In the Intermountain West, Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni) habitat often overlaps with deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Elk can over-use certain areas potentially threatening these wildlife. One potential solution is to redistribute elk to less used areas, but tools to do this are limited. One approach is to feed elk a complete diet replacement, but then they no longer need to move to seek additional forage, leading to over-use. One approach to controlling livestock distributions is to provide appealing diet supplements that complement rather than replace livestock diets thereby allowing animals to move and consume existing forage. This approach has not yet been tested on elk. Thus, we tested elk preferences for 4 supplements, two high in energy (beet pulp and molasses) and two high in protein (soybean meal and canola) at a site in northern Utah. We also tested elk preference for two types of feeders, which differed in shape, size, and color. We used observational techniques (scan surveys) and measured the amounts of supplement consumed by elk to determine supplement and feeder preference. Our results suggest elk discriminated among supplements with greater preferences for high-energy supplements during periods of low ambient temperatures and preferences for high-protein supplements when temperatures increased. No significant differences regarding intake of supplement from the different feeder types was detected. Our results suggest that diet supplementation could potentially provide a way to relocate elk away from over-used areas, allowing other species to benefit from the absence of the large ungulates.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.