antlers in autumn

tule elk

   On the central coast area of california we have mule deer in the sub species form of black tail. They are abundant, you can see them off pretty much any side road and country highway even in the towns in most areas a lot of us have had issues with them eating the landscaping so many of the nurserys have deer resistant sections of native plants. This species of mule deer are smaller than others but can still produce some beefy bucks. One of the lesser known species in our area are the reintroduced tule elk, in 1978 in a collaborative effort, the department of fish and game planted several herds of tule elk in different areas of california. Here on the central coast and the surrounding area they were planted on camp roberts army camp, fort hunter ligget, and carrizo plains elk preserve. elk used to number a presumed 500,000 in california and along with grizzly bear were hunted to near non existance in our state by the early 1900's. with a goal of two thousand elk in mind the D.F.G.'s elk reinroduction seems to be still going strong. we spotted these elk along the highway bordering the camp roberts fenceline in paso robles. I have caught many of these elk on my camera traps in the same area (see older posts).


buck in rut

black tailed mule deer