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Daily weather variances can affect the intensity of the breeding period. (Especially daytime). But breeding does happen around the same time every year.

If you have been watching the "Current" TV channel or Anne Thompson from NBC, I'm sure they can come up with something different.

No elk has bought into the NASA propoganda, and plenty of humans with common sense are not on board either.

I agree with Z. Guess we're hiding under the same rock.

I will repeat myself. Montana and Arizona have totally different climates. Yet elk breeding coincides around the same time every year in both states. Your comment/question automatically assumes any perceived breeding changes are to be attributed to a political movement which some people have embraced as science.

The variances which an elk experience in their habitat are many. Housing development, oil & gas development, hunting pressure, predators, and decisions by biologists are going to affect elk behavior and habits. A political movement will not affect directly elk as they do not pay taxes or vote.

The elk forum is not the place to "debate" global warming, climate change, or whatever the carbon credit cult call it today. Move the subject over to the Community Forum and you will defintely experience some real warmth!

It is definitely the off season.

While I agree the amount of daylight triggers the breeding cycle, the intensity of the rut can be muted or elevated depending on density of elk, weather, amount of feed/water, etc., all of which are directly affected by the climate.

Casey Ripple has a really great article in the next issue of Extreme Elk Magazine looking at how weather and climate affect the rut (El Nino vs La Nina, etc), with a lot of really good points to consider, especially after last seasons lack of elk activity in many western states.

Many thanks, Corey Jacobsen Elk101.com - Extreme Elk Magazine

Either way, the earth is in a state of constant change. That's why there are ice ages, dust bowls, etc. There is no doubt that we will see great change again. How fast this change occurs, only time will tell. Most animals and humans will adapt just like they always have. Those that don't will become extinct just like those that failed to adapt before them. Let's just hope elk will always be around!

Guys I didn't set it as debate free because I want to hear your opinions on change in elk behavior and habitat. I also did not ask wether you think that global climate change is political jargon or what you perceive concerning anthropocentric climate change and it's validity. We all agree that climate change is normal and natural regardless of what is causing the onset, so (as stated in the original post), has climate change caused any changes in the herd you hunt?

How has the climate changed in elk country.?

Most of you are citing examples of changes in weather.

To have an accurate indicator of a behavior change, you have to have a clear measurable and many years of data. Things like the northern nesting grounds for birds, migration dates for birds, or first blooms of flowers for different latitudes. Audubon has been doing a winter christmas count of birds for 112 years now - data like this will tell us long term if birds are spending winters at more northern latitudes or if they are migrating later than in the past.

Elk, as you mention in your first post have some measurable behaviors, but there seem to be many variables that an individual hunter may not see. For instance, in 2014, I see the first elk calf born 30 days later than in 2013 - is it because they are calving later or were the first 10 ones born that year eaten immediately by lions, tigers (sorry Mule Power, wolves) and bears? In 2015 I do not see elk at 11,000 feet where they were abundant in 2014 - is it because there was 300" less snow this year and there is no food to eat or did a wolf pack take up residence and just push them down in the trees for your viewing period?

When we talk non-game birds, we are basically looking at variables like wintering grounds, migration grounds, and summer/nesting grounds - maybe abundance of foods. When we look at elk, you have to add in all kinds of other issues... interesting to think about.

I think it is good to start keeping an eye on the data, but without decades of it, I am not sure how anyone could relate it back to climate change without tracking all the other possible factors.

As far as elk hunting goes, I have seen changing weather patterns effect elk behavior from year to year, but I don't percieve that to be an effect of climate change because I honestly don't see any evidence that the climate has changed much where I hunt. For example, last fall the elk did not group up and migrate to wintering areas until much later because we didn't have the snow. The fall before that, we saw elk migrating much sooner due to heavy snowfall in early fall.

Elk are highly adaptable and can live in a variety of climates. I see much more of an effect of habitat loss, hunting pressure, and annual localized weather changes on elk behavior than what I would categorize as climate change. My brother has a PhD in Ecology and we discuss things like this all the time. The problem with a lot of these studies is that they fail to look at things with a broad enough spectrum to adequatly analyze long-term changes in climate as opposed to shorter weather changes.

REX i agree with you that those variables are much more influential on elk than is climate change. but could climate be driving some of those other factors in a way? for instance, in my home town we have a local wintering herd that is beginning to stay on the winter range longer, largely because of a lack of pressure and a great amount of feed. could climate be an external driver that is influencing them? this same herd travels many miles to their summer range, if they remain on the winter range longer, will they make it to those distant places they use to do? they seem to prefer 6500 to 7200 or so feet of elevation. could snow line differences alter their preferable altitude come hunting season? could a longer summer due to climate increase insect numbers pushing elk towards tree line? i could ask similar questions all day. i just want to find out if any of these (or similar) phenomenons are happening in your area that could be derived from climate. thanks gents

im not too sold on this one but it's something to consider right?

They go where there is feed. They go where there is water. They go where there is less danger. All of these conditions are variable not only year to year but month to month. They thrive when conditions are right, they die when they starve, freeze, killed/eaten or get disease.

They were originally a plains game, not high mountain. The mountains are not their normal habitat. They are grazers not browsers.

There was a good amount of "anthropocentric" activity went on back then that did change things, but certainly nothing much WRT "climate change". (Used to be "Global Warming" until that wasn't working so well, so the High Priest Algore sanctioned "Climate Change".... that way you win no matter what the weather does.....)

