An Interesting Elk Story

 

By: Game Warden Dick Bodenhorn

 

It was just another interesting morning in the life of a WCO in the elk range today, but an experience most people simply never get to be a part of.

I met WCO Doty McDowell at 0630 and we headed to Hicks Run to try to get a collar on a couple of elk calves to aid in tracking for population estimates and also for a dispersal study. We got to Hicks Run a little after daylight and sure enough there were elk there where the deer trapping team have a blind and bait out to capture deer with a cannon net. A quick look through the binoculars told us there were a few calves present in the herd. We were in business.

Before approaching, with the vehicle since the elk allow a closer approach then a person on foot, we loaded up a dart with enough drugs for a calf, loaded it into the gun and started our approach. Once we started getting close though the elk all started moving about and coming alert. That is when we noticed an elk with it head on the ground and struggling. Finally it did a flip and ended up on the ground. Another look through the binoculars showed that a rag horn bull had his antlers entangled in a cannon net used by the deer capture crew. I suspect that happened when he was digging up their bait and got his antlers under the net. In any event he was in trouble. But, he was also lucky that we had all of the equipment with us for tranquillizing elk. Some elk break their neck and die before we get them out situations like this one.

We loaded another dart for an adult elk and replaced the calf dart with the new dose dart. We drove in and soon had a dart load of drug in his butt. We hadn’t planned on collaring any bulls but since we had to handle him anyway we decided to collar him at the same time. Doty monitored his vital signs while I attached the collar and ear tags. Then we started trying to untangle the net. It didn’t take long to come to the realization that untangling his antlers was going to be impossible without doing a lot of cutting on either the net or his antlers. We figured his need for antlers was pretty much over for the year so we brought out the big meat saw used primarily just for the purpose of removing elk antlers. A few minutes later he was freed from his dilemma.

Now these elk are never truly out when we handle them so we blind fold them and hold their neck and head down, or at least try to, while working on them. So getting the reversal drug into a vein in their neck isn’t always an easy thing and can be down right dangerous at times. I held his head down while Doty probed with first his fingers then a needle until he had a third of the reversal in the major vein in his neck then the other two thirds injected just under the hide of his shoulder.

Ok now it is time to let him get up and within just a few minutes he did just that and moved over with the rest of the herd who had been standing off a couple hundred yards away the whole time. Ok, now it is time to see if they will let us get close enough to get a dart in that calf we wanted in the first place. They did allow us to get just close enough for a maximum range shot.

A half hour later we were finished with collaring the calf and watching her get back on her feet. All went very well with her even though at one point we had to scramble out of the way as even though she was lying in the ground she still tried to use her legs to run back to the top of those Rocky Mountains still somewhere in her genetic memories.

Here are a few pictures.

The tangled bull:

The bull after having most of his antlers traded in for a collar and ear tags. He probably didn’t like the trade much though.



I don’t know who is going to untangle that mess in the net. Look close and you can see the various parts of his entire right antler encased in that knot of netting with good chunk of his left antler on top.



The calf as she is about ready to get her feet back under her.