In line with this migratory tendency the “whitetail” follows a varied but well-marked routine in its life pattern. About the time of shedding the winter coat late in the spring, the bucks also cast their antlers. With the loss of these beautiful weapons their personalities suffer. They leave the group with which they have spent the winter and ascend to the higher mountains, there to consort with a few similarly afflicted individuals until a new growth of antlers restores their dignity. The does, left behind, have problems of their own. These include driving the yearling fawns away to fend for themselves in order that the does may give undivided attention to the tiny, spotted newcomers that arrive in midsummer. By this time the adults have put on the short, yellowish-red summer coat. The fawns are reddish too, but covered with pale spots, a combination that blends well with lights and shadows in the brushy places where the does choose to hide them. As soon as the fawns are large enough to follow their mothers the little family groups begin a gradual trek up the mountainside. There are several reasons for this exodus, chief of which are cooler temperatures, better browse, and fewer stinging insects.
While the does have been rearing their young, the bucks have been staging a slow comeback on the ridges above. By early fall their new antlers have hardened, been cleaned of velvet, and polished in the brushy thickets. With restored weapons they again seek company of the does. The season of the rut comes in a time when the bucks are at the peak of vigor and combativeness. Yearlings and weaker bucks are soon outclassed, leaving the most virile and aggressive males to become progenitors of the following year’s fawns. The simplicity of this system is equalled only by its effectiveness. Natural selective breeding is one of the most important items in perpetuation of a species. A decline in numbers of the best breeding animals often results in an inferior strain. In conservation of deer herds it is well to remember that it is not always the number of animals that is the prime consideration. A smaller group of healthy, vigorous individuals is usually more to be desired than a larger population in average condition.
Although the species has vanished from many of its haunts in the Prairie States, it will not likely become extinct for a long time. Ranked by many authorities as our foremost game animal, it has been the “guinea pig” in many conservation experiments. Adaptable to almost any environment with suitable shelter and browse factors, it needs only a little protection to become well established. The “key” deer of the Florida Everglades, a tiny animal attaining a weight of only 50 pounds, is, however, on the verge of extinction. Another subspecies, the “Sonora fantail,” native to Mexico and the southwestern United States, is greatly reduced in numbers and seems destined to vanish.
Elk
Cervus canadensis (Latin: stag or deer, from Canada)
Range: Along the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada. Also found in central Canada, western Oregon and Washington, central California, and various small areas in those Western States where it has been introduced.
Habitat: Wooded places and high sheltered mountain valleys.
Description: A very large deer with enormous antlers, a thin neck, and a light rump patch. Total length 80 to 100 inches. Tail 4 to 5 inches. Shoulder height 49 to 59 inches. Average weight 600 to 700 pounds, with a maximum of about 1100. Coat dark in summer, lighter in winter. Longer hair on neck and throat of the bull forms a mane that is distinguishable at some distance. Antlers extremely large, usually six points on adult males. Females do not normally bear antlers. Hooves are black. Young usually one, although twins not rare.
The elk is the largest member of the deer family native to the southwestern United States. It was once widely distributed, known not only throughout the Middle West but also in most of the Eastern States. In fact, one of its common names, “wapiti,” is of eastern American Indian origin; it was so called by the Algonquins. The Crees of Canada and the Northern States call it “wapitiu” (pale white) to distinguish it from the darker colored moose with which it was associated in that region. It is now confined to the Rockies and westward in the United States, and to the Rockies and central portion of Canada. Many herds now found in Western States have been introduced to take the place of those thoughtlessly exterminated in the early days. This has been the case in Arizona and New Mexico, where Merriam’s elk disappeared before 1900. This elk, now known only from scanty records and a few mounted heads and skulls, was a giant of its kind. Not only was it larger than the Wyoming elk which now takes its place, but it had correspondingly massive antlers. Its passing is a grim warning of what could happen easily to the tule elk, a pygmy elk of central California which has been reduced to a dangerously small herd. The elk now present in the Southwest, chiefly if not all, are descendants of individuals brought down from the large herds of the Yellowstone Park area. In their new homeland they maintain the same habits that characterize the species in Wyoming.
Next to buffalo, elk are the most gregarious large mammals in the United States. The degree to which they band together varies with the seasons and can be attributed to their migratory instincts. During summer months the bands are small and widely scattered high in the Transition Life Zone and even higher at times. With the advent of cold weather they work their way down to lower country, and winter finds them gathered in sheltered grassy valleys. This exodus to winter quarters can be one of the most thrilling sights in Nature. In the north it is not uncommon for herds of a thousand or more of these stately animals to move into one of the more favored valleys. They have the instinct so highly developed among most animals of knowing when a storm is imminent, and the migration may be completed within a period of 48 hours, or even less if foul weather is brewing.