what to plant for elk?
Elk
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I manage a 700 acre ranch, in the past 3 years we tilled and seeded (grass) the 220 acre pasture, and every bit of land without rocks or trees. last year one 6 acre patch that i seeded in june held elk like a zoo. at times there would be nearly 150 with 8 or 10 bulls. this year, they have no interest in any of the areas that are on their second year after seeding. only the areas that i tilled and seeded last fall are getting any elk on them. i have just about got all the thistles and broadleaf stuff knocked out of the areas tilled prior to last fall. i planted sanfoin and burnett in all the smaller areas in the woods. the areas in the woods total about 40 acres, but are spread out over about 100 acres. i have a 15' no till drill so i can interseed as needed. just wondering what i should plant to hold elk and to keep them healthy.
I remember reading in Bugle magazine I believe that Elderberry is like ice cream to elk, clover and alfalfa are good too I think!
Are you planning on actually hunting elk over these "food plots"?
If so, you might check with the CPW or AG Dept to see if that is legal in Colorado. It might be considered "baiting".
My best, Paul
Never mind my last post. I just realized that the CPW do plant food plots on some SWA to "attract and hold" deer for hunting.
Paul
Barley! On a ranch I hunt near Hayden, CO they planted barley for a couple years, and quit because the elk would demolish the field before it could be harvested. The DOW would put out air cannons which would go off every 5 minutes, but The elk didn't care they would feed in the field with the air cannons going off.
They stopped farming the ranch about 5 years ago and planted seed recommended by the DOW and the elk really seem to like it. I have no idea what the mixture is sorry. I do know it has alfalfa in it.
Not sure if barley would be best to plant, but I know for a fact elk like it!
we found anything whitetail like, elk move in and tear it up! I love elk but man they are slobs!!!
this is on roughly 2300 acres. can't remember for sure but think we have around 28 food plots. most do not get hunted. We started about six years ago and didn't have a clue what we were doing. Still don't really. But we did find out that if whitetail like it, elk usually move in and turn it into a barnyard!!!
I would say alfalfa and wheat. They would hammer the alfalfa until it went dormant then hit the wheat all winter until your alfalfa starts growing again.
Around here they love the corn. They live in the stuff. More than one farmer has told me elk were running out of the last row of corn they were cutting. I have a pic somewhere of elk racks poking out above the corn. Also sugar beats and alfalfa as mentioned above.
alfalfa does not grow this high.
i planted the sanfoin and burnett at the request of the DOW. and it is doing quite well, but i only put 3 to 5 pounds of seed per acre.
this is non-irrigated over 8000' it was sage and crappy grasses.
my grass mix is called mountain meadow mix, it has 13 varieties in it, we also put down 25 pounds per acre of morgan spring oats, but the oats did not work out. the rye grass was a few feet tall, with big seed heads. the elk were on it big last year, but this year they are not so interested with feed every where. although i do hunt on it, 700 acres is a bit small. and the biggest bull on the property is usually under 300 inches. my minimum is 300 inches. better feed and keeping them off the neighboring ranch where they will kill every little raghorn, might help grow some bigger bulls.
Alfalfa is like candy to elk. It's nearly impossible to keep them out of it.