Elk Forage

[Swede]

What are the elk feeding on in your area during the time you hunt? Do you know where the feed in and would you recognize it if you see it? Have you ever opened up the stomach of your elk or your friend's elk to see what is inside? Elk feed on different plants at different times of the year. Things like rain and frost can change what they are feeding on.
Mushrooms are like candy to the elk, and they will move around a lot to gorge in them. When I see where the elk have been heavily browsing on high brush where the cattle have overgrazed an allotment, I know good feed is scarce. I have seen elk stomachs filled with what I call Pine grass. They seem to go for it after a good frost, or the area is overgrazed by cattle. Elk generally prefer forbs and good grass. Alfalfa on a nearby ranch is a delight and so is clover.
I know those are a lot of questions but knowing the answers and where the forage is can give you an advantage when you go hunting. Knowing these things and where there are good saddles on a ridge, or good cover corridors can make a difference in your success.

[Elkhunttoo]

This is kinda a topic I grew up with. My dad spent over 30 years studying grazing and allotments. He worked at a research department on range management. I’m not near as good now (43 years old) as I was in high school with the names of plants. I spent my fair share of time in high school jobs clipping, and weight grasses, forbs and brush. My dad studied a lot of what sheep and cattle ate and therefore also spent a lot of time learning what elk and deer focused on.

Honestly when elk and deer come into my tree stands I enjoy just watching them and seeing what the are going to eat and watching their behaviors

I’m definitely not an expert in this department but I do feel I’m better then average and when I have questions, I have a dad and two older brothers that have over a combined 50 years of studying forage and grazing so I’m definitely in this area that if I don’t have the answer, I can find them

[Swede]

Thanks Elkhuntoo. I don't think knowing the names of plants is all that important unless we are trying to communicate that info to someone else. If I see a plant species that is being used for forage and call it Post Toasties, so what? If I see clover is being eaten by the elk and refer to it as Kelloggs Corn Flakes, at least I can associate it with the elk are currently eating, it is good enough. This season when you work on an elk you or your friend has killed, check inside the stomach to see what is inside. When you are out hunting pay a little attention to what is being consumed by the elk. You just might find that the elk are eating something that is not everywhere in abundance.

[Lefty]

Im kind of chuckling with your comment.
My bear hunting friend makes a statement regarding bears:

the woods ietheir grocery store"
they eat what's available and what they want

Ive seen elk in September go 10 or miles to feed on beet tops ( thus August 1 st 100 tag hunt, g lands south of the Idaho deserts) And some ny go for the water.

Ivw watchched elk eat choke cherry and quakie .leaves

Ive watched for fays elk eating cheet grass while others wander into the sagebrush to chew tough stringy grasses .

And yet another buddy killed a big bull late rut that spent nearly his whole september in a corn field

[Swede]

Lefty, I think you are missing the point. It is great that you shave seen elk eating on choke cherry and you have a friend with an elk in the corn field. If I observed that my corn was being eaten by an elk, I could plan an ambush there.
What I have observed is that elk have their guts full of certain grasses and forbs and maybe some brushy leaves like elderberry. I have seen them in mass munching on mushrooms, etc. When I see elk, for years are eating grasses that are six inches long, and that those full-length grasses are not in the meadows and draws or on the broad ridges, but on the side upper slopes, I know that the elk are staying on the slopes away from the cattle and people.
Maybe where you hunt the elk guts are full of alfalfa. Where do you suppose they got that? Maybe in your area the food the elk are eating is very abundant and knowing what they are foraging on does not narrow your hunting area much, but knowing what they are eating can help you focus a little. Knowing what elk are foraging on is just a tool for those who can use the information. I know it has, along with other information, been helpful to me in locating elk.

[saddlesore]

Elk eat different things at different times of the year. If you go scouting in the summer and see what they are eating, it will be different than in hunting seasons. Elk will also eat less palatable food and what they don't usually eat when heavily pressured from hunting. Survival is more important to them than favored forage.

[Swede]

Saddlesore X2. And in the summer, including early archery season, the bulls and cows will be separated with the bulls hanging out in bunches where the forage is sparser. I suppose partly due to the need for security. Elk eating pine grass on the upper slopes is likely a security need and due to cattle overgrazing in the lower meadows. The best part is when you see these things you can eliminate a lot of unproductive hunting area.

[Lefty]

Generally what Ive seen with many species of animals, many have the "luxury of having what they need readily available and favored habitat.
I like good vanilla icecream the solid real cream stuff.
My daughter likes cookie dough, granddaughter likes bubblegum


Somewhere north of you, other side of the Columbia, Up the Washougal river there wasa FS campground with a small reservoir,, One summer there was a bull elk in velvet dipping his head like a moose and feeding on whatever plant growth,,, only elk Ive ever seen doing that

[Swede]

Lefty: I am not sure I understand your point, so let me make an analogy which you can correct if I am mistaken.

A family lived off the food they raised on their farm throughout the summer and early fall. They are meat raised on the farm, potatoes, fruits, vegetables and milk, but you saw one of their kids with a gumball, so you discredit the whole idea that they are living off of farm raised food. You would not go to their home to locate the family because you saw that store-bought gumball.

[Lefty]

No, no no,,,
Some elk prefer other different feeds when all are offered the same feed.
And often some game prefer not to travel to a better more nutritionist feed. Amd some will travel.

We have a 2 acre patch of green cheet grass often a group of elk will be out on it feeding generally cows and calves,, the bull or two a few dry cows are feeding on grasses and brous along the quakie thicket and almost are never on the green patch.

[Swede]

Thanks for the clarification, Lefty. I appreciate it.
Where I hunt most elk run in herds and pretty much forage on the same vegetation. I understand there are cow/calf herds and bull bunches, and they feed on different things. The last 5X5 I killed was not with the herd but was not very far behind. Sitting in a tree stand I have days that go by with no elk sightings. Sometimes it goes on that way for well over a week then suddenly there is a herd, followed by stragglers. The stragglers may be up to a day behind. If you miss getting an elk when they are near, you are likely in for a long wait as they move around on a circuit.
I can see in their guts pretty much where they have been feeding. The species and even the length of the grass tell the story. That kind of analysis is not a GPS tracker, but it can narrow down the places you hunt. Is it perfect? Absolutely not.

[Lefty]

When hunting the desert often those elk would travel 10-12 miles to beets and water. ( I had trail cam footage every couple pastures
I watched the herd of 300-500 move along the Montana Idaho border 5-7 miles depending on wind and if there was any presure from hunters They were eating what ever was available From Sept 12th until December 10th the day I killed a cow,,,,