Elk
The wapiti, or elk, is the largest of Colorado’s native deer.
About This Species
The wapiti, or elk, is the largest of Colorado’s native deer. Commonly called "elk" in this country, wapiti is a preferred name because elsewhere in the world "elk" refers to the animal Americans call moose. Our wapiti is a Holarctic species, which means it occurs in both North America and Eurasia; in Eurasia it is known as the red deer. Whatever we choose to call it, this is an impressive and important animal in Colorado.
Disease
Chronic Wasting Disease
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose. Colorado Parks and Wildlife researchers and biologists have studied chronic wasting disease on numerous fronts - their work and expertise on this disease is recognized both nationally and internationally.
Conservation and Research
Bringing Elk Back to Colorado
In the 1900s only 40,000 elk remained in all of North America. The elk's dramatic demise was attributed to unregulated market hunting. The dedication of CPW staff and our conservation partners have brought this incredible species back through rigorous studies and relocation efforts and have managed to grow elk populations back to the thriving numbers Colorado enjoys today. At over 280,000 animals, Colorado’s elk population is the largest in the world.
50
In 1916, Colorado imported 50 elk from Wyoming to re-establish dwindling herds. The elk were transported and released in Idaho Springs and the Greenhorn Mountains in Pueblo County.
280,000
The number of elk in Colorado in the mid 2020s.
Researching and Protecting Elk
Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in cooperation with partner groups, continues to conduct research, protect key winter range and migration corridors and improve statewide habitat to ensure Colorado's elk herds remain abundant for future generations.
About the Project
The sunflower fields around Dove Creek have experienced high rates of damage from elk and deer. Colorado Parks and Wildlife paid farmers in the region roughly a quarter of a million dollars annually and routinely allocated kill permits, distribution hunts and private land only doe/cow hunts to eliminate animals causing damage. Pressure from local growers over crop damage and frustration from the general public over kill permits prompted Colorado Parks and Wildlife to evaluate other management options for reducing crop damage caused by elk and deer.
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife partnered with wildlife damage researchers from the USDA National Wildlife Research Center to test various non-lethal solutions to reduce crop damage.
- Such techniques include polyrope electric fencing, winged fencing, and an organic repellent. In addition, researchers are tracking deer and elk movement patterns using GPS collars.
- The data will be used to identify distribution and migration patterns so that public hunts can be designed that target those elk and deer causing conflicts with farmers. In addition, deer and elk location data will be used to model damage potential in relation to field locations, surrounding habitat types, human development, and topography.
- Information about the location of a crop field in the context of the overall landscape will allow CPW to work with local growers to identify appropriate management strategies to reduce game damage.
The challenges facing elk management in western landscapes are increasing at a rapid pace as changes to habitat, climate and predator communities influence elk population demography and behavior.
In an effort to understand these new challenges and effectively manage elk in the future, researchers across seven states in western North America began to communicate about shared management challenges and research needs. Collaborators decided that a region-wide study across all the states would provide managers a big-picture view of how broad-scale drivers are influencing elk populations.
Therefore, CPW collaborated with state and federal wildlife agencies in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Utah to investigate large-scale temporal and spatial patterns in adult female elk survival and cause-specific mortality.
Results from this study will help wildlife managers better respond to changing environmental conditions in the future.
Collaborators for this project include personnel from the USGS Montana Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit, USGS Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit, USGS Wyoming Cooperative Research Unit, Idaho Fish and Game, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and Yellowstone National Park.
- Modeling elk-to-livestock transmission risk to predict hotspots of brucellosis spillover
- Migration, movements, and survival in a partially migratory elk (Cervus canadensis) population
- Elk Balance Threats from Humans, Cougars, and Wolves by Shifting Habitat use Between Day and Night
- Experimental SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Elk and Mule Deer
- Elk conservation : Response of elk to human recreation at multiple scales: demographic shifts and behaviorally mediated fluctuations in local abundance
- Quantifying impacts of recreation on elk (Cervus canadensis) using novel modeling approaches
- Existing evidence on the effects of climate variability and climate change on ungulates in North America: a systematic map
- Cougars, wolves, and humans drive a dynamic landscape of fear for elk
- Wildlife friendly fence designs and elk fence crossing behavior
More Information:
Physical Characteristics
Bull elk can weigh up to 900 pounds and are 4 1/2 feet tall at the shoulder and 6 1/2 feet long, with cows weighing 400-600 pounds, 5 feet tall, and 8 feet long.
Elk are a deep copper brown with a lighter colored rump and lower legs.
Bull elk have bifurcating (forking) antlers that can weigh up to 40 pounds, with the main beams of around 55 inches.
Wapiti have two upper incisors called ivories that are the remnants of ancient tusks.
Range
Wapiti range throughout mountainous parts of the state, foraging in meadows and alpine tundra. Wapiti are gregarious animals, sometimes moving in herds of several hundred individuals.
Habitat
Before the arrival of European settlers, wapiti ranged nearly throughout the area that is now Colorado, including the eastern plains. Market hunting nearly drove Colorado's elk to extinction. By 1910 only a few hundred elk remained; restoration of the herds was helped by transplanting elk from Yellowstone.
Diet
Wapiti are grazers; that is, they eat mostly grasses, when available. In summer, the diet may be 80 to 90 percent grasses. Bark and twigs of trees and shrubs may contribute half the winter diet. Wapiti sometimes congregate at haystacks in severe weather.
Reproduction
Mating is over by mid-October. Usually a single, obscurely spotted calf is born in May or June, after a gestation period of 8 1/2 months. Females breed first at 3 years of age, males about four. In the fall rut, bulls spar for dominance and possession of harems of several cows. Colorado boasts the largest population of elk of any state and hunters harvest many thousands each year.
Threats to Species
- Vehicle conflict
- Disease
- Poaching