Nuisance elk and game...anyone else relate?

Broomd

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Was posting at another thread and thought to share this here. Wondering who else deals with nuisance game?

We've got elk here every night. Between eight and 15 elk are always bedded in the driveway and next to the deck every morning.
Winter elk are a total pita. They tear tarps and drag out hay and straw. They open garbage cans like Houdini..rip hefty bags, elk sh t is everywhere. Hell, they go through the man door into the closed barn!
Our biggest Highland cow chases them around the front pasture most mornings. Her 30" horns serve her well.

Love elk, they are fun to hunt especially right on our place, but they're lazy mofos and a scourge around the ranch when the snow gets deep. They're worse than the turkeys.
A few pics...that straw pile was their doing.

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Broomd

Broomd

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This cow elk got her head stuck under the front leg of our camper. She didn't realize that if she simply laid down she would be freed.
She was at the point of total exhaustion and I feared that she wouldn't make it. I went out and shoved her head down under the camper leg, good lord the bawling!....Finally she realized she was good to go. She was weak but seemed okay.

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johnsd16

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Lemme know what unit you’re in, I’m putting my 10 year old in for the long cow tag for one of the panhandle units this year, we can come help. I agree, cool animals but any of the local stuff can get bad. Just be glad you don’t have 250+ turkeys that winter on the place in one big flock. Neighbors have that and they can make an epic mess. Broken barn windows, droppings all over, contaminating feed, etc. The deer in our neighborhood make a mess but nothing like you have going on.
 
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Broomd

Broomd

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Holy S(*&.....can't imagine 250 turkeys. Insane.

We know that 33 of them can make a real mess!
 
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Interesting picks of a unique problem. This is essentially the exact reason for block management areas (usually in larger numbers) I could agree that this situation is cool until they start costing you your time and money. That's when land owners start calling f&g. Thanks for sharing

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Broomd, that sucks that the elk and turkeys are cutting into your bottom line. It seems like you are doing an admirable job of trying to deal with it on your own and you should honestly be commended for that.
If folks knew (at least in UT) how much the F&G spends on crop loss damage, fence and other materials, lethal and non-lethal removal and just the amount of time if takes away from a biologist being a biologist it would astound you.
Granted in northern UT it is pretty urban but the bio's I know don't seem to do anything else besides trap turkeys, kill elk and build fence around hay barns all winter.
 
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Elk have 3 names to me, wildlife, game and nuisance. Summer months when I’m doing horseback rides they are simply wildlife. Fall they became game, and in the winter they are a nuisance.

But here’s my take on them being a nuisance, it is my job to keep them out of my hay, they are simply trying to survive the winter. If I don’t take proper steps to keep my hay away from the elk, then it is my fault if they wreak havoc on it. Now the real nuisance comes when I feed my horses and the elk come into the pasture and eat that hay, they will run horses off of hay. That’s when they really get on my nerves, I’ve had horses get injured from elk. I do understand it is their winter range so I can’t hate them to much, but it is a nuisance. But as long as you take the proper precautions to keep them out of your hay and other stuff, then it doesn’t become a problem they usually move along. Until they find out that they can steal feed from horses, but that’s just where you have to pay more attention. We always try to keep the elk at bay but sometimes they are more resilient and find a hole in your hay stack. I have never called the CPW, to ask for reimbursement for damages to my stock or feed, it’s part of doing business in a rural area.

It’s tough, but take proper steps to keep them out and that’s all you can do.


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davsco

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grab me a landowner tag and i'll help you out. you won't have to pay me much. ok, you won't have to pay me anything. ok maybe i'll pay you...

we have a handful or two of deer in and through our yard most days, little to no damage other than cleaning out the birdfeeder. and oh yeah they have killed a few young trees with their antler rubs.
 

IdahoHntr

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Elk have 3 names to me, wildlife, game and nuisance. Summer months when I’m doing horseback rides they are simply wildlife. Fall they became game, and in the winter they are a nuisance.

