Elk Dirt or Dry Wallows... fact or fiction

[WapitiTalk1]

I've ran into quite a few of these over the years. I've called them dirt wallows, dry wallows, or yarding areas. They can be on a protruding, semi-open flat knob on a sidehill where bulls have stood to bang out location bugles (I also call these bugle points), they can be on benches, on the edges or even in the middle of dry meadows, or they can be somewhat close to an actual wet wallow area. They all bear the same similarities. They are not dug down to water (oftentimes, there is not water beneath), they can be smallish to pretty large, are seemingly not natural mineral licks, and... they have been rolled in, whizzed in, and generally show that bulls have rolled around in the dry, oftentimes very powdery dirt. Have you cats seen these in the elkwoods before? Do you think they are actually dry wallows bulls use for rut bullhood advertising purposes? I do but am interested in hearing what other elk hunters think of my observations. Here's a crappy pic of one in ID. There are roll marks in this one, horn marks by the roll marks, whizz marks on whizz marks, and seemingly used by bulls most years. Thoughts on the dirt/dry wallow theory?

Dry Wallow.jpg (264.33 KiB) Viewed 3481 times

[CurlyTail]

I see these every year also. One was out in the middle of a very dry burned area that the Elk only frequent under the cover of darkness and adjacent to a bedding area. The other was on a saddle between valleys that is a common travel route. I think they are just another wallow where the Elk have to provide their own water.

I put a trail camera on one of these dry wallows once and it was not well attended.

[Gselkhunter]

They are dusting pits used for insect control. Mesquites and flies are not the only insects elk have to deal with. The dust helps slow down biting insects like fleas and ticks that get under the thinner summer hair.

[msd1228]

Interesting! Truth be told, I haven't actually come across something like this in my area. What Greg said about dusting for insect control makes perfect sense though - I know several other types of animals will do the same thing.

[timberland]

Last year my hunting partner witnessed a bull rolling around on the ground like one would in a wallow. He kicked and rolled and the dust was flying. this was after a fight with another bull

[ElkNut1]

Dry wallows are generally very small in size, in most cases no bigger than the elk that use them. The photo appears to be a natural mineral lick that both cows & bulls will use. Look at the entrance to the main body it's as beat down as the rest of the torn up area this represents lots of use, dry wallows do not get a lot of action.

ElkNut1

[Rangerz]

We found one last year. It was about the same size as an elk. There was a little creek near by, so he obviously wanted to dry roll. It was fairly deep and looked like it had been used for a while.

Put a little piece of sage in it and it was gone in 2 days.

[WapitiTalk1]

You're probably right about this spot/pic Paul. Althought this spot is bone dry, had signs of bulls rolling around and whizzing, it is probably a natural mineral lick first and foremost. It was the only pic I had as an example . Yes sir, most of the dry wallows/yarding areas I've found are smaller than this but I gotta say, I've found them on dry sidehills, on flats, saddles, small benches, etc., that I'm reasonably sure weren't licks and were pretty good sized.. maybe 20' by 20' or a bit larger. I may have a better picture of one.. I'll dig around.

[ElkNut1]

Rory, hard to say if I'm right or wrong! (grin) The appearance of size & activity sort of leans in the community use category! Here's a couple photos where both bulls & cows are using a natural mineral area. I've watched both countless times in this sandy beach! (grin) Notice the urine spots as well as size! Notice the 1st one how much smaller it is.

ElkNut1

[WapitiTalk1]

Paul, without knowing the spots you posted pics of were actual mineral licks, I would have probably called those dry wallows if seeing there were apparent roll marks (with accompanying horn marks)/whizz marks in the soft sandy material if I would have came across them. I know a lot of the a-typical mineral licks I've came across over the years have been dug out in spots. I know in NW MT, spots in W WA, and N ID, I've found mineral lick areas where they've dug em down pretty deep, sometimes into the hillside and around large rocks. The predominate ground material in most of these spots was not so sandy though. I'm gonna take more time to study these spots in future hunting seasons instead of just labeling them and moving on