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WV Elk

I think I read somewhere - where the elk that were brought in - there was something like 2 or 3 calves born and maybe one died. My question on this because I am not an elk expert - I was thinking there must have been more than 2 or 3 cow elk brought in so why such the low number of calves this year? I figured being new to the area may have been a shock to them for the first year but should we expect a higher number or percentage of cows having calves in the near future?

From the WV DNR site:

"Of the 24 elk brought to West Virginia in 2016, six were pregnant, though two died soon after release. DNR officials believe at least one other cow is currently pregnant. The gestation period for elk lasts between 240 and 260 days."

are those animals tagged and tracked?

We lost another calf a few weeks ago when a cow and calf were hit and killed on 119. Plans are underway to collar the new calves.

The pregnancy test was done early. There were some false positives. There was one false negative. That is a cow that tested negative ended up having a calf.

The calf from the cow that had a negative pregnancy test.

The stress from being caught, transported, then released in a completely unknown environment can cause elk or any animal to halt their pregnancy and absorb the placenta thus stopping their pregnancy. This frequently happens with winter stressed deer. Like sportoutfitter said above next spring will tell for sure how they are doing. From the size and weight gain this year I suspect there's going to be a good number of calves dropped next year. There is ample food available and the acorn mast available is going to help make sure they go into winter in prime condition.

Plus we lost a calf and cow to a car accident last month.

Thanks everyone for the info - wasn’t complaining just curious about them.

Yes, unless something happens another 50 from AZ is supposed to arrive after first of year. They will be released in same area. After that, in following years they plan to release additional elk at an area along WY/ McD county line.

Man, this is really cool. Seeing that hard horned bull following those cows and calf put me in CO for a second. I can't wait to have enough running around, that hearing bugling in the fall is possible. Awesome. God Bless

they are bringing 60 elk from Arizona in early 2018

So is the new wildlife area where they released the elk open to the public yet to hike?

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