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Elk ??s

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jeff in ca

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We recently have spotted elk near us. I have heard we as ranchers don't want them because they are destructive and cause havoc on fences. Is this true? Do they invade hay stacks like deer do? How high do fences around stack yards need to be?

Thanks

Jeff
 
jeff in ca said:
We recently have spotted elk near us. I have heard we as ranchers don't want them because they are destructive and cause havoc on fences. Is this true? Do they invade hay stacks like deer do? How high do fences around stack yards need to be?

Thanks

Jeff
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Maybe you could charge admission to see these wonderful creatures. Aren't "spotted elk" quite rare? :wink: :)
 
Jeff I think our fence is 12 ft, they aren't as bad as moose on a fence but still not great. They will eat from a stack like a cow, not like deer on the top...hope that helps :)
 
Elk are extremely hard on fences. When they are frightened the will often forget to jump and will take the wire well into the bush. In general they seem to take down the top wire or more on a regular basis even when just crossing at their leisure. I have seen a lot of elk standing on top of the bales and eating. They tend to do their business on top of the bales and make them very unappealing to even the hungriest cows. We now have all of our hay yards fenced. We used 8' game fence and have never had any wildlife break in.
One of the biggest drawbacks to having a local elk population is the shear volume of forage they require. We have often had in the neighbourhood of 100 elk in the fields, and I believe they do the same amount of damage as an equivalent number of cows.
I could go on and on... but I'll spare you any further rants for now :wink:
 
Silver we stack our bales 4 high which is why they don't climb up on top here
 
Ya'll ought'a be nicer to a beautiful creature like an elk. :wink: A good stout stackyard with an 8 foot fence will keep them out. But don't skimp and build it right. Some of our old stackyards are better than 50 years old and they still can't get in. The old timers around here used to "deerfence" entire hayfeilds with 48 inch net wire stacked two high. Nary a deer to be found free loading off of free alfalfa.
 
The elk are encroaching here too. The stackyard approach is one way to go, but it adds a huge amount of cost to an operation like ours that swath grazes into March/April, and bale grazes, etc. I can't imagine the added cost of starting a tractor every day to feed cows, or feeding cows in close because of where the feed stack is. I think our time is too valuable to be running around with a feed wagon.
I suspect Elk would do a real number on the guys around here who are corn grazing all winter too. It's too bad the government wouldn't get serious about a wildlife damages insurance program that even targeted 50% of the real costs involved. :mad:
 
On 2nd thought Jeff..don't build a fence..come to Idaho, get yourself a few wolves to take back to CA and that'll take care of any potential elk problems! :wink:
 
elk will change your whole operation. a couple years ago we had a dry year with little grass and lots of snow.they moved in to the hay and were eating up to 6 bales a night we ended up feeding them in the bush . one night my dad put a bale by my house and they ate the hole thing right right by our bedroom . we dont even think about swath grazing cant bale graze and after hunting season calmes down they will wait for you to unroll hay for the cows. elk around here turn very nocturnel in the winter so if you want to get one at that time of the year you almost have to sleep on the couch and shoot from the porch in the morning.good luck
 
I have to have a APHIS herd health plan because some of the elk here have bangs.... the state pays for the bangs test once a year. the vets have a system down while they preg check then bleed from the tail.... some one reads the tatto and bags tag number....slows preg checking way down....
 
We did discover a good way to get them to leave us alone this year though. It turns out all you need to get them to move out is a good drought with lots of grass hoppers, and the elk will apparently look for 'greener pastures' :shock: :roll:
 
If I were you I would contact the fish and game in your area and see about getting some harvest tags to sell to recoop the damages that you are about to have. Around here I am selling them for about 200 dollars a tag. If the fish and game won't talk to you then let them know that they have been given their 24 hr notice that you are about to start tipping elk over. That will get their attention trust me that is what I had to do. Don't get me wrong I do like having some elk around but when you have 3 to 400 head start rutting on your property you get a pretty sour taste in your mouth for them. Good luck
 

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