Field guide for elk food

[mad_angler]

I'm new to western hunting. I'd like to know the plants better. Is there a simple field guide that shows the different grasses and forbes that elk prefer?

 

[WyoBC_99]

I haven't seen a single book focused on that intersection, but you can get it by combining info from two sources.

There's great info on elk feed in many elk books (like 'North American Elk Ecology and Management) and then you can pair that with a field guide for plants specific to the area that you're hunting (like Plants of the Rocky Mountains. 1998. Linda S. Kershaw, Jim Pojar, Paul Alaback. Lone Pine Publishing.)

Many great field guides collected here:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/features/books/rockymtnsbooks.shtml

 

[midwestcowboy]

During summer scouting if I see Elk or Deer feeding I will wait till they are long gone and literally go to the vegetation they were feeding on to snap a photo of the plant. On an iPhone (and maybe other phones) you can reverse image search using google and it should tell you exactly what plant it is.

While a book can likely give you the same (or more) information, I like this method since it's directly related to the unit/area I am scouting and hunting.