The Elk are coming!

Nov 01, 2012

by Steve Blight

Photo: Bull Elk in late fall

This week’s column is about elk, the second largest member of the deer family in Ontario. Some readers may be wondering why there is an article on some big western mammal with antlers in a column that is meant to focus on local nature.

Readers in the northwest part of our area may know the answer – elk are back in eastern Ontario. Between 1998 and 2001, 443 elk were released in three places in eastern Ontario and one spot in the far western part of the province. The releases were part of a comprehensive elk restoration program undertaken by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources with the help of many partners. The nearest location to this area was in the Bancroft/North Hastings region.

Elk were originally native to Ontario before they were wiped out by human settlement, agriculture and over-hunting. It is believed that elk became extinct in the province by the end of the 19th century. Reintroduction to Ontario began as early as the 1890s and again in the 1930s and 40s, but for a variety of reasons these attempts did not succeed. However, the restoration program begun in 1998 appears to have been very successful. According to 2012 OMNR figures, there are now between 600 and 1000 elk in the province, with about half (300-500) making up a self-sustaining population in the Bancroft/North Hastings area.

The elk used to repopulate Ontario were obtained from Elk Island National Park, east of Edmonton, Alberta. This national park is basically an elk factory. As a good-sized protected area in the middle of agriculture country with no hunting and few predators, the park has been the source of elk for a number of reintroduction programs across North America.

Here are a few elk facts. Elk tend to prefer open forests and mixed grasslands. Elk are a little smaller than moose, but much larger than white-tailed deer. Mature male elk (bulls) have huge antlers – up to 1.2 metres long – and weigh about 700 lbs (320 kg.). Females (cows) are smaller, weighing in at about 500 lbs (225 kg.), and have no antlers. Adult elk usually stay in same-sex groups for most of the year, but during the fall mating period, known as the rut, bulls compete with each other for cows and defend females in their harem. After the rut, males drift away from their harems and join loose groups of bulls for the winter.

The number of elk in the Bancroft-North Hastings group has shown signs of continued growth. They have dispersed over an area of about 2,500 square kilometres, bounded roughly by Bancroft in the northwest, Madoc in the southwest, Ardoch in the southeast and Quadeville in the northeast. As a self-sustaining population, last year the OMNR began a regulated hunt for the Bancroft herd, issuing a total of 70 tags.

Reaction to having elk around has been generally favourable, albeit with some exceptions. Hunters, naturalists and wildlife enthusiasts are happy to once again have elk as part of the Ontario landscape. On the other hand, some farmers and orchard owners aren’t quite as enthusiastic, as elk are large animals and can eat a lot of vegetation, including crops and fruit.

When my wife and I lived in Alberta we saw elk every time we went to the mountain parks. They were so common that they had become a recognized hazard on golf courses and were known to occasionally be aggressive towards people. Now that they are back in our part of Ontario, I am hoping to catch sight of one or two and rekindle my appreciation of this magnificent animal.

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.