More elk are coming to Missouri this spring.
The Missouri Department of Conservation will bring 35 elk to the Peck Ranch Conservation Area in Carter and Shannon Counties in mid-May. The elk will be held in quarantine until they are released to join approximately 65 elk who are already in the elk restoration zone.
Ryan Houf is a wildlife management biologist with the MDC in Eminence. He says the refuge portion of Peck Ranch will be closed to the public between April 1 to July 1.
“We are really concerned about making sure that they have proper time to acclimate themselves. And they’ll be held in the facilities. With any luck we’ll be releasing them this summer,” Houf said. “And also we’re looking at the elk health of our newborn calves. Our cows should start to be calving this June and May.”
Houf says about 16 of the current elk were born there. He says newborn calves had a nearly 50% survival rate last year, which he says is pretty good.
“We’re pretty encouraged considering the hard drought that we suffered last summer, and the heat. They did surprisingly well for the conditions that we had,” Houf said. “I don’t think we could have asked for a worst case scenario as far as weather conditions.”
Houf says a couple elk have wandered off the ranch temporarily, but they eventually returned to the refuge after a week or two.
This will be the third year the MDC has brought elk from Kentucky to Peck Ranch to reintroduce this native animal to Missouri. Elk all but disappeared from the Show Me State back in 1865.
