Elk

nice collection of photos, love #2

No doubt the over-hunting of elk was an issue with the Cherokee! (my tribal ancestors happened to live right in the area where you are). The natives in western Oregon used to burn patches of high ground/ridges to keep the elk in pasturage. They don't seem to jump fences much, but groove deep paths down to water. You don't see them in hunting season (smart elk), but otherwise we catch glimpses of them grazing at dawn near the creek in the cow pasture. I never hear them bugling, but they occasionally come within 50 yards of the house. They don't show themselves like the deer do, though.

I take it that the eastern elk herds had died out/been exterminated? Roosevelt elk (though there seems to be some debate about their actual distinction) is what we have in Oregon; many dozens of them inhabit our land. They are very successful here! You sure don't want to meet a herd coming around a corner on a road--they're as big as a horse. One will keep a family in meat for most of a winter.