Bull Elk behavior

[Gila]

I was going to put a camera over a wallow but cattle were in there. I found a rub about 150 yards from the wallow. The rub was fresh. The tracks below the rub looked to be no more than a day old. Should I hang a camera over the rub? I have done that with deer and it works well. I don 't want to waste a camera if the bull won't come back to it. The wallow is in the middle of a circular meadow which is about 60 acres in size surrounded by pine forest. Will elk jump a standard 4 foot barbed wire fence?

Whoops! wanted to put it under elk....my bad

 

[406LIFE]

I wouldn't worry about a camera on the rub, but I would put one on the wallow. I've seen elk and cattle share wallows many times.

Fence: Jump, yes, or just run it over.

 

[Rzrbck918]

If the landowner is lucky the elk will jump the fence and yes put a camera on the wallow, you may end up with 1000 pictures of cows between elk but they will probably still use it.

 

[hank4elk]

EZ, if fence owner is lucky.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Don't bother with the rub. They don't seem to return to the same rub often.

 

[Gila]

There are two small junipers by the wallow. I will run out there tomorrow and put a camera on one them. I have an old camera with a 16 gig sd card. Won't break my heart if the cattle tear it up.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Every place is a little different, of course, but I have seldom seen elk and cattle using the same locations for very long. The elk tend to move on to other habitat when cattle are around. They don't just run for the hills like they do when they see a human, but they do move on to the next meadow in my experience.

 

[Gila]

Retrieved the camera yesterday since tomorrow is the archery deer opener. I would share the pictures but I inadvertently deleted them:
2 cow elk, many deer, a bear, coyotes, bats, ravens and two vultures.