But a dramatic change it was from the plains to the mountains. There weren't a whole bunch left either at one point until they were introduced (by man) in many areas and took off from there.

I don't see "climate change" doing anything to change elk behavior. I know when the rut is on and it's hot they do their thing at night and activity is way down. Hey, it's hot out....

Seems the first storm or big drop in temps and they go off all day like you flipped a switch. They can be much more active in the cooler weather.

But the weather will do what the weather will do. First system comes through when it comes through. The only thing man made about the weather is the concept of trying to define what "normal" is. That and the natural human self centered arrogance/guilt to think there is much we can do about it.

I think the question is interesting. It is too bad that the whole climate change situation has become a partician political issue. I am not sure the doom and gloomers are right about where we are headed, but I do not know they are wrong either.

During the medieval period known as the "Great Warming", roughly from 1100-1400 A.D., elk did just fine, and expanded their range across most of North America. And it was a LOT warmer then (average temperatures) than it is now. Fat Albert and Michael Mann conveniently constructed their now-disproven "hockey stick" graph to begin just after that period, during the beginning of the mini ice age.

Anyone who has paid attention to the "Climategate" scandals understands that while there may be something happening that is anthropogenic, the amount of cherry-picked data, excluded data, and flat-out made-up lies that were uncovered during that fiasco throws doubt on any possible "impending crisis", and instead strongly points to the possibility that this is simply natural variation. Even Phil Jones, who headed the Climare Research Unit until being forced to resign after Climategate, admitted in a post-firing interview that there has been no warming since 1998, and they have no idea why since it doesn't match their computer modeling projections.

Every single climate alarmist is in some way tied financially (grants, investments, etc..) to the premise of ongoing anthropogenic global warming. Fat Al would have made billions from his Chicago Climate Exchange if Cap-and Trade had passed.

Meanwhile the elk just keep on keepin' on. A degree or two either way doesn't matter to them one whit.

For some reason, many here think I'm advocating global warming or trying to discuss global warming here. Not true at all. I don't want to discuss global warming, politics, or any mumbo jumbo. I do feel as though climate is changing quicker than historically and that humans could have something to do with it- so what, big deal thats my perspective. I'm asking a simple question that has to do with climate change and a change in elk.

Elkslaya I really don't care at all what you think about global warming as that is far from the concern of this thread. What does Gore have to do with how elk react to a changing climate. Climate change happens we all know that. I want to find out how that influences elk

THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL THREAD please guys

All of the elk behavioral changes we've seen in my area of CO over the past 40 years can be directly attributed to increased hunting pressure during archery season.

We've had warm, dry summers, cool wet summers, long, hard snowy winters, warmish winters with less snow. The elk herds keep growing, they bugle when they're supposed to bugle, they occupy the same habitat in the summer - except the herds way down in the low, hotter foothill elevations like where Pat hunts are expanding, where there were no (or very few) elk 40 years ago.

But quadruple the number of bowhunters pushing them around, and everything changes after the first few days of the season, regardless of the "climate". They head into deep wilderness or private land, and they become call-shy.

IMO those continue to be the important factors of where the elk are and how they act. I've even heard genetic arguments that killing the aggressive vocal bulls and having the quieter more shy bulls left do the breeding over time create generations of bulls less receptive to calling. I'd give that more credibility than any climate trend. At least in a man's lifetime or 5....

Local events, like the fires in AZ, the flooding in the MO Breaks covering much of the traditional river bottom grass flats under feet of silt, etc. will certainly have temporary local effects. But the grass will grow back soon and stronger than ever. And the elk will be back there in force soon enough.

lots of good points and I really like this one "I think it is good to start keeping an eye on the data, but without decades of it, I am not sure how anyone could relate it back to climate change without tracking all the other possible factors."

I have only been hunting elk for 5 years during archery and only 4 more during rifle and all I can say, for the past 9 years, I can still find elk in most places that I look. But who am I to answer your question. ;)

Happy Hunting, yrovikle

The premise of your question is the assumption climate is changing in elk country. Is it?

Elk live in Alaska to mexico, California to Kentucky From elevations near sea level to 14,000 feet, near deserts to rain forests.

Year to year...The elk are where you find them.

Swede and jaquomo. You guys make some really great points. Do you have cites that I could browse through of where your conclusions are derived from?

Thanks guys, this is the kind of info I really wanted

There are reams of studies done by big-league climate scientists that were deliberately omitted from the IPCC report because they didn't support the predetermined conclusion. A friend is a Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science and the world's top hurricane predictor, who has testified before Congress on cap-'n-trade, who was excluded from the IPCC project because he tried to present verified scientific facts that didn't support the "crisis". I have a two-inch thick hard-copy file of studies from him.

I don't have time to Google it all for you, but you can look up "Medieval warming period, Vostok ice cores, Climategate, Global Warming fraud" for starters. If you want to pm me with your email addy, I'll be happy to send you a whole bunch of documents, temperature graphs, NASA reports, etc..

Given that there doesn't appear to be a single set of measurable facts - global warming/climate change - strikes me as a mixture of normal (measured over hundreds of years) climate variance combined with a strong dose of politics.

That said, like most hunters, my concern for the environment is real so I will continue to keep an open mind on the subject - while protecting my wallet from politicians. that