A bull elk wandering across the south-central part of the Upper Peninsula is getting a lot of looks, and for good reason. The sighting is the first in that part of the state in perhaps a century or more.
“Our DNR biologists are monitoring the situation as we work to confirm the origin of this animal,” said John Pepin, Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deputy public information officer. “Contact has been made with privately owned cervid facilities within a reasonable range of the sightings, and no elk from those operations have been reported missing. We have also checked with agency officials to confirm there have been no reports of elk missing from Wisconsin facilities.”
Michigan has a huntable elk population but just not in the UP.
DNR biologists have been working closely with their counterparts at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to establish whether the elk may be from one of the state’s two wild elk herds.
(Photo source: Michigan Department of Natural Resources)