Hoofed Mammals
The largest mammal of Rocky Mountain National Park is the AMERICAN ELK, or “wapiti.” It is really a big deer—distinctly larger than the local mule deer and usually with a more reddish or brownish coat. The true American representative of the Old World elks is the moose, not found in Rocky Mountain National Park.
American elk were almost exterminated here by ruthless hunting in prepark days. Seventy animals introduced here in 1913 and 1914 from Yellowstone National Park made possible the present population of over 600 elk in this park.
During summer, the elk are usually high in the mountains, feeding on the lush grass of the widespread tundra and the forest glades. Their food consists mostly of grass, herbs, and twigs of woody plants. The summer is a short but prosperous time for these animals. Usually by early autumn, fierce storms in the high country put an end to days of ample forage, and most of the elk move down into the small meadows at lower altitudes. In late September, as the mating season begins and the bulls fight for possession of the herds, large groups of elk can be seen in such places as Horseshoe Park and Beaver Meadows. This is when the bugling challenges of the bulls can be heard echoing across the valleys. In November, this period ends and the more prosaic struggle for survival on the limited winter range begins.
Formerly, during winter, the elk could scatter well below the present site of Estes Park village; now they are “bottled up” within the park meadows, because of the encircling human developments. Or perhaps these introduced elk and their descendants never developed a more extensive winter migration pattern, for the more venturesome individuals among them would have been killed or harried by hunters in the lower country east of the park. In any case, most of them do not move out of the park.
Times are hard for the elk until spring permits their return to the high country, where ample feed awaits them. Grave concern is felt by wildlife experts about the winter food shortages confronting this species. Without deliberate control by the park rangers, in order to keep the population at a level that can be supported by the limited and overused vegetation of the park’s winter ranges, the herd itself would face mass starvation. The absence or near disappearance from this region of some of the most effective predators of the elk—cougar, wolf, and grizzly—has removed most of the aboriginal population controls.
Whether you visit the park in summer or winter, you should be able to see elk—at least with binoculars. In summer (especially in the evenings) you may see them along Trail Ridge Road, emerging from the forests below Fall River Pass or the Rock Cut area. The cirque below Fall River Pass is a good place to look for them with binoculars. From mid-September until March or April, herds of elk are normally to be seen in Beaver Meadows, Horseshoe Park, Moraine Park, and in the meadows north of Grant Lake; but patience and some keenness of observation are required.
Although elk, especially the bulls, occasionally stay high in the deep-snow belt, most of them feed in lower meadows during winter.
It should be easier to find MULE DEER, a familiar sight in many areas in early morning or evening, even in midsummer. Hikers encounter them on the trails throughout the park. When startled, the mule deer takes flight, characteristically bounding from all four feet at once, making soaring leaps, and landing with such force that its feet make a drumming sound. This bouncing but graceful gait has earned it the nickname “jumping deer” in some areas. It is effective in ascending rocky slopes and traversing brush country.
The males of all deer, including the American elk, grow antlers annually. For a short period in late winter and spring they have no antlers at all, but by June the new growths begin, getting larger and larger until August, when they attain full size. Until then, the antlers are “in velvet”—with a soft, hairy covering—which dries up and peels or is rubbed off. Often the animal helps the removal of the velvet by rubbing its antlers against the trunks and branches of trees. Many “rubbing trees” can be seen along the trails. The deer enter the mating season with polished, full-sized antlers, and these majestic adornments are worn until the season of shedding. One might expect to see discarded antlers everywhere; but because they contain much salt and calcium they are eaten by porcupines and other rodents. Few shed antlers, therefore, are seen by visitors to the park.
Mule deer are common. The fawns, born in early June, are spotted when young.
Male bighorn display the horns that have made them famous.
In summer, mule deer are seen singly or in small groups, browsing in the higher country; like the elk, they descend into the lower meadows in autumn. They, too, find the winter difficult, because of limited range. Deer are browsing animals, eating such things as willow, aspen, antelope bitterbrush, and even pine needles. Much of their natural food has been overbrowsed, and this condition has helped to make beggars of many of them. It is not unusual to see them in the streets of Estes Park village or near the town garbage dump looking for food. June, however, brings the lush green vegetation on which they regain their strength. That month also is fawning time. The spotted fawns are usually hidden in the woods and are nursed twice a day by the mother, who stays nearby but out of sight. Sometimes well-meaning visitors report an abandoned baby deer. In most instances, the fawn has not been abandoned; the visitors simply failed to see the mother in the background. Fawns, which keep their spots until autumn, run with the mother until the next spring.
The greatest thrill for many park visitors is when a BIGHORN, or mountain sheep, comes close enough to be photographed; however, those occasions are rare. Like most large mammals of the West, the bighorn was on the verge of extinction 40 years ago, but, thanks to various conservation measures, it is now well established. Formerly, bighorn were distributed throughout the park and beyond to the foothills. Today, they are largely restricted, by man’s necessary settlement of the land, to portions of the park remote from man’s developments. Most visitors—when they get to see them at all—spot bighorn on Trail Ridge Road near Milner Pass (on Specimen Mountain) or in the Mummy Range. They are seen now and then near Sheep Lake (in Horseshoe Park), usually in small family groups of ewes and lambs. Successful pictures of them have been made mostly in this vicinity.