Elk & Cattle.

[ElkNut1]

Many times I've been asked if elk & cattle will hang around each other, well here's a photo that was sent to me a while back! Maybe you have one two or additional info for those who've wondered the same thing?

ElkNut1

[Buglemaster]

No pics, but have saw elk & cattle frequently in the same imediate area with little regard to each other. On the other hand, someone post a pic of elk & sheep together.. Hehehe

[cnelk]

Here's one

[buglmin]

Paul, we have elk and cattle together in the same field every monring and evening here on the ranch, and the elk do run the horses off...
say what you want bout sheep, but the Elk Foundation has pictures of how sheep help control invasive weeds on the national forest.

[Swede]

There have been quite a number of scientific studies to document the relationship between cattle stocking and elk numbers. There are a lot of factors to consider. Cattle stocking levels, slope steepness, and available forage and type to name those that come to mind. Social interactions are not as well known, but in some areas elk are more tolerant than in others. In general the greater the cattle use, the lower the elk use will be. It gets to a place where I hunt that cattle can over graze the range to such an extent that only a few elk will remain on steep slopes out of the range of cattle. If anyone is really interested in understanding this interesting relationship, I would recommend reading "Elk Of North America Ecology And Management" by Jack Ward Thomas and Daniel P. Metz, specifically pages 418-423.

[easeup]

my experience is like that of swede in that maybe the stocking rates were too high for the area and there was little to no grass forage remaining.
elk moved on. if you notice in the pics posted above there is plenty of green to eye level.
this is certainly not the case in a lot of places.

[wideangle]

We changed hunting areas because cattle were grazing all available feed in the National Forest region we love to hunt.
What was once a productive hunt area was over grazed and water sources trampled.
We now hunt road closed areas with very few cattle allotments.

[Swede]

Wideangle: You did not per chance hunt the Malheur N.F. aka Manure N.F. did you? I believe it is the worst. From all I have seen, it is obvious management on the Forest just does not care if they are meeting the Environmental Assessment standards that they signed off on, and do not enforce their permits. Even the way they measure compliance is a joke.

[elkmtngear]

Wideangle: You did not per chance hunt the Malheur N.F. aka Manure N.F. did you? I believe it is the worst. From all I have seen, it is obvious management on the Forest just does not care if they are meeting the Environmental Assessment standards that they signed off on, and do not enforce their permits. Even the way they measure compliance is a joke.

Spent some time in the Malheur NF last Season...saw nothing but disappointment (and cattle)

The NF Wilderness area where we normally hunt in Colorado often has elk and cattle in the same areas..but I've noticed more cattle and less elk in recent years. This year being somewhat dry may be a problem in that regard.

[BarW]

Most spots I hunted last year had been over grazed by cattle and the elk had moved to higher/steeper elevations to find better food sources.