and Raspberry Islands in 1928. In the United States, the subspecies we are most familiar with are Roosevelt Elk, Rocky Mountain Elk, Tule Elk of California, Manitoban Elk in the Midwestern states and Canadian prairie provinces, and the now-extinct Eastern and Merriam’s Elk.įor this column, I will concentrate on Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain Elk because they are the elk that are prominent in the Rocky Mountain Northwest and the Pacific Northwest coastal states of Washington and Oregon. Norway even has elk that look more like moose to Americans. With all the subspecies, elk are pretty widely distributed in various places around the world.