Brigham Young University's (BYU) Ecology Research Lab has found another case of "animals are smarter than you think": elks in Utah have learned to know when hunting season starts and move to avoid being hunted.
In particular, these elks are moving from public lands, where they can be hunted, to private lands, where they cannot be hunted. Incredibly, once hunting season ends, these elks return to public lands.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources worries that this behaviour can disrupt farm operations, as elks have been seen to steal food from livestock grazing on private lands. Utah has since given out private-land hunting permits for elk. Hunters can now coordinate with private landowners to manage elk populations in private lands.
#elk #hunting #animalbehaviour #populationmanagement
Video and screenshot source: KSL Outdoors