GISdeveloper
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The only time I've noticed cattle effecting elk is when they are rounded up. Deer are usually pretty quick to come back to the area but elk seem to take longer if they come back. At least this has been my observation.
How do cattle herds effect elk population?
- Thread starter commandoNate
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Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Op-
I tend to shy away from cows but have found places where they coexist just fine. I think if it's there best option to be around bovine then they will but if other options exist they will opt to avoid the pressure from cattle.
I tend to shy away from cows but have found places where they coexist just fine. I think if it's there best option to be around bovine then they will but if other options exist they will opt to avoid the pressure from cattle.
T
tjones
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MTBirdhunter
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Like has already been stated before, here in Montana I have seen cattle and elk grazing within quarter of a mile of each other, even sizeable elk herds. I would say though, I do not think it is so much the cattle that would bother elk, but what comes along with the cattle, 4wheelers, pickups, tractors, i.e. human activity, the ranch I hunt I know the rancher checks his stock pretty regularly and also checks mineral tubs, which by the way, elk are not bashful about using.
elkduds
Well-known member
Last fall I hunted elk on a property that has 7 grazing sections. Spent the first days checking past honey holes. All had cattle, none had elk. When we found the 2 sections not currently being grazed we found elk.
OriginalOscar
Active member
Ok. I promise to be more humorous. Haha
Elk and cattle can co-exist. But typically the elk far outnumber the cattle. If I see a tank that's been hammered by elk, I might see a handful of cows. But when roles are reversed...not so many elk.
It sounds like you hunted an area that had been heavily grazed in the summer and both cattle and elk have moved to greener pastures. Despite the area looking like it should have elk it doesn't sound like you saw a lot of sign and you thought the guys down low would push them up.
When we see elk with cattle in my experience never 2 herds of animals. Herd of elk with a few cows. I almost never see elk with a herd of cows. If I see recent elk sign a few cows doesn't scare me off.
It sounds like you hunted an area that had been heavily grazed in the summer and both cattle and elk have moved to greener pastures. Despite the area looking like it should have elk it doesn't sound like you saw a lot of sign and you thought the guys down low would push them up.
When we see elk with cattle in my experience never 2 herds of animals. Herd of elk with a few cows. I almost never see elk with a herd of cows. If I see recent elk sign a few cows doesn't scare me off.
D
Deleted member 18333
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Not where I am hunting. I imagine you are correct for other areas or where spend your time but I was stating what I see where I hunt. The winter range is either sage country or feedgrounds. That sage country is, for the most part not grazed during the summer, and well the feedgrounds are their own thing. The cattle spend summer and early fall on Forest Service land or private land hay fields. There are cows all over the FS land in Western Wyoming in the summer and early fall. There are also elk all over that same land. The elk herds are doing well. I have no trouble finding 2 a year to kill. I could get more tags if I wanted. The system seems to be working well for the elk and I dont think the cattle are hurting either. May be different elsewhere. Not sure why you are questioning what I see.
commandoNate
New member
Very interesting feedback. Thanks all! I think in the future if I come across an area that looks like promising elk country but has been hammered by recent cattle grazing I will probably look for other spots to hunt if at all possible. But who knows, the could have been a ton of elk right there under our noses that we never saw. It was a strange fall here in Colorado in terms of weather and we had a full moon during that week in September that we hunted muzzle loader season.
Stone_Ice_1
Well-known member
I had a few trail cameras set up this past summer. This is several miles back. I have two pictures at each camera that shows the absolute destruction the cattle did in only two weeks. One the morning of the day the cattle show up and the last one the day they left. The difference is absolutely stunning and even considered taking the pictures to FWP, but I know it wouldn't do any good. At the end of the summer the cattle came into this area, for only two weeks and the grass and land was completely destroyed in that time. It was a fairly large herd of cattle and once they came into this area they did not leave until the rancher came in and got them. Before the cattle came in, I have hundreds of pictures of elk on these cameras. After the cattle came in, there are very few. The elk did not completely leave the area, they were nearby and I found them, but they wanted nothing to do with those areas that were heavily used by the cattle.
Definitely won't do any good taking them to FWP. Maybe taking them to the land management agency (BLM or USFS) assuming it's public...maybe not.
James Riley
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I saw several different studies on the difference between the way bison and cattle use watersheds. That too was stunning. Cattle are fat, stupid and lazy. And we are what we eat.
Haven't been around cattle much, have you? mtmuley
James Riley
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Yes, actually, I have. It's all relative.
I don't know the particulars of this situation because I wasn't there, and the term "destruction" is relative to the perspective of the view. All that said, what you described was the intensive grazing practice used in a rest-rotational grazing system. There are several different prescriptions that are used in successive years. One of the prescriptions is a short duration, high intensity grazing period after grasses are seed ripe. This may have been what you witnessed.
Like Oak said, you'd be much better served by talking to the administering agency, unless this happened to be on a WMA (which it very well could). This rest-rotation grazing practice is used at Wall Creek, Robb-Ledford, Blacktail, and Beartooth WMAs to name a few.
James Riley
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Elk and sheep, same book, pages 423 and 424. Competition is less severe than with cattle, but still there. Didn't read it all. There are sections on elk and logging, moose, recreation, blah, blah, blah. Good book. Read it twice when it came out in 1982, cover to cover, but don't want to read it again. I recommend it though.
shootbrownelk
Well-known member
Prairie maggots? They eat the grass down to the dirt and pull out the roots. They transmit disease to Bighorns. I hate sheep. I've seen places while antelope hunting that had just been "Grazed" by sheep...a grasshopper would have to pack a lunch there.
