Elk Timeline

Elk came close to vanishing from most of North America and came back. These are the key dated moments in that story, from the market-hunting era to today’s tag changes.

A herd of elk, including a bull, feeding in a green meadow ringed by trees
Elk herd in a summer meadow

Elk timeline

Before settlement: Elk numbers across North America are estimated at about 10 million, with the widest range of any deer in the continent.

1872: Yellowstone National Park is established. Its elk herds later become the source for restoring elk across the country.

Early 1900s: Unregulated hunting and habitat loss leave only scattered herds. The eastern elk and Merriam’s elk of the Southwest are gone.

1910: Montana makes its first transplant of Yellowstone elk, to Fleecer Mountain near Butte.

February 1913: Eighty-three Yellowstone elk are released at Cabin Draw near Chevelon Creek, Arizona, founding the state’s modern herd.

1912 to 1967: More than 13,500 elk are moved out of Yellowstone to restock other areas.

1922: North American elk reach a low of about 90,000 animals, about 40,000 of them in Yellowstone.

1940: Montana has transplanted 1,753 elk to 31 sites around the state.

May 14, 1984: Four elk hunters found the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in Troy, Montana. North America holds about 550,000 elk.

December 1997: Kentucky releases its first seven elk, restoring wild elk to the state.

2002: Hunt4 Elk.com is online, covering elk hunting in Arizona’s high country.

2025: Colorado ends over-the-counter archery elk licenses for nonresidents west of Interstate 25 and Unit 140.

2026: Idaho moves nonresident general season deer and elk tags to a drawing.

Today: North America holds more than one million elk, and Kentucky’s herd of more than 11,000 is the largest east of the Mississippi.

Sources