Once Gone
In winter it is not uncommon to see elk as you drive down the park road to the visitor center. This was not always the case. Based on findings in archeological sites the native elk species, Merriam's elk, had long inhabited the Jemez Mountains and Bandelier but only in small numbers. By the early 1900's hunting had eliminated these elk from the area. In the 1960's elk were brought in from places such as Rocky Mountain National Park and were reintroduced onto the Pajarito Plateau.

Big Mammals, Big Eaters, Big Trouble
A bull elk can weigh more than 1000 pounds. With heavy hooves they can tear up the landscape and the archeological sites that are found there. With large stomachs, elk can eat great volumes of low quality vegetative material such as aspen, choke cherry, and oak. Elk, like people, have favorite foods which they will eat until they are unavailable. Aspen bark and shoots are a favorite elk food. Hard to digest and lower in nutrition, aspen is rarely consumed by mule deer. In areas where elk populations are high, aspen shoots are not surviving but are consumed over and over by browsing elk until they can not regenerate. If elk populations remain high, there may be areas where aspen will be eliminated.

Elk in Bandelier
Although elk may be seen any time of the year in Bandelier, you are far more likely to see them in the lower elevations, such as along the entrance road, in the winter.  Elk tend to migrate through the park with the seasons, moving from the higher cooler elevations in the summer to the lower less snowy elevations in the winter.  Bugling elk in the fall and young spotted elk calves in the summer are much more likely to be seen at the higher elevations within the park or in the nearby Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Elk Courtship
In the autumn if you are hiking in the higher elevations of the park you may hear a strange high-pitched whistling.  Bull elks not only grow a large set of antlers with which to defend their territory and attract females, but also have a distinctive call.