Elk County, Pennsylvania was formed in 1843 from adjacent counties. It has the name because it was the last place where the eastern elk survived. Sitting atop the Allegheny Plateau, there was wild space where the elk survived until the 1870’s, when European settlers eliminated the once massive herd that roamed much of the Appalachians. The Pennsylvania Game Commission formed in 1895, and within two decades, elk were reintroduced to the state, the first 50 animals arriving by rail from Yellowstone, and were released from the train with no further management in 1913. Despite the fact that many of the western arrivals were released in adjacent counties, by 1930 the small herd was confined to Elk County and neighboring Cameron. By 1974 it was estimated that there were only 38 in the entire herd.
The modern success story of Pennsylvania’s elk herd, now over 100 years old and the largest east of the Rockies, is one of conservation and management, due in no small part to RMEF. The foundation funded habitat management at Winslow Hill with $38,000 in 1991 and over $90,000 in the next couple years for the installation of electric fences that kept the elk out of farmlands where they were being killed for crop damage. In the late 1990’s a trap and transfer program expanded the range of the herd to 800 square miles. The range had previously been 350 square miles. Moreover, the range is now 2/3 public land. At one time only 1/3 of the range was on public land. From that low water mark of 38 elk, the herd is now 1,000 animals strong and has extended well beyond Elk county. My closest encounter was in Clearfield County while conditioning beagles rabbit season.
In September I was wanting to put some rabbit tracks under the dogs in advance of the October season. I could condition dogs and gauge the highly variable and cyclical rabbit population. My small pack of dogs was circling a bunny when I heard a bull elk’s bugle. It was loud. I was quite satisfied with this moment, then I heard hooves.
I turned and saw the bull. I once ran through a barbed wire fence running from a farm bull when I was a teenager. I was 40 years old at the time I saw this Elk, and I was certain that I had slowed over the decades. The good news was that I was not hunting, so there wasn’t the extra weight of a shotgun. It turns out, with enough adrenaline, I am faster than I was as a kid. I set a personal record for the 40-yard dash while getting to some larger trees. The bull and I danced around the tree. It seemed like an hour, but I am sure it was only a few minutes. He walked off, and I cautiously got my dogs and went home.
Currently there is a season that is managed in 9 different counties, and the limited tags are issued by lottery. This results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for conservation and elk management. Pennsylvania is a state that is rich in natural resources, and in many ways the success of this large herd is one of reclamation after said resources were harvested. The now famous Winslow Hill was once surface mined for coal, leaving poor soil. The RMEF paid to have fertilizer produced from leftover wood pulp hauled to Winslow hill from the paper mill in the small town of Johnsonburg also located in Elk County. The mill, located on the confluence of the eastern and western branches of the Clarion River, produces wood pulp every day. RMEF paid for the shipping of the material that enriched the soil and made the food plots possible.
The heart of the elk herd is located near the Bennet Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek, a tributary to the Susquehanna, which drains into the Chesapeake Bay. It was heavily polluted by acid mine drainage, but has been restored to the point where trout are now stocked there, another victory in conservation. Most of the county drains into the Allegheny River via the Clarion River, and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. You can find me running my dogs and listening to the elk that is a modern success story of conservation, overcoming overhunting and pollution to form one of the great attractions in Pennsylvania.
The modern success story of Pennsylvania’s elk herd, now over 100 years old and the largest east of the Rockies, is one of conservation and management, due in no small part to RMEF. The foundation funded habitat management at Winslow Hill with $38,000 in 1991 and over $90,000 in the next couple years for the installation of electric fences that kept the elk out of farmlands where they were being killed for crop damage. In the late 1990’s a trap and transfer program expanded the range of the herd to 800 square miles. The range had previously been 350 square miles. Moreover, the range is now 2/3 public land. At one time only 1/3 of the range was on public land. From that low water mark of 38 elk, the herd is now 1,000 animals strong and has extended well beyond Elk county. My closest encounter was in Clearfield County while conditioning beagles rabbit season.
In September I was wanting to put some rabbit tracks under the dogs in advance of the October season. I could condition dogs and gauge the highly variable and cyclical rabbit population. My small pack of dogs was circling a bunny when I heard a bull elk’s bugle. It was loud. I was quite satisfied with this moment, then I heard hooves.
I turned and saw the bull. I once ran through a barbed wire fence running from a farm bull when I was a teenager. I was 40 years old at the time I saw this Elk, and I was certain that I had slowed over the decades. The good news was that I was not hunting, so there wasn’t the extra weight of a shotgun. It turns out, with enough adrenaline, I am faster than I was as a kid. I set a personal record for the 40-yard dash while getting to some larger trees. The bull and I danced around the tree. It seemed like an hour, but I am sure it was only a few minutes. He walked off, and I cautiously got my dogs and went home.
Currently there is a season that is managed in 9 different counties, and the limited tags are issued by lottery. This results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for conservation and elk management. Pennsylvania is a state that is rich in natural resources, and in many ways the success of this large herd is one of reclamation after said resources were harvested. The now famous Winslow Hill was once surface mined for coal, leaving poor soil. The RMEF paid to have fertilizer produced from leftover wood pulp hauled to Winslow hill from the paper mill in the small town of Johnsonburg also located in Elk County. The mill, located on the confluence of the eastern and western branches of the Clarion River, produces wood pulp every day. RMEF paid for the shipping of the material that enriched the soil and made the food plots possible.
The heart of the elk herd is located near the Bennet Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek, a tributary to the Susquehanna, which drains into the Chesapeake Bay. It was heavily polluted by acid mine drainage, but has been restored to the point where trout are now stocked there, another victory in conservation. Most of the county drains into the Allegheny River via the Clarion River, and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. You can find me running my dogs and listening to the elk that is a modern success story of conservation, overcoming overhunting and pollution to form one of the great attractions in Pennsylvania.
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