Caught between wolves, mountain lions and grizzly bears, elk are struggling in the rugged, heavily forested backcountry of northern Idaho, according to a local hunter.
Phillip Howard told Cowboy State Daily that a trail camera video he captured encapsulates the elk's desperation. It shows a cow elk viciously pummeling a mountain lion that has her calf by the neck — with many of the crushing blows from her hooves striking the calf.
The calf was likely already dead, or near death, before its mother intervened, said Howard, who captured the video a few years ago near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
But the cow’s hits on the calf certainly didn’t help, he added.
“It was a desperate, last-ditch effort to save her calf,” even if she ended up contributing to its death, he said.
As for the mountain lion, it was apparently tough as nails, he said.
It survived the cow elk’s assault, apparently no worse for the wear, and made a meal of the calf.
As Howard sees it, mountain lions in the area have been driven by wolves to kill more elk than they might otherwise.
That’s because when a mountain lion makes a kill, wolves sometimes chase the lion away and claim the prey, forcing the mountain lion to go kill another elk, he argues.
Mountain lions and wolves are known to be competitors, but there seems to be dispute among experts over how frequently wolves steal mountain lions' kills.
Flying Hooves, A Dust Cloud And ‘Barking’ Elk
Elk might seem docile, but like any wild mothers, cow elks can be fierce if their young are in danger.
It’s why officials in Yellowstone National Park admonish tourists to keep their distance from elk, particularly cows with calves at their sides.
And even predators are frequently wise to keep away. In Yellowstone, a young wolf made the foolish choice to try going on a solo hunt for an elk calf.
The wolf ended up fleeing for its life, narrowly escaping a stomping from the calf’s mother and a couple other cow elk who joined the chase.
In Howard’s video, the mountain lion can be seen with a death grip on the calf, as the mother cow rushes in and immediately starts flailing away with all four of her hooves.
At one point, she kicks up so much dust, it nearly obscures all three animals from view.
Despite taking a proper pounding on camera, the mountain lion doesn’t let go of the calf, which appears to be limp and unresponsive throughout the ordeal.
The cow also makes a loud grunting sound, which hunters frequently call “barking.”
Along with squeaking and chirping sounds, barking is a way cow elk communicate. Barking usually expresses distress or alarm.
“If they see you, and they don’t like you around, they will start barking,” Howard said.
The video offers a glimpse into how dramatic and brutal nature can be, but one that human eyes rarely see.
The huge response to the video prompted Howard to launch his Trail Cam Nut social media site, which features wildlife and hunting content.
“I run about 75 trail cameras” in various locations, he said.
Mountain Lions Vs. Wolves
As in Wyoming, wolf hunting and trapping is legal in Idaho. Howard said he’s killed more than 20 wolves over the years.
He said the first wolf he shot was a member of a pack that chased a mountain lion off its kill, something he thinks happens frequently in his area.
Wolves can be hard on mountain lions, according to a study published by Smithsonian magazine. Researchers claimed that wolves might have cut the mountain lion population in parts of northwest Wyoming by about half.
Wolves stealing mountain lion kills might have factored into that, as did wolves killing young mountain lions, researchers claimed.
Others argue that wolves, bears and mountain lions have lived together for eons, and the primacy of one species over the other naturally ebbs and flows.
Biologist Doug Smith, who led the wolf program in Yellowstone National Park for nearly three decades, told Cowboy State Daily that it’s not unheard of for wolves to steal mountain lion kills, but it’s rare.
“They do it, for sure, but it’s not ‘common,”’ Smith said.
“In my work (in Yellowstone) it happened, but not routinely,” he said.
Growing Numbers Of Grizzlies
Grizzly bears are also becoming more common in north Idaho, Howard said.
“There’s definitely a lot more grizzlies here than what we were used to,” he said.
He’s not sure how directly the bears have affected the elk. But wolf trapping has been restricted because of grizzlies, he said.
Idaho and Montana in 2024 placed restrictions on wolf trapping, over concerns about grizzlies getting injured by wolf traps.
Howard doesn’t like the restrictions.
“I doubt a wolf trap would even hurt a grizzly,” he said.
Whether because of loss to predators, or other factors, he said the elk herds in his region have shrunk.
“Those elk up there (in the mountains), they have not been up there like they used to be,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
