Elk farming

[Anonymous Poster]

I got talking to this "Old Timer" who told me he raises elk on his Indiana farm. I asked him if this was for exotic hunters or the meat. Neither he replied-- for the antlers. Seems the Asians will pay $1,000 for one set of elk antlers. Ground up antlers are considered heap big medicine over there. He said elk are as easy as cattle, tolerate brutal weather, and he can harvest a set of antlers each year. Anyone else heard of this?

 

[cowboydoc]

Ted Turner has the biggest elk farm in the country in Bozeman, MT where my wife lives. He has been in hot water with the government because he has his guys go out and roundup elk and herd them to his ranch. He also feeds them in the winter and then closes the gates in the spring. To say the least he's not the most popular guy around there.
There are alot of people that raise them. They are raised for their meat as well though. The meat is very low in fat and cholesterol. When I went up to Canada to pick up my pickup a few weeks ago I bet there were a hundred farms up that way that had the seven foot tall fences and were raising elk. My neighbor has a couple that he raises as well. When we first moved in it was fall and I heard this elk bugling. I thought there's no elk in Iowa I must be hearing things. I followed the sound and sure enough there was this bull elk bugling. It's really neat for us to hear that in the fall. Reminds us of home. He came over about a couple months after we'd moved in though and wanted to know if I thought I could break him to ride! I said well I've tryed to break one and don't think that I want to. I haven't talked to him lately so I don't know if he ever trained him or not.

 

[Knight9]

Elk farms all over the place up here. In the county I live in I would say there are probably 15-20 farms visible from the various roads I drive. I'm sure there are more I don't know of. Of course...out county also has Elk Island National Park . Maybe one reason they are so popular /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Here I believe they are grown both for the antlers and the meat.

Kevin

 

[IndianaPaul]

Have a family just down the road from us that raise Elk for the antlers. Imagine my surprise about 3 years ago September, when walking through the pasture and I begin to hear Elk Bugle in southern Indiana! Makes the whitetails I hunt look kinda puny.

Paul

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

We HAD an elk farm about 10 miles from here. They were using them for both antlers and hunting. Seems kinda sad to pay $10,000 to go sit in a farm field and shoot an elk that's so tame they'll come right up to the feed truck when it goes out.

Darn elk farm was a highway nuisance. There were always a bunch of cars parked along the road and drivers would slam their brakes to stop when they saw an elk in the field.

SHF

 

[Estif]

Wow, what an easy crop! The antlers, I mean. Just walk around and pick up the sheds...and get to see elk and hear the bugling...wow. Hmm...just maybe...they're reintroducing them in Tennessee and Kentucky...Naah.