The opening of the deer hunting season brings with it the inevitable problem of poaching and this year is no different. On Saturday morning, three tule elk were killed by poachers in Spring Valley, which is in eastern Lake County. According to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) wardens, all the elk were healthy bulls and one had a 7×7 rack. The elk were left to rot but the DFG was able to save the meat, which will be turned over to the California Division of Forestry and used at their fire camps.
A doe deer also was illegally killed in the same area. The game wardens are working on the case and hope to make an arrest soon. The slain elk are part of the Cache Creek herd that numbers about 400 animals.
DFG became aware of the poaching when game wardens received a tip from two concerned deer hunters.
Tule elk are a subspecies of North America elk and are the smallest of all elk. A mature bull is about 7 feet long and 5 feet tall at the shoulder, and it weighs from 400-500 pounds and occasionally up to 700 pounds. A cow weighs about 300 pounds. Tule elk are only found in California. Their name comes from the days when the big herds of tule elk roamed the Central Valley and lived in the tule marshlands. Lake County was once home to hundreds of tule elk.
Tule elk breed earlier than other species of elk and their prime breeding time is late August. When they are in rut, the bulls make a loud bugle-like sound, which is actually a sharp whistle, in an attempt to attract the cows. The bugle sound also attracts other bulls who are spoiling for a fight. In fact, elk hunters often carry an elk call that imitates a loud bugle as this helps draw in bull elk. Each herd has a dominate bull and a number of sub-bulls, which are constantly trying to attract the cows.
An adult tule elk has few predators. Occasionally a mountain lion will take down an elk and a coyote will occasionally kill a calf, but for the most part the only danger to an elk is man or disease. At times the Cache Creek herd of elk does create a hazard for automobiles traveling on Highway 20. This normally occurs at night when the elk are roaming about. Every year two or three elk are killed by automobiles along Highway 20.
There used to be as many as a half-million tule elk in California. But by the mid-1800s, market hunters decimated the tule elk herds in order to feed hungry gold miners. At one point it was thought that tule elk were extinct in California, but in 1874 a small herd was found on a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley. Henry Miller owned the ranch and provided protection for the animals. A small band of 21 tule elk were introduced back into the Cache Creek Area of Lake County in the 1940s. The elk were fully protected and thrived. The DFG does have a very limited hunting season on the elk in the Cache Creek Area. It issues only two permits annually.
Today, tule elk can be found scattered throughout the county. There is a herd of approximately 65 animals at Lake Pillsbury. At one time there was a small herd of elk near the Snow Mountain Wilderness Area in the Mendocino National Forest, but poachers eliminated the elk about 10 years ago. They also can be seen on Highway 20 just west of Upper Blue Lake near the buffalo ranch. The best place to view the animals is either at Lake Pillsbury near the airstrip at the north end of the lake or on Highway 20 south of Clear Lake. These areas offer excellent photo opportunities.
The sad part about the illegal killing of three elk is that in all likelihood they weren”t mistaken for deer but were deliberately killed.
Editor”s note: You can comment on Terry Knight”s column at www.record-bee.com
