Spending time with the elk of western North Carolina is one of my favorite things to do, especially during their rut, or mating season. Elk are one of the largest species in the deer family, Cervidae.  Here in North Carolina, they are our largest mammal; even larger than our black bear.  The eastern elk once roamed the entire eastern United States. After the arrival of European settlers, unregulated hunting and loss of habitat led to rapid population declines throughout the 18th century. By 1800, the eastern elk was gone completely from the  North Carolina landscape.  Soon afterwards, they had almost disappeared  completely throughout  their range and in 1877 the last known wild eastern elk was killed in Pennsylvania.

The National Park Service (NPS) introduced the Manitoban subspecies of elk  into the Cataloochee area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina in 2001 and 2002. The project was deemed successful in 2008 and today over 200 elk live and breed in western North Carolina.

If you haven’t experienced the elk during the rut I have to say, it is a must!