Ron Wilson shares stunning images of a herd of elk he photographed near the Castlegar airport on Jan. 6.
According to Wilson, the pictures capture just a small fraction of the herd, which consists of over 40 elk.
Elk in the Kootenays
Elk are a prominent species in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, inhabiting diverse landscapes from valley bottoms to mountainous terrains.
The region’s elk population has experienced significant growth, increasing from approximately 15,000 in the mid-1970s to about 20,000 in recent years, according to the B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks.
Life History
Elk are social animals.
Up to 20 or more cows, calves, and yearlings live in groups that remain apart from the smaller groups of bulls, except during the autumn mating (rutting) period.
Both groups have dominance hierarchies that they establish and maintain by various threats and displays rather than by serious fighting.
Elk use their front hooves as weapons most of the time, but bulls also use their antlers. Aggression may flare up over access to salt licks, bedding sites, wallows, or superior forage.
Typically, the largest animals displace the smaller ones. Bulls of equal size also engage in sparring bouts, which are not true fights but involve a methodical engagement of the antlers followed by pushing and head-twisting, then a gradual disengagement without any indication of dominance or submission.
As the mid-September rutting period approaches, bull Elk become more active and aggressive. They seek out the cow groups and establish harems of several cows that they jealously herd and guard.
To advertise their prowess to prospective mates and to intimidate rival bulls, they bugle, wallow, spray urine, thrash vegetation, and engage in other antics. Their unique bugle call starts as a low chesty roar, glides into a high bugling sound, and ends in a series of grunts.
The reverberations of several bugling Elk in the autumn stillness of a mountain valley is one of nature’s most exciting experiences.
During the rut, adult bulls engage in serious head-to-head dominance fights that occasionally end with the victor goring the loser with his antlers. When a cow in the harem becomes receptive to mating, the bull’s behaviour changes from aggressive herding to more submissive rituals that lead to breeding. Most cows are bred from mid to late September. The others have another estrus period about a month later, and possibly a third in November.
Elk have a gestation period of eight months. The timing of the rut has evolved so that calves are born in late May and early June (the most favourable time of year for them to grow and survive).
At birth time, pregnant cows find a secluded spot in dense cover, sometimes even on islands in rivers. Most cows have one spotted calf that weighs about 13 kg. Twins are rare. The cow hides the calf, forages in the vicinity, and returns at intervals to nurse it.
After two or three weeks, the cow and calf rejoin the matriarchal group.
Most Elk cows breed for the first time when they are just over two years old and produce a calf annually throughout life, but pregnancy rates are lower on poor ranges.
Bulls are capable of reproducing as yearlings, but they usually don’t get a chance to mate until they are four or five years old. Elk can live as long as 20 years, but most die by age 10 or 12.
Source: "Elk in British Columbia," B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Park
