|
Season
|
Herd
|
Motivations
|
Locations in Boxley Valley
|
|
Spring
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cow Elk
|
Security, Gestation &
Childbirth
|
North Boxley Valley, isolated from
herd bulls.
|
|
|
Bull Elk
|
Security, Isolation from
Cow Elk
|
Upper Wilderness area for biggest
bulls, more south end.
|
|
Summer
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cow Elk
|
Calving June & July
Isolation during calving
Security in herds with
calves
|
Isolated areas during calving -- river
cane lines, tree lines, remote fields.
Mostly in central to northern fields.
|
|
|
Bull Elk
|
Isolation from cow elk
until fall.
Growing antlers, in velvet
Middle to late August,
bulls scrape velvet.
|
Mostly in southern fields and the
upper wilderness.
More timid than cow elk, generally
gone from fields a half hour after
sunrise.
|
|
Fall
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bull Elk
|
Pre-rut behaviors, some
late scraping.
Mating season (rut) late
September to Mid-
November, some later.
|
Pre-rut behavior moves bulls into
proximity to cow herds. Young bulls
often mix in.
Rut begins, big elk arrive from upper
wilderness around first week in
October.
Bull fights for mating rights through
entire rut.
|
|
|
Cow Elk
|
Mating
|
Cows become estrous. Start of
estrous different for old cows and
yearlings (perhaps staggered two
weeks).
Cows return to estrous in 30 day
cycles until successfully bred.
|
|
Winter
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cow Elk
|
Security
|
Herds move to central and north
valley locations. Some herd bulls
persist into December.
|
|
|
Bull Elk
|
Security
|
Bachelor bull herds form after rut.
These herds are segregated by size.
Bulls move to Upper Wilderness and
south valley locations.
|