Dry Wallows

[Swede]

I have read about dry wallows and have seen where an elk rolled around in the dust. I have never seen an elk in, or doing anything in a dry wallow. It did not look like the elk reused the \"dry wallow\". It seems possible to me that instead of being a wallow, the elk was just rolling in the dirt/dust dealing with pesky insects. The one I saw could have been made when elk wallow or before they normally do.
Does anyone here have any knowledge about dry wallow? Are they wallows in the same sense mud holes are?

 

[Deertick]

Hmm ...I doubt they are \"wallows\" at all ...

Horses roll, but when you watch one roll, he will first walk around an area and paw at the ground a bit. That, I think, is to see if there are rocks or cactus there. They like to roll on flat dust, not rocks. Who wants to roll on rocks?

I would be these are just areas they have found that are \"good rolling areas\" meaning that they have no rocks or roots.

(All of this is speculation on my part).

 

[Swede]

Tick, I am coming to believe you are correct. I have no proof, but I doubt they are a dry equivalent to a normal wallow.

 

[Russel Reed]

The first one I encountered left no doubt in my mind that it was a dry wallow. I bulldozer couldn\'t have done a better job of tearing that 10 ft. square area up. The ground was completely barren and wallowed out. It reeked with the smell of urine and several smaller trees and bushes in the area were thrashed to pieces. So, yes, dry wallows do exist! At least I\'m convinced they do.

 

[Swede]

Russel, you refer to the first wallow. Were there others you encountered like that? What time of year did you find them? Do you believe any dry wallows get reused?

 

[Russel Reed]

I have seen two others within a mile of the one I described. But none as ripped up as that one was. I first found it because I called a bull up off of it. Just as he topped the hill, the wind shifted and he turned back towards the wallow. So I tried to trail him. That is when I discovered the wallow. There was no doubt in my mind the it had been used many times.

 

[timberland]

This past year on opening morning two of the guys I hunt with came upon a herd of twenty or thirty with two bulls fighting. It was an all out battle and when they were done the winner rolled around on the ground like you would see them do in a wet wallow. They loser came in on a string to a hoochie mama and was shot at 25 yds.

 

[Swede]

This past year on opening morning two of the guys I hunt with came upon a herd of twenty or thirty with two bulls fighting. It was an all out battle and when they were done the winner rolled around on the ground like you would see them do in a wet wallow. They loser came in on a string to a hoochie mama and was shot at 25 yds.

This sounds more like a spontaneous one time thing, than like a wet wallow that bulls seek out. Maybe it is similar to guys pumping their fist in the air after killing a big bull or buck. What I saw was nothing like what Russell described. I probably would not have thought much more about the spot, except there were no cattle there, and there was one small tree rubbed nearby.