As summer progresses, you’ll have to do some hiking, as the elk move to higher ground during this season.
If you’re staying at the Afognak Wilderness Lodge, you’ll have a good chance of spotting some Roosevelt Elk. Until early June, the elk are down at lower elevations. They were introduced to this area in 1928. These elk have one of their two Alaskan homes here on our Afognak Island. They will adapt their plant-based diets depending on what’s available during the season. Roosevelt Elk live off a diet of plants like shrubs, grasses and berries. Adult female Roosevelt Elk (cows) average 700 pounds. Their antlers can average 4 feet in length. Bulls also have antlers that are thick with vertical points and a three-point tip. This makes them greatly adapted to the Afognak Island winter habitat.Īdult Roosevelt Elk (bulls) mature to be 875 pounds, 5 feet tall at the shoulder, and 8 to 9 feet in length, on average. Roosevelt Elk have a larger, stronger body than Rocky Mountain Elk which allows them to swim, break through deep snow and climb to high elevations. In the spring, they will have a lighter, reddish summer coat and in the fall, they will produce a coat that is darker and denser for winter. Roosevelt Elk have a dark brown neck, a tan body, and a white rump patch. The Roosevelt Elk has a unique coloration different than that of other elk. One of the amazing creatures you can see while lodging on Afognak Island is the magnificent Roosevelt Elk, the largest kind of elk in North America. Creative forest management practices are needed to provide breaks in the canopy while maintaining old growth stands that will allow for vegetation that is essential to elk and many other species.On Afognak Island, we are lucky to share the land with some awe-inspiring Alaskan wildlife. Elk habitat is also being reduced by forest management practices that are keeping sunlight from reaching the forest floor and providing the vegetation they eat – such as clearcutting and replanting dense tree plantations. In fact the first name suggested for what is now Olympic National Park was Elk National Park, as it was intended to be a reserve for dwindling elk herds.Ĭurrently habitat loss and fragmentation due to logging and road construction threaten these unique elk.
It is estimated that nearly 10 million elk lived in North America prior to 1500 and were reduced to less than 100,000 by 1907.
Their natural predators include the gray wolf (which is making a comeback in northeastern Oregon but have been extirpated in western Oregon) and mountain lions, which usually thin herds by taking old and weak elk. Why does it need our help?Įlk play an important part in the life cycle of the forest by clearing understory vegetation which makes way for other plant and animal species. Bull Roosevelt Elk are known to live up to sixteen years in the wild, with some cows living up to twenty-one years old. These elk are seasonally migratory, spending the summer months in the mountains and on snow fields and moving to lower elevations in the winter to avoid winter storms and find food. This provides cover from the weather and predators. Typically they enjoy open lands where they can walk freely and graze on grasses, however they often prefer a mix of old growth stands and edge environments. In 1928 they were introduced to the Afognak and Raspberry islands off the coast of Alaska and are thriving there.
The largest unmanaged herd of Roosevelt Elk is in Olympic National Park in Washington State and consists of nearly 5,000 elk. The Roosevelt Elk lives primarily on the western slopes of the Coastal and Cascade Ranges from northern California up to southern British Columbia. Female elk typically give birth to one calf at a time, and calves are able to stand and feed within an hour of being born. The Roosevelt Elk is also much darker than other elk species, often with a dark brown or even black neck and a tan body. These elk also have the largest antlers of all elk species, reaching lengths of up to four feet with a distinctive three-point tip, or crown and the end. Males grow their antlers between April and August every year. Males (bulls) average 875 pounds, but bulls weighing nearly 1300 pounds have been found in Alaska. The Roosevelt Elk, named for Theodore Roosevelt, is the largest of the four remaining North American elk subspecies.
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