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By Nick Nielsen

elk heading into rut season

Elk population in good standing heading into hunting season

Aug 16, 2024 | 5:16 PM

While you may start to see bears becoming more active while they prepare for their winter hibernation, you may start seeing elk become more active around the province for a different reason. Elk are heading into their annual mating season, known at the ‘rut’ or ‘rutting season’, and as a result you may see male elk in particular starting wander off more.

Allison Henderson Hunter is the Ministry of Environment’s Provincial Elk Specialist, and she said that the annual rut can be one of the most exciting times of the year to spot an elk.

“The rut happens during a three-to-four-week period starting in the fall, so soon we’ll have the male of the herds trying to demonstrate their size and superiority using their antlers, their scent, and their bugle, and that bugle is a very special sound that elk make. They are really an amazing animal to be able to make this very haunting sound, so we’re coming up to a period of time where folks in the province could try to listen for this elk bugle, it can be heard from miles away.”

During this time of the year, elk can be especially aggressive while they are looking for mates to add into their harem. While elk are a gorgeous animal to observe, it is never safe to approach, especially so at this time of year.

“Males can definitely get more aggressive during the rut, so I’d say listening for their bugle is a better option rather than approaching them at all and seeing them in public. Elk really avoid people, so they really are hard to find and male elk, although they are wandering around looking for more cows to add to their harem for breeding, they still are not that easy to see.”

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Because elk are such an easily accessible animal in the northern portion of the province, especially with how accessible they are in the Waskesiu area, you may think that elk are native exclusively to the northern forest portions of the province. In reality, elk are actually prevalent around the entire province, but because they don’t like to be interact with humans much they tend to keep to themselves.

“Elk are grazers, they are not primarily browsers. So you can absolutely find them associated with grasslands, and grasslands are also found in the Parkland region and up into the forest trends as well. Not too far from Estevan, just a bit further north is a very healthy population of elk at Moose Mountain there, and up in that west central area they are definitely up there as well. They are more cryptic species, you don’t often see them. They’re very smart animals.”

Elk population numbers are in a good place at the moment. The Hunter’s Harvest survey is used to count elk populations, but they province also runs aerial surveys for elk during the winter when the snow is on the ground and the leaves aren’t getting in the way.

Henderson Hunter said that hunting is an important factor in regulating elk numbers in the province, and hunters should have a good elk season ahead with where the numbers are at. Bow hunting season for elk opens up in the Prince Albert area on August 25.

“We do have some great elk hunting opportunities, which is why elk are so highly valued, and we hope all hunters follow the rules in these upcoming hunting seasons and have a great time out there.”

Food supply is in good shape for elk right now seeing as they mostly feed on different types of grass. One problem that elk are facing in the province right now is Chronic Wasting Disease. Because elk are so similar in many ways to deer and antelope, the disease can travel from one species to the next.

“Chronic Wasting Disease has been detected in elk in various parts of the province. I would say at this point, it’s present but it hasn’t demonstrated an impact to the populations that I would be concerned about. That is more so in our white tail and our mule deer populations. In terms of access to forage, I think that the larger challenge with health management is harvesting sufficient numbers. We have healthy elk populations enough.”

For more information on the upcoming elk hunting season, you can download a copy of the 2024-25 Saskatchewan Hunter’s guide by clicking here.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com