moo cows and elk

[bnsafe]

cows were in every spot we tried to hunt and no elk. so, begs the question, do moo cows push elk out, or were the elk just not there right now

 

[LostArra]

I think in general the elk would rather be away from cattle especially lost bawling calves and their mooing cow moms but I have seen elk and cattle in the same vicinity many times usually grassy meadows. I took a photo of two young steers bedded right in the middle of a dozen bedded elk on a rocky hillside.

I think sheep are a different story. Elk aren't very tolerant of sheep activity. Maybe it's the sheep dogs.
I completely quit hunting a wilderness area in Colo because of the livestock issues.

 

[Jaquomo]

Theres a fine line between elk tolerating cattle and too many cattle. Especially where water is scarce and cattle "cow up" the ponds.

 

[11boo]

On the plus side of open range, the cowboys working the stock will be helpful with intel. Just toss them some beers and listen.

 

[bnsafe]

We never saw anyone herding them. They were in small groups of 5-10 over thousands of acres. Plenty of water and food, just no elk. I will keep looking there to see if they come thru sometime. Thanks

 

[MTSasquatch]

cows were in every spot we tried to hunt and no elk. so, begs the question, do moo cows push elk out, or were the elk just not there right now

There’s loads of science on elk-cattle interactions. All things being equal, elk would prefer to locate themselves away from cattle.

edit: but that’s not to say you’ll never see beef near elk and vice versa. Never want to go hard and fast with any wildlife edict. However, in studies where they’ve collared elk, it has been consistently shown that on the average elk avoid cattle. From my own work, I’ve got about 1,200+ days of camera data where elk and cattle overlap, and I’d say about ~95% of the time I have not observed any significant overlap in use. To the point where I no longer even look at it anymore since it’s not worth the time. different areas may have different variations of this trend, but it’s a safe bet to say they won’t “herd” together, if you will. The patterns I’ve observed in the data: beef displace elk which displace deer.

With that said, beef simply being present might not entirely explain why you saw little to no elk. There’s more to the equation of where elk are than you, beef, and elk. Better luck next time!

 

[Mattt]

Early season when there’s plenty of food they will be few miles in front or behind. Front eating what cows haven’t yet or far enough back that regrowth is available. Small groups of cows don’t bother them at all in my experience

 

[Laramie]

Agree with some above. Cattle are bad news for elk hunting. And, just because you didn't see guys working cattle doesn't mean they weren't there yesterday or last week.

I have a high elevation series of wallows that is amazing. Multiple bulls on camera daily for 10+ years in late summer and early fall. The only time the area isn't good-when cattle are grazed there for the fall. It happens every few years. Frustrating to say the least.

 

[cnelk]

Moooo

 

[gbflyer]

Been my experience that they don’t mix well on public.

 

[Grant K]

I think it depends on the area, there are some lower elevation units that you just aren't getting away from cattle, they are going to be anywhere you would be hunting elk... In those areas it doesn't seem to matter much, I've shot several bulls when cattle were within 100 yards. it does seem to matter more in higher elevation areas where there is less food, in those areas the elk seem to avoid cattle more seriously.

 

[11boo]

This bull taken by a friend was within a few hundred yards of open grazing cattle, on heavily hunted public land.

 

[Laramie]

Some elk elk don't mind being close to people... but that sure isn't the norm.

 

[Gman12]

I am sure it is not all the same in every place but I hunt an area where the elk and cattle pretty much live together. I have seen a herd of elk come out of the woods and feed right with cows and I have seen them water together too. Cows don't seem to bother the elk in the slightest. I see cows every single hunt and have never had elk spook or not go where they wanted to go because of cattle.

 

[wytx]

Been seeing elk and cattle tracks where we are cutting firewood.
They should round up early fall usually, good time to talk with the wranglers.

 

[Jaquomo]

Where I hunted in WY a couple years ago, USFS told us cattle were supposed to be out by Sept 1. Nope. Thousands of cattle all season and very few elk in a (usually) killer area. USFS kept saying someone would come check it out but nobody did anything.

There was one turnaround where the rancher and his help would regularly stop, B.S, make cell phone calls. Someone scattered a whole box of roofing nails in that spot during the third week of the season. I figure it was a pissed off bowhunter.