WINONA, Mo. -- Missouri's elk herd continues to grow at a slow but steady pace, and managers with the Department of Conservation are optimistic about their future.
"They're doing pretty darn good," cervid biologist Aaron Hildreth told the state's Conservation Commission recently, "and there's high public support."
In 2011, Missouri began reintroducing native elk back into a 346-square-mile restoration zone, with animals captured in eastern Kentucky.
In that first year, 34 elk were released in the rugged Peck Ranch Conservation Area in Shannon County. The next spring, 35 were turned loose and finally, in 2013, elk releases wrapped up with a final group of 39.
Not all of the elk, survived, however, with stress and brainworm being the leading causes of mortality. A year after the first release, 30 remained, and 15 from the class of 2012 died in their first year. The large group in 2013 saw eight deaths, leaving 81 of the original 108 elk still roaming the landscape.
Since then, however, natural reproduction has begun to slowly increase the number of elk in the Missouri herd, and today, at least 155 make the rugged Ozarks their home.
Adult survival rates, Hildreth told the commission, fall right in line with other eastern elk populations.
Pregnancy rates for cow elk remain high, with 90 percent or more successful each fall.
"Our yearling pregnancy rates are much higher than in the west," Hildreth said.
Calf survival has been another story.
In 2016, there were 40 calves known to be born, and in 2017, more than 50 were born, but "calf survival has been a little lower than we'd expect," Hildreth reported. "However, it is improving."
The latest data shows an approximate 65 percent survival rate for calves.
For the last couple years, technology has helped biologists keep better track of pregnant cow elk, and they even can know precisely when a calf is born.
During the winters of 2015-16 and 2016-17, biologists captured multiple cow elk with help from telemetry equipment. The captured cow elk are sedated, and if it's determined they're pregnant, they are implanted with VIT (vaginally-implanted transmitter) tags.
The tags transmit live body temperature readings from the pregnant cow to biologists, and when the researchers are notified electronically of a sudden temperature change as the device is expelled, they know a calf has been born. Acting quickly with telemetry equipment, a team can locate the mother elk and her calf to perform tests. Calves also are fitted with expandable radio collars to track their movements.
The technology has been a resounding success, and biologists hope to implant 35 VIT tags this winter and fit at least 30 newborn calves with radio collars in the spring, Hildreth said.
Since their initial releases, Missouri's elk continue to utilize the Peck Ranch Conservation Area, but have begun to spread out, as expected.
"Peck is still the center of elk activity," said Hildreth, "but in 2014, they started moving north to the Current River Conservation Area. Over time, the elk populations on Peck Ranch have been dwindling."
Bull groups in particular, Hildreth noted, tend to congregate on the CRCA from December to September, but during the peak of breeding, they always return to Peck Ranch.
As biologists continue to focus on habitat use by the elk, as well as reproduction and calf survival, they also are planning ahead for future management of the herd.
"In 2020, the population should reach 200 animals," Hildreth surmised.
That number, he noted, is one of the benchmarks MDC has determined will begin the herd management process. Other factors include at least 10-percent annual growth and a sex ratio of one bull for every four cows (at least 25 adult bulls and 100 adult cows).
MDC staff said from the beginning of the elk restoration process they would use limited hunting as a management tool, and that still rings true today.
A committee to create draft regulations already has been formed and their work will be presented to the Conservation Commission in the future, but a timetable hasn't been announced.