On June 14th I had the opportunity to assist Eric P., a Penn State graduate who is currently the Elk Biologist Aid for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, collar elk calves with a few other volunteers. How do you pass that up!? The elk in Pennsylvania are actually an introduced species to the area. The native Appalachian Elk are an extinct species, that were over harvested and decimated by early European settlers. Thanks to biologists and conservation efforts, the Rocky Mountain Elk was successfully brought from the western states to Pennsylvania. This new species has established itself very well in our state, are an amazing animal to watch, bring tourists into the area, and can even be harvested if you are picked by lottery.
Eric giving us a quick briefing
Photo by Mrs. R.
I met a former professor Mrs. R. and the other volunteers on the Penn State DuBois campus. We then met Eric and one more volunteer in Penfield, and we were on our way. Eric had been tracking a cow elk for a couple weeks who had been collared before, taking note of where she had been hanging out. That morning, he had a pretty good idea that she had dropped her calf a few days prior, and where she had it based on the locations that he plotted her using radio telemetry (a radio collar sending a unique signal to a radio transmitter). After Eric went over the game plan, we started our trek up through the hills. In about ten minutes, the cow was in sight. She didn't stick around for more than a few seconds before taking off. We went to the spot where she was standing, and began our search. To find an elk calf is tough work! They have a spotted pattern similar to that of a white tailed deer fawn that provides amazing camouflage for hiding from predators, and when they are just a few days old you will almost step on them before they so much as flinch. We spread out in a line and began working the area, searching for any sign of the calf, basically walking in a giant circle scanning the forest floor. After maybe an hour of searching we were headed back towards our starting point, when I thought that I saw something that looked like a calf. I began sprinting towards it, and lost sight. I started to look for tracks when I heard one of the volunteers yell from about 30 yards away, "We got her!" Again, I took off running down over the hill to find Nate M. straddling the calf.
Nate with his catch
Eric had told us that if we happened to find the calf laying down to gently straddle it to keep it from standing up, and try to keep it calm until he could cover the eyes. Covering the eyes of a restrained animal keeps them calm and stress levels low, which is a huge concern for scientists. Once the calf had the sleeve over it's eyes, it calmly laid there and let Eric do his thing.
Our newly collared Rocky Mountain Elk Calf
Eric gathering some data from the calf
After some data is gathered for the calf, location, collar frequency, etc., it is time to give it some ear tags. These have unique numbers on them and are put in place so that you can identify the individual when you come across it. This was the only time that the calf seemed uncomfortable though it doesn't cause any harm or lasting effects, and when Eric put the second one in the calf barely flinched. Eric had told me that they have never had problems with infection or discomfort in ear tags.
Eric about to ear tag our calf
Eric confirming the age, about 4 days, and sex of our female elk calf
Nate and I, just taking notes
After we took the sleeve off of the calf and backed away, she trotted off to meet back up with her mother. This was unfortunately the only calf that we were able to collar that day, though we tried for several more. I spent that day driving around with some good people, glassing and stalking elk for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, can't complain about that!
