Elk May Return Without ‘Big Daddy’

Your article on “Big Daddy,” the bull elk that was poached near Big Valley Springs (Column One, Feb. 8) was reprinted in the Anchorage Daily News recently. As a wildlife biologist of over 25 years who has studied elk extensively, I wish to comment on the closing thought in this article -- now that “Big Daddy” is gone, the elk may not return. This notion, plus a couple of earlier references to this bull’s relationship with a group of cows and young bulls, suggest that adult bull elks “lead” and play an important role in determining what elk groups do. This idea is incorrect.

Cow elk form a matriarchal society with leadership being held almost exclusively by older cows who have been successful in rearing multiple generations of calves. Even during the rutting period, when a dominant bull forms an exclusive association with a cow band, he plays little if any role in determining where the cow group goes and what it does. His principal chore at this time is trying to keep other bulls away from “his” cow group.

Bottom line, if the Big Valley Springs area continues to provide relatively good seasonal elk habitat with minimal disturbance, the cow group most likely will return.

Jim Lieb

Anchorage