Do You Know These Facts About Elk?
The elk breeding season runs from September to October. Elk has 2 types of social behavior during the mating season, namely making harems & pairing up. In the harem system, a male will collect several female elk in the same place & drive them away from other males. The smaller male elk will usually retreat elsewhere, but the equal / larger size elk will fight the harem-holding males with their horns. Meanwhile, in the pairing system, the male will only mate with one female. After mating, the female elk will enter a gestation period of 7 months. Meanwhile, before you start hunting elk, we recommend you learn how to hunt elk properly first.
After birth, elk babies will live from their mother’s milk until the age of 5 months & remain with their mother until the age of 1 year. Only female elk who are involved in the process of child care & female elk can show a very aggressive attitude towards anyone who tries to get close to their chicks. Because they do not have horns, female elk attacks by kicking & scratching. Young female elk reach sexual maturity between 1.5 – 2.5 years old, while male elk experience sexual maturity between 2 – 5 years old.
In the wild, the predators of elk consist of bears, wolverines, big cats, and wolves. These animals generally target young or sickly elk because the healthy adult elk is much stronger & more difficult to beat. If attacked, the elk defends himself by butting & kicking his enemy. Elk can also take advantage of his speed to avoid his enemies where when running, elk can reach speeds of 56 km/hour. Meanwhile, when crossing the water, elk can swim at a speed of 20 km/hour.
Male elk is often hunted by humans for their skin, meat, bones, and horns. In some areas, elk are also hunted because they are considered agricultural pests and interfere with reforestation efforts. And as more settlements & roads are built through the forest, elk is also threatened by habitat constriction & collisions with motorized vehicles. Apart from these factors, the elk population is still considered to be abundant and has not been categorized as an endangered animal. However, it should also be noted that the level of elk abundance in each region is different.