Gerald

Three years ago an elk began appearing at the eastern edge of my management area, near the old logging road that hasn't been maintained since the nineties. I say began but it's possible he was there before and I simply started noticing. He's large — a mature bull, good rack, not particularly interested in me.

I've used the standard deterrents. Scent markers along the boundary, noise at intervals. He ignores them. I've seen him stand ten metres from a scent marker and graze without any sign of acknowledgement. Either his sense of smell is impaired, which seems unlikely, or he simply doesn't consider me a relevant authority in this area, which is more plausible.

My colleague Mats asked what I planned to do about the elk. I said I'd given him a name. Mats said that wasn't a management strategy. I said it was the beginning of one.

Gerald has been back every autumn since. He comes and goes as he likes. The forest is large enough for both of us, which he understood before I did.

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