The record harvest for the state was 26 bulls in 1927. Bull elk with a minimum of four points on at least one antler were the only animals that were legal to take in that year. The state of Pennsylvania’s first elk hunting season was conducted in 1923. In total, the Pennsylvania Game Commission released 177 Rocky Mountain Elk into the state in the time period beginning in 1913 and ending in 1926. Subsequently, releases of elk into the state took place in 1915, 1924, and 1926. This initial release was in Clearfield County, Clinton County, Centre County, and Monroe County. In 1913 the Pennsylvania Game commission released 50 elk from Yellowstone, along with 22 animals from a private reserve in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, into the Pennsylvania wilds. Most of the elk that Pennsylvania has today are descendants of Rocky Mountain elk that were transplanted from Yellowstone National Park to the state in the early 1900s in railway cars. At around the same time, the Merriam’s Elk subspecies of the Southwestern United States also became extinct. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service declared the species extinct in 1880. The last known eastern elk was shot in Pennsylvania in 1877. The last eastern elk in New York state were killed in 1826. Unfortunately, this trend only accelerated into the 1800s. However, by the 1700s, Eastern Elk populations began to decline due to human modification to their habitat and unregulated hunting. Pennsylvania’s elk herd ranged over much of the state, with their heaviest concentration being in the Allegheny Mountains.
This extended from the Mississippi River to the Eastern seaboard and from southern Canada to Georgia. In the time that predates European settlers in the eastern United States and Canada, Eastern elk inhabited a broad swath of eastern North America. Eastern elk (Cervus canadensis canadensis) were a distinct wapiti subspecies that is now extinct. Pennsylvania’s first elk were eastern elk. The State’s Original Elk Were Eastern Elk In fact, in the period between 18, elk, or wapiti as they were first called by native Americans, were expatriated from the state.
ELK COUNTY PA ELK VIEWING LICENSE
In fact, big game hunters from across the nation put into the state’s elk license lottery each year for a chance to draw a Pennsylvania elk tag. Giant bull elk roam Pennsylvania’s elk country that rival trophy elk found anywhere out west for size. This gives the state the distinction of having the largest free-roaming elk herd in the northeastern United States. The size of the Pennsylvania elk herd is around 1400 animals.
Yes, Pennsylvania has a robust elk population.
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