Fascinating facts about Elk

One of the biggest mammals in North America

Elk are the largest wild herbivore from the cervid family, second only to the moose.

The Roosevelt’s elk, Tule elk, Rocky Mountain elk, and the Manitoban elk are four of the six North American subspecies that still exist in the wild.

Today, elk is popular as a hunting game, and elk meat is a specialty in some restaurants and stores — like ours. Let’s talk about this majestic animal:

1. They are the loudest members of the Deer family

Male elk use their high-pitched roar, called bugling, to attract mates during mating season.

Compared to its size, there is no vocal animal on earth with the same abilities

2. Only males have antlers

Unlike some other deer species, like reindeer, only male elk have antlers. They begin growing their signature antlers in the spring and shed them each winter.

Male elk use their antlers to compete with each other during the mating season, lowering their heads and knocking them with other bulls both to build strength and to win the attention of females.

3. Elk stomach has four chambers

Their diet consists of roughage such as grasses, shrubs, tree bark, and twigs. An elk’s stomach has four chambers: the first stores food, and the other three digest it.

And just like cows, elk are ruminant animals — meaning, they regurgitate their food and then continue to re-chew it to aid in digestion.

Similarly to bison, elk have been introduced to several national wildlife refuges to help restore grass prairie ecosystems.

The more elk meat is consumed, the more the elk population increases as ranches need to keep up with the demand.

We source elk from the northern Rocky Mountain region as well as the pristine mountain valleys of New Zealand. All of our elk are free-range, grass-fed, and never administered hormones, steroids, or antibiotics.

The meat tastes similar to beef but is leaner and more flavorful.