But here’s my take on them being a nuisance, it is my job to keep them out of my hay, they are simply trying to survive the winter. If I don’t take proper steps to keep my hay away from the elk, then it is my fault if they wreak havoc on it. Now the real nuisance comes when I feed my horses and the elk come into the pasture and eat that hay, they will run horses off of hay. That’s when they really get on my nerves, I’ve had horses get injured from elk. I do understand it is their winter range so I can’t hate them to much, but it is a nuisance. But as long as you take the proper precautions to keep them out of your hay and other stuff, then it doesn’t become a problem they usually move along. Until they find out that they can steal feed from horses, but that’s just where you have to pay more attention. We always try to keep the elk at bay but sometimes they are more resilient and find a hole in your hay stack. I have never called the CPW, to ask for reimbursement for damages to my stock or feed, it’s part of doing business in a rural area.

It’s tough, but take proper steps to keep them out and that’s all you can do.


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I feel like there needs to be a whole lot more of this attitude around. I've never understood why it becomes the government's fault when a person builds a home, ranch, farm, etc. in deer and elk territory and then receives property damage from the deer and elk that were there long before they were. That was a risk people should think about going in. To me it sounds like a person opening a storefront in a bad part of town, and then billing the government every time they get broken into or something gets stolen. Reminds me of a apartment complex that built itself right next to our high school baseball field and then tried to get the field torn down because they were dealing with foul balls causing damage. It makes no sense in any other system, so why is it a thing with wildlife?

It almost always should be landowners responsibility to secure their land from the animals that were there before they were. The amount of money the western states pay in depredation funding is ridiculous. It is just one huge welfare program.
 

JWP58

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Ya I got a rabbit problem. They've turned the underneath of my raised floor shed into a F'in shack. Drives the bird dogs crazy. And they shit everywhere and eat my garden (bastids got all my peppers last yr). Its a tough life on the frontier.

My female britt has been known to catch a few.
 

SlimWhitman

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There are a lot of people that would love to have your problems. Me included.


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Salmon River Solutions

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My parents live in Rathdrum on a few acres backed up to state land. Their biggest problem is deer destroying all their apple trees. But they do get moose elk and deer on their property.

Living in a stupid neighborhood on my .2 acres in post falls though, I SERIOUSLY envy your nuisance wild game problems.

Seems like game around public areas is worse lately here in North Idaho, I can think of a certain predator to blame for that, but that's a different issue.
 
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Ya I got a rabbit problem. They've turned the underneath of my raised floor shed into a F'in shack. Drives the bird dogs crazy. And they shit everywhere and eat my garden (bastids got all my peppers last yr). Its a tough life on the frontier.

My female britt has been known to catch a few.

Get a cat, problem solved.
 
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Broomd

Broomd

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There are a lot of people that would love to have your problems. Me included.
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Understood, Slim. This stuff is what it is.
Two years ago during that horrible Idaho Winter that killed so many deer, we actually left some of the hay uncovered. We knew the elk were eating it, it likely saved several head from starving.
With last years mild Winter they didn't return save for a few stragglers being lazy.

This morning there was a spike bull elk scrounging around the cows feeders for hay leftovers. Still carrying antlers.

Just thought we'd share the flipside of elk life as most know them.
 
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Broomd

Broomd

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My parents live in Rathdrum on a few acres backed up to state land. Their biggest problem is deer destroying all their apple trees. But they do get moose elk and deer on their property.....
All of our apple/cherry trees are younger trees 6-8' and are each enclosed in round fencing. The elk and moose would destroy them.
 
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Broomd

Broomd

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Terry, I'm genuinely surprised that more guys don't have Winter game around. Here in the timbered West I thought our situation was pretty much the norm. Go figure.
Moved all of the hay into the shop and with it came some new players......Covey of 33 California quail....couple of cockbirds shown...and a ringneck--that's a rare one around here. These guys are all easy keepers.

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noexcuses

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gotta love all the fences they kock down and the holes they put in the yard with their hooves. I keep telling them rent will be due some day to pay for all the damages lol.
 

jmez

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WT and turkeys in my yard. Live right on the edge of the Black Hills NF. Starting about October I'll regularly have 15-20 deer and up to 60 turkeys rummaging around the yard. They hang around until spring and then move back up into the hills. Turkeys make a huge mess *&$% all over everything.

I changed all my mulch in flower beds out a couple of years age for large rock, that has helped with that problem. I try to use only deer resistant plants but have found out all that means is they can't resist eating them!!
 
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