While chatting with a visitor the other day, he mentioned the elk antlers we have on display at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center.

He gave me a look when I said my husband and I enjoy heading to Elk County and elk watch.

“Elk! In Pennsylvania?” he asked. I assured him we didn’t have to travel far to see these animals, but I don’t think he could believe his ears.

It’s hard to imagine, but elk roamed Pennsylvania in the early 1800s and they were found in most of the state.

By the 1840s they were gone from the southern part of our state, and by the 1850s they were limited to a few counties such as McKean, Elk and Cameron counties. By 1875, they were gone from Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission began an effort to reintroduce elk in Pennsylvania, and in 1913, Pennsylvania’s first shipment of Yellowstone elk arrived by train.

Half of the shipment went to Clinton County; the other half went to Clearfield County.

An additional 22 elk were bought that same year. They were released on state lands in Monroe County and the remainder on a Centre County preserve.

Throughout the years, the elk population has fluctuated, and from the 1970s until today with land management, land purchases and researchers making improvements in habitat with particular attention to food preferences, the elk population has flourished.

Today, the elk population is around 1,000-1,200 and can be found in 10 of Pennsylvania’s counties.

Elk are one of the largest species within the deer family and range in forest and forest-edge habitat. Elk feed in the mornings and evenings, seeking shelter in between feedings to digest.

Their diets vary somewhat depending on the seasons with native grasses being a year-round supplement, tree bark is eaten in winter and tree saplings in the summer; eating an average of 20 pounds of vegetation daily.

Particularly fond of young aspen saplings, elk have had an impact on aspen groves. They are especially destructive to corn crops and tend to just nip off the end of the corncob to get the silk.

Elk have a reddish hue to their fur, buff-colored rump patches and small tails.

The females weigh approximately 500 pounds, stand 5 feet at the withers with a body length of 7 feet from nose to tail. The males are 40% larger at maturity, weigh approximately 730 pounds, stand 6 feet at the withers with a body length of 8 feet from nose to tail. Their fur varies based on the seasons and types of habitats, with gray or lighter fur in the winter and a more reddish, darker fur in the summer.

Only the males have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each winter.

The largest antlers may be up to 4 feet long and weigh 40 pounds. Antlers are made of bone which can grow at a rate of an inch per day.

While they are growing, the antlers are covered with and protected by a soft layer of skin known as velvet and is shed in the summer when the antlers have fully developed. After the breeding season, the antlers are shed in early winter.

Adult elk usually stay in same-sex groups for most of the year. During the mating period known as the rut, mature bulls compete for the attention of the mature cows.

Rival bulls challenge by bugling and posturing. This allows them to assess the antlers, body size and fighting abilities. If neither bull backs down, they will fight, and sometimes the bulls are seriously injured.

Only the mature bulls between the ages of 7 and 10 that have large harems. Bulls between 2 and 4 years and over 11 years of age rarely have harems and spend most of the rut on the outside of larger harems.

Elk live 20 years or more in captivity but average 10 to 13 years in the wild.

Before the females give birth, they move from the main herd and will not return to the herd until the calves are large enough to escape predators. The calves weigh about 35 pounds at birth and have spots that fade by the end of summer.

The newborns are kept close to the females by a series of vocalizations and the females are fiercely protective. They will remain with the mothers for almost a year, leaving before the next season’s offspring are born.

Nothing beats getting up at 3 a.m. with coffee in hand and traveling to our favorite stamping grounds near Winslow Hill in Benezette in search of elk in the early morning hours.

The sight of two bull elk bugling and coming toward each other to defend a territory is one of my all-time favorite sights. I hope to see you “on the hill!”

Jeannie Carl is a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill. The center rehabilitates injured animals and educates the public on a variety of wildlife found in the area. For information on the Carbon County Environmental Center, visit www.carboneec.org.