Manitoban Elk

Manitoban elk are native to the northern Great Plains and prairie parkland of south-central Canada and the north-central United States, favoring open grassland and river-bottom woodland over mountainous terrain. Bulls average around 700 pounds, ranging from 470 up to 1,100, and cows run around 500; the coat is reddish-brown with a darker brown neck and a yellowish belly and rump patch, and only males grow antlers, a main beam sweeping back over the body with several tines. They graze on more than 100 species of forbs along with grasses and some shrubs, are most active at dawn and dusk, and gather into herds of cows and calves, with bulls splitting off into separate bachelor groups outside the fall rut.