Unusual bulls in the vicinity of
this rural community “ring more
bells” for outdoor enthusiasts
than a popular song using the
town’s name many years ago.
The bulls are Rocky Mountain elk
which have their primary range
about three miles east of the town
in the fields and forests bordering
U.S. Route 120.
The bulls are part of a
protected herd of about 80 elk,
one of the two elk herds main
tained m the eastern U.S.--the
other group featuring 25 animals
in the Jefferson National Forest
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Extraordinary
of Virginia. The Pennsylvania
herd is decended from Rocky
Mountain elk brought into
several northwestern counties
between 1913 and 1926. By the
early 1930’5, the herd became
entrenched in southern Elk and
Cameron counties where they
remain today.
This unusual animals, named
wapiti by the Indians, is being
studied by Dr. John L. George
and associates of The Penn
sylvania State University. From
two years of continuous field
analysis, they have already
johnL
Stauffer
RD2 Box 67 East Earl, Pa. 17519
Phone 215-445-6175
;CT
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i
Repair Service
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Mail to
PENN-JERSEY
HARVESTORE
SYSTEMS INC.
New Holland Pa
Ph (717)354-5171
Bulls Being Studied In Pa.
determined several herd
characteristics for these animals
on the Elk State Forest, State
game land, and private lands.
The Penn State studies are
supported by the Pennsylvania
Game Commission and the
Pennsylvania Bureau of
Forestry. Working on the
research are John Eveland,
research assistant in the School
of Forest Resources, and Nick B.
Hunter, graduate assistant from
Leechburg.
The Pennsylvania elk live
within an area of roughly 70
square miles where Elk and
Cameron counties join. Within
this range are sections where the
wapiti spend about 90 per cent of
their time in high-yield feeding
areas such as clearcut plots, food
plots planted by land managers
of the Pennsylvania Game
Commission, and other
cultivated and uncultivated or
fallow fields.
Herd data varies from year to
year. Right now there are about
13 antlered bulls, eight spiked
bulls, 37 mature cows, seven
immature cows, and 12 calves.
That makes a herd of about 77 elk
as the time for calving ap
proaches.
Except for the mating season in
September, most of the older
bulls remain on the primary bull
range three miles east of St.
Marys. Here-with patience, luck,
and a good pair of binoculars
travelers can occasionally see a
bull or two feeding in the evening
along the fields near U.S. Route
120.
Cows, on the other, spend most
of their lives some nine miles
south of the bull range, in an area
north of Benezette. Most mature
cows are accompanied by a
family group-the year’s calf, a
yearling from the previous year,
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and possibly a two-year-old,
either male or female.
Bulls migrate to the breeding
grounds near Benezette by mid to
late August. The cows and their
family groups usually arrive first
and are structured as “harems”
when the bulls arrive. In the two
years of the studies, the breeding
area was occupied by six or seven
harems with as many herd bulls.
The first “bugling” by the
bulls, signaling the mating
period, is heard in the breeding
area by late August. The bulls are
quite vocal in the late morning
and early evemng--and all night
during clear, moonlight nights.
The peak of bugling takes place
around the 23rd of September.
The cows come into heat for 17
hours in each 21 days The mating
period lasts for about five weeks
The breeding grounds of the
Pennsylvania elk herd are
confined mostly to a limited area
north of Benezette. Due to the
small size of the total herd, the
number of animals within a
harem at breeding time averages
about six. This may include, for
example, two mature cows and
their calves and a yearling cow.
It may vary to include three
cows, one calf, and a yearling
bull.
Harem territories may
average about 200 acres in size.
No fights were observed between
bulls m the two years of studies.
However, territories were
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respected. Bachelor bulls seldom
established territories but mored
freely throughout the breeding
area in search of cows in heat.
Most calves in the Penn
sylvania elk herd are the born
during the last week m May and
in early June. Thus, the gestation
period for elk extends about BV2
months.
In October and early
November the cows and their
families leave the breeding
grounds and follow the bulls
north toward the primary bull
range east of St. Mary*.
December marks the return of
the cows and families to their
primary range north of
Benezette, leaving the older bulls
in the St Marys area.
As spring approaches, the cow
familes move to an area near the
Winslow Fire Tower north of
Benezette where they are most
easily seen Here they feed on
new grasses in fallow fields until
mid-May, when they return to
secluded areas where they can
have their calves.
Part of the Penn State studies
are comparing the effects of elk,
white tailed deer, and small
mammals such as the meadow
vole upon farm and non-farm
habitat. Landowners, foresters,
and game protectors want to
know what effect such animals
have on forest and clearing
regrowth.
• •