Tips for Attracting Elk
The large ranges required by elk, especially elk that migrate between summer and winter ranges, mean that most property owners are unable to manage or provide year round elk habitat. Thus, habitat management for elk requires considerable coordination among landowners.
Contact the agency that owns large areas of elk habitat near you. Ask them to carefully manage such things as the timing and distribution of firewood cutting, logging, and the density of roads in order to minimize elk disturbances, especially in high-use summer areas.
Because lands traditionally used by elk are severely impacted by land subdivisions, changes in agricultural practices, and invading noxious weeds, policies that control these activities can substantially benefit elk. (Plants that elk prefer are listed in Table 2.)Key winter range areas should be identified and given high priority in future land acquisitions, leases, easements, and incentives to create or preserve elk habitat. (Contact your local Fish and Wildlife office for cost-share or other programs that may help you manage elk on your property.)
Mineral blocks are attractive to elk and deer, especially during the spring. However, mineral blocks, if placed on the ground, will leach minerals into the soil. Even after removing the block, these leached minerals will continue to attract use and in almost no time at all you will have a pit in the ground, excavated by elk and/or deer. These can become huge areas that could be an injury hazard to an animal or person, and they may continue to be excavated several seasons after removing the mineral block.
So, once you commit to putting a mineral block on the ground, it’s no simple matter to change your mind and remove it. Once there, its presence, even if only temporary, will continue to affect the local environment.
Leaching may be prevented by putting the block in a covered area or in a plastic tub with high enough walls to prevent an animal from rolling the block out onto the ground.
If a landowner intended to hunt deer or elk in the area where a mineral block was located, they should check with enforcement personnel to make sure the use of a mineral block would not constitute “baiting” or be restricted for any reason.
The large ranges required by elk, especially elk that migrate between summer and winter ranges, mean that most property owners are unable to manage or provide year round elk habitat. Thus, habitat management for elk requires considerable coordination among landowners.
Contact the agency that owns large areas of elk habitat near you. Ask them to carefully manage such things as the timing and distribution of firewood cutting, logging, and the density of roads in order to minimize elk disturbances, especially in high-use summer areas.
Because lands traditionally used by elk are severely impacted by land subdivisions, changes in agricultural practices, and invading noxious weeds, policies that control these activities can substantially benefit elk. (Plants that elk prefer are listed in Table 2.)Key winter range areas should be identified and given high priority in future land acquisitions, leases, easements, and incentives to create or preserve elk habitat. (Contact your local Fish and Wildlife office for cost-share or other programs that may help you manage elk on your property.)
Mineral blocks are attractive to elk and deer, especially during the spring. However, mineral blocks, if placed on the ground, will leach minerals into the soil. Even after removing the block, these leached minerals will continue to attract use and in almost no time at all you will have a pit in the ground, excavated by elk and/or deer. These can become huge areas that could be an injury hazard to an animal or person, and they may continue to be excavated several seasons after removing the mineral block.
So, once you commit to putting a mineral block on the ground, it’s no simple matter to change your mind and remove it. Once there, its presence, even if only temporary, will continue to affect the local environment.
Leaching may be prevented by putting the block in a covered area or in a plastic tub with high enough walls to prevent an animal from rolling the block out onto the ground.
If a landowner intended to hunt deer or elk in the area where a mineral block was located, they should check with enforcement personnel to make sure the use of a mineral block would not constitute “baiting” or be restricted for any reason.