Elk

• Average life span in the wild:8 to 12 years
• Size:Height at the shoulder, 4 to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5 m)
• Weight:325 to 1,100 lbs (147 to 499 kg)

Did you know? Elk are actually native to Texas! Historical evidence indicates that elk may have been present over much of Texas. By the late 1800’s, records indicate that elk were only present in the Guadalupe Mountains of far west Texas. Currently, free ranging elk exist over a large portion of west Texas and on high fence ranches throughout the state. As of 2008, it was estimated that 1,600 elk lived in free-ranging herds located in the Guadalupe, Sierra Diablo, Glass, Wylie, Eagle, Davis and Chinati mountains of the Trans-Pecos. Private landowners began reintroducing elk to the Trans-Pecos in the late 1920s. The free-ranging herds that populate the West Texas mountains today originated when elk escaped or were released from these private ranches or, ironically, by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).