Michigan is home to hundreds of elk, and yet it’s been decades since researchers could pin down a firm number on how many of these elusive giants are roaming in the woods Up North.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources are adding 200 cameras to track the Lower Peninsula’s elk population, adding to its regular aerial surveys.
Despite weighing between 400 and 900 pounds and standing 5 feet tall at the shoulder, elks are difficult to track outside of their fall breeding season. It’s not until September and October when these giants make themselves known with their bulging calls across fields looking for mates.
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Every other year the DNR flies over the Lower Peninsula’s elk country for eight days to count the herds. For two decades the department has done this in the winter because significant snow cover makes it easier to spot elk.
However, Michigan’s whiplash winters have made it unreliable that January will bring snow covered-forests.
The last aerial survey, in 2024, estimated the elk population at 1,146.
The aerial survey had a confidence interval range of plus/minus 262, meaning the population is between 884 and 1,408 animals, according to the DNR.
This uncertainty rate would be adequate for typical wildlife population management, the DNR said, but Michigan is trying to reduce its elk population. The DNR’s goal is a population of 500 to 900 elk.
These habitat management goals and reduction “elk/human conflicts” are outlined in the DNR’s elk conservation plan extending to 2033.
The new cameras will stretch 1,100 square miles across northern Lower Michigan on both state-owned and private property.
The cameras will use infrared and motion detection to snap photos of elk passing by for three summers from 2025-2027.
Separately, DNR researchers will begin analyzing teeth taken from harvested elk this fall and winter to help estimate the population.
The teeth analysis is a supplemental technique and would not take the place of the other surveys. This method could be used annually and might allow researchers to conduct the chosen independent survey less often – such as every three to five years, instead of every other year, according to the DNR.
The DNR’s Wildlife Division set up about 200 cameras in and around the core elk range, which encompasses some 1,100 square miles across northern Lower Michigan. MI Dept. of Natural Resources
The DNR euthanized an elk in Presque Isle County after it became accustom to human food and then demonstrated “aggressive behavior” including three reports of the elk charging at people.
In the late 1800s elk disappeared from Michigan from overhunting. The animals were reintroduced in 1918 and the herd grew steadily in the 1940s and 1950s.
Elk hunting was reintroduced in the 1960s after complaints of crop and reforestation damage.
Michigan’s current elk hunting periods are late August through September and then a second period in December. License are limited and only available through a lottery.
Ice-covered red pine trees snapped off leaving stick-like forest in the Pigeon River Country State Forest northeast of Gaylord, Michigan. (DNR)DNR
The elk habitat in Pigeon River Country State Forest, known as Michigan’s elk country, took a hit during the ice storm this spring.
The Lower Peninsula’s largest swath of contiguous undeveloped land had extensive damage, turning rows of towering pines into toothpick-like stalks.
Experts say elks may actually benefit from this environmental reset.
The majority of the wild elk population stretches across Cheboygan, Otsego and Montmorency Counties, according to the DNR’s 2025 survey.
In the spring, elk seek out anything sprouting green so the fallen branches brought a buffet to the ground for these “walking stomachs,” the DNR said.
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