December News

December

Cold and snow. That’s the weather forecast for elk country in the Rocky Mountain region during December. Colorado had enough snow during November 2002 to make elk migrate lower. Now December has arrived and the plants have really dried up. You can visually notice the difference in grasses and wild plants. Nothing appears to be edible. Everything is brown, dormant and buried under snow. This is when life becomes most difficult for elk.

It’s not easy living outdoors in Colorado. The weather changes so often you don’t know whether to wear your parka or shorts. Elk are durable animals though. They are built for harsh weather with a thick winter coat of hair. Elk lose every strand of hair two times a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. The weather triggers their body to shed or grow their hair. Winter hair is hollow if viewed with a microscope. Each strand has a supporting bridge between the walls of the hair to make it sturdy. Thousands of hollow hairs capture heat generated from the elk’s body to keep it warm. Their winter hair is three times warmer than their summer coat. Elk will also bed in thick, heavy, timbered areas on windy days. Inside their body, between the thick hide and muscle, is a clear membrane. It is similar to bubble wrap but not as thick. That’s the inner layer that also helps keep the elk warm during cold nights. This gives you an idea why elk seek out the cool, dark forests during summer months. They get hot easily. Summer hair is much thinner than their winter hair.

Staying alive. That’s what it’s all about from December until mid March. Elk will often eat the tips of willows, pine needles, aspen bark and whatever plants or grasses they can. They graze for hours and then bed. Elk re-chew their food. Their stomach has four chambers. Once bedded in a safe place they will regurgitate their food and re-chew it into finer pieces for digestion. Elk have large stomachs. If you look at just the body of an elk between their front and rear legs you will notice their large barrel-shape. Most of that area on the inside is their stomach. Pregnant cows are especially vulnerable during this time of year. They are eating for two and the food is scarce at best. They nibble near frozen creeks and marshy areas. Where grass once grew tall and green. These “wet” areas are the best places for elk to feed most all year. However, in the winter what was once prime forage is now lacking in nutrients. The grasses are now brown. Still, elk will eat as much as they can, hoping to gain enough to sustain them into March. The elk in this photo above were feeding during mid-day. Their hair was thick and standing tall. It was extremely cold this day. The wind blew steady and strong. However, these elk found an area where the trees and landscape broke the wind up to where it wasn’t too bad. Notice how brown the grass is? This area is wet in the spring and summer. If you want to find elk in the winter look for these areas.

The Colorado State Elk Refuge (CSER) is a work in progress. It’s an initiative to benefit elk in Colorado. Wyoming has the federally managed National Elk Refuge located near Jackson Hole. CSER is a volunteer-based, State project we hope will establish a healthier elk herd in Colorado. With two major locations, Northwest Colorado near Craig and Southwest near Durango, we hope to feed elk grass and alfalfa hay during the months of December – February. See our link about CSER on this site. Other areas near Walden, Rocky Mountain National Park and Trinidad are also targets for this project. This project is critical for pregnant cows and the future of the elk herd.

What do we hope to gain from this? Healthier, bigger elk that live longer. We also hope to use these areas to learn more about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Colorado has the largest herd of elk in the United States so why grow it larger? That’s a good question and we hope to work with biologists from the Colorado Department of Wildlife (CDOW) to determine if this idea is feasible. There are many environmental, social and biological questions to be answered before we can even consider getting the CSER approved by the State. In the end we think the benefits will be greater than the risks. More elk in Colorado mean more people can enjoy these animals. Elk will live longer, grow larger and help populate other herds recently introduced into areas East of the Mississippi river. Won’t more elk, congregated in wintering areas, help spread CWD? Possibly. We still don’t know how it is transmitted. However, having the majority of the elk in a specific area can also help further the study of the animals and/or confine the outbreak. Regardless of the affects of CWD, CSER could be used to repopulate the herd. CWD has also been found on ranches that raise elk. The US Department of Agriculture bought out sixteen herds of elk on private ranches in Northeastern Colorado. Thirteen of those herds tested negative for CWD. Only 4 out of 1,113 elk tested were positive. The only way currently to test an elk for CWD is to destroy them. Depopulation is NOT the answer for eliminating CWD. It will take too long to repopulate herds at this rate. A way to test animals alive must be invented to prevent the slaughter of healthy elk. It will take hard work, funding and persistence to eliminate CWD. The alternative, culling animals from the herd, isn’t acceptable. We have been living with CWD in Northeastern Colorado for over twenty years. As of December 2002, only 175 elk and deer have tested positive out of 21,800 animals taken by hunters. That’s 0.010 percent of the animals tested. Out of those 175 CWD animals only 46 were found outside of the CWD area. The senseless killing of healthy deer and elk must be stopped. Unless the meat from those animals tested negative for CWD is donated to charitable organizations. Anything else is a waste and will decimate the population of that animal in that area for many years. Wasting the animal would repeat the stupidity observed in the 1800s when market hunter’s harvested elk hides for $7.00 per hide. Mass killings nearly wiped out the elk. The population of elk in the US went from millions to around 40,000 until the government stepped in and ended the slaughter.

Winter is no picnic if you live outdoors in Colorado. Even during a mild winter. Help us negotiate the CSER by signing our petition. It is a worthy project. Help us sustain Colorado’s elk herd.