Young Male
This is the first year of this young males life but is already growing its antlers. This was taken in the exact area that the below information is referring to in an effort that haas paid off big to repopulate this area in Arizona.
Before European settlers migrated to North America, there were an estimated 10 million elk spread through every part of the continent except the Great Basin Desert and the Southern coastal plains. Because of settler expansion and market hunting, the total North American elk population had dwindled to about 90,000 by 1922 and about 40,000 of those were concentrated in the Yellowstone Park area. In 1913, 83 elk from Yellowstone were transplanted in Arizona near Chevelon Lake in the Arizona White Mountains region. Even with harvesting via licensed hunting, today the Arizona elk population has grown to about 35,000.
A large bull elk can weigh up to 1,200 pounds but average from 600 to 800 pounds and an adult cow will range from 450 to 600 pounds.
The elk or wapiti is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, in the world, and one of the largest land mammals in North America and Eastern Asia. This animal should not be confused with the still larger moose to which the name "elk" applies in British English and in reference to populations in Eurasia.
Elk range in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves, and bark. Male elk have large antlers which are shed each year. Males also engage in.. more
