Elk Calf Study: Wealth Of Info

Nobody said it would be easy.

Biologists from the Pa. Game Commission encountered some interesting challenges as they combed through the sprawling elk range of Cameron, Elk and other counties to study newborn calves. It's part of the agency's ongoing elk herd management plan.

Game Biologist Jon DeBerti reports that, despite close encounters with rattlesnakes and one elk mother who didn't appreciate his team's interest in her progeny, the research has been going well.

"Rattlers and elk seem to share some similar habitat interests, and given the amount of territory we cover, we can't help but to have some chance encounters," DeBerti said.

The calf searches were conducted from late May through the third week of June. The three-year study, which concludes next summer, should provide biologists with more insight into elk calf movements and dispersal, habitat usage and survival.

Elk survey team members track and observe pregnant cows to determine where to search for calves. When it appears a cow elk has birthed a calf, the team moves in. During the three years, about 90 newborn to five-day-old elk calves will receive ear tags and collars which emit a signal for tracking.

The Game Commission needs new data on calf mortality, since the elk range has expanded considerably since similar studies were conducted more than a decade ago. The elk herd has also doubled in size. Current population is in the neighborhood of 650, the agency reports. During a fouryear study in the 1990s, 71 percent of the collared calves survived their first year.

"We'd like to determine if elk are more susceptible to predators or other mortality factors in the new areas they inhabit," DeBerti explained. "We know plenty about elk in southwestern Elk and western Cameron counties, where elk have existed for more than 80 years since they were reintroduced. But we are trying to learn more about the new populations in southern Cameron, northern Clearfield and western Clinton counties."

By monitoring the tagged and collared elk, the Game Commission should be able to obtain better information on herd growth. Although the agency conducts a census, those figures are inexact.

"We're missing a significant number of yearlings in field counts (and) we don't have a good handle on yearling survival," said Game Commission's Tony Ross, a wildlife management supervisor. "Brainworm appears to be most prevalent in yearlings, and it's possible there has been more brainworm mortality than we've been able to ascertain. Time and telemetry will tell."