CALF BIRTH HERALDS NEW YEAR CLASS OF WISCONSIN ELK, NEXT CHAPTER OF DNR WORK

Paul A. Smith

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY NETWORK – WIS.

CLAM LAKE - We formed a line four abreast and hiked east toward the tip of the peninsula. h A couple hundred yards ahead was water, that much was certain. And hopefully somewhere in between was the object of our quest: an elk calf. h 'We'll take 'er slow and be thorough,' said Joshua Spiegel, Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist for Sawyer County.

The slow part was going to be easy. This chunk of Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest near Clam Lake featured a dense mix of conifers and deciduous trees, as well as plenty of blowdowns and stumps.

One step over a fallen basswood, the next a limbo under a leaning spruce.

But the forest doesn't grow to make hiking easy. Its tangles serve a multitude of purposes for wildlife, including habitat. Apparently this section of the North Woods made a fine spot for a cow elk to give birth. And for a calf to find shelter in its first hours and days of life.

Due to a wonder of modern technology Spiegel had high confidence a newborn elk was close.

He received a text signal in the wee hours June 1 that a vaginal implant transmitter, or VIT, had been expelled by a cow elk. The very purpose of the device is to lead wildlife staff to a birth site.

About 16 hours later our crew of four assembled at that spot. Spiegel found the VIT among leaves on the forest floor; he then walked slowly along the peninsula until, as he expected, he saw the cow.

As Spiegel continued east the elk moved away, eased down to the water and swam toward a nearby island.

Next we focused on the DNR's primary objective: finding, collaring and tagging the elk calf.

In addition to Spiegel and me the group included DNR wildlife technician Molly Cochran and Tom Heisler, Jr., DNR conservation warden for Price and Sawyer counties.

Spiegel set the north end of our search line about 10 feet below the crown of the point. Then came me, close to the high ground, with Heisler about 25 feet south of me and Cochran another 40 feet distant.

We walked slowly, looking at the ground left, right and ahead. At spots it was too thick to see the adjacent searcher.

After 10 minutes I came to the lip of a depression and looked northeast. An eye peered back. Closer inspection revealed a pair of ears and a buff-colored body. A few lighter spots lined its back. We'd found the elk calf.

I called to Spiegel and he circled in my direction, followed by Cochran and Heisler. The elk remained motionless and silent, head down and eyes wide open.

The first step was to keep the calf calm - Spiegel slid a black cotton sleeve over its eyes.

Then with remarkable efficiency Spiegel and Cochran weighed the calf (45 pounds), fitted it with ear tags and an expandable GPS collar, took hair and tissue samples (for future genetic or other testing) and measured its incisors (1.3 millimeters, an indication of age).

The calf, a female, was just16 hours old but was full of attitude and plenty strong.

'She's a full 10 pounds heavier than our average elk calf,' Cochran said. 'She's going to get an 'excellent' score on our condition report.'

The DNR staff took photos of the site we found the calf. The information on habitat used by the cows to give birth and where calves are found will be kept and studied.

After 8 minutes of processing, Cochran, Heisler and I walked out while Spiegel stayed with the calf.

When we were out of sight, he took the blindfold off the calf and headed west to join us.

The work is part of the DNR's effort to collar 25 elk calves this spring in both the northern and central elk herds. The work will continue over three years. The goal is to understand the rate of survival for elk calves within their first year of life, Spiegel said, and help the DNR produce the most accurate population estimates.

Additional information will be gained on cause-specific mortality, cow elk pregnancy rates, birthing site and habitat selection and peak conception dates.

The VITs make searching for and finding calves extremely effiicent, Spiegel said. The average time this spring to find an elk calf has been 30 minutes.

'We can get in and out fast and that's better for the cow and the calf,' Spiegel said.

The first elk calf birth was recorded May 15 this spring in the northern herd. As of June 6, 11 elk calves had been found and collared near Clam Lake. About the same number had been collared in the central herd near Black River Falls.

The elk births will continue through mid-June, Spiegel said.

The elk-collaring story comes on the shoulders of several important chapters.

One occurred in late winter when the mother of this calf was captured and assessed. Since she was pregnant, Spiegel implanted the VIT. She also got a new GPS collar.

Spiegel and Cochran had been monitoring the cow's movements ever since.

Nine years ago the cow was just like this calf - a wild, newborn elk dropped on the leaf litter of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

She has matured into a strong elk with very good survival instincts.

And for any of that to happen we have to go to 1995, when 25 elk were brought from Michigan to the Clam Lake area as part of the Wisconsin elk reintroduction project.

Elk were native to Wisconsin but wiped out by unregulated hunting and habitat loss in the 1800s.

The elk reintroduction project was initially run by UW-Stevens Point researchers and transferred to the DNR in 1999.

To further increase the herd size and its genetic diversity, about 150 additional elk were transferred from Kentucky to Wisconsin between 2015 and 2019. Some of those transfers created the central herd in and around the Black River State Forest in Jackson County.

Growth in both herds over the years pushed Wisconsin's wild elk past a milestone in 2023. After last year's calving season, the DNR estimated the state had 515 elk, a modern-era population record and the first time it exceeded 500.

The 2023 population estimate represented a 10% year-over-year increase. And when seen in historical perspective, it was likely the most wild elk roaming Wisconsin since the Civil War period. Now we are fortunate to have two herds of the native species in our state.

If you haven't seen them, I highly recommend you make a trip to the Clam Lake area or the Black River Falls area to try to view elk in WIsconsin.

The June 1 outing was a success in all respects. The tracking technology helped tell that story, too.

The cow rejoined the calf on the peninsula just two hours after we left the site. And over the next few days, Spiegel and Cochran made repeated checks with the equipment to confirm the cow and calf were still together.

Things have changed over the last 200 years in the Wisconsin wildlife community. Some species, including the caribou and passenger pigeon, aren't coming back.

But the elk shows us that even species that get wiped out can, if supported by proper management, return to grace the woods and fields of Wisconsin.