Elk are extremely lazy!!! Why pick your leg up 12" if you can clear it in 10"!!! I have seen this a TON in blow down areas. Logs across trails just torn up because they barely pick up their hooves.
Ask a rancher, Elk tear down more fences than any other wild animal. They get there front half over, then drag there back legs. But smell a human in the back country and there 3 drainage's over in 2 minutes!
Very true! If a fence is 3 feet hi, they will clear it by no more than an inch and usually clip the top wire. If the fence is 5 feet high, it is the same. Unless pressured, they will put no effort than necessary to clear it. I have seen pressured elk not jump at all and instead they just crash head on into a fence and tear the heck out of it.
Next time you are out hunting or scouting, be sure to look at just about any log that has fallen across a trail. There will be drag marks on it almost every time. Even if it is only a 12" log, you'll see the drag marks. Deer will either jump or step over the log but elk will drag their feet almost every time.
What? Really? I think the picture are a bit misleading. That is rock! I know the last time I checked, hooves are not harder than granite and those marks are a single drag not repetitious impact . Look on the left, the "ELK" decided to scrape its hooves over the top of the rock instead of walking around? I would bet aliens before elk made these marks.
I should have put my nalgene bottle down for scale... the rock was roughly the size of a med trash can lid. Maybe lazy was too harsh how about experts at conserving energy?