Mud or water? Both?

[iccyman001]

In the warmer temps or just to cool themselves off from a long time of chasing cows.
Which of the two would an elk gravitate to more to cool off?


A water source? Mud? Both?


If it is a water source, does depth matter?

 

[otcWill]

Water. It serves a dual purpose but ya can\'t find one without the other

 

[iccyman001]

but ya can\'t find one without the other

This is true.


Does the depth of the water source matter? Are we talking something that it can swim in?
Or something a little bit more shallow that it can just lower itself into or maybe roll around?

 

[Olympushunt]

In the warmer temps or just to cool themselves off from a long time of chasing cows.
Which of the two would an elk gravitate to more to cool off?


A water source? Mud? Both?


If it is a water source, does depth matter?

I have sat a few hours over both water and mud. Anything from a decent sized pond to just muddy wallows. I prefer for there to be enough water for them to drink as that is more a priority when it is hot than swimming. In all the years I have sat over water I have only had a few times the elk get in all the way...and that was just calves, like kids, playing. I had one calf stomping around and having a good ol time playing and swimming. It was mewing it\'s head off too. I was like oh boy....what better way to call in elk! Sure enough the herd came. I haven\'t seen water or mud being a big draw for cooling off myself....I\'m sure others have so I\'m not saying it isn\'t important. I think working out frustration and spreading scent are more motivation for them to roll in the mud....otherwise we would see the cows do it too more. Cows may wallow...I haven\'t seen it. Basically I am saying don\'t look at a nice cold pond and think of it as a magnet for them to cool off.....it will be a magnet for drinking though and that is a MUST for elk when it is hot. They need a lot of water then and it won\'t matter if it is 3 inches deep or 3 feet deep.

 

[iccyman001]

I have sat a few hours over both water and mud. Anything from a decent sized pond to just muddy wallows. I prefer for there to be enough water for them to drink as that is more a priority when it is hot than swimming. In all the years I have sat over water I have only had a few times the elk get in all the way...and that was just calves, like kids, playing. I had one calf stomping around and having a good ol time playing and swimming. It was mewing it\'s head off too. I was like oh boy....what better way to call in elk! Sure enough the herd came. I haven\'t seen water or mud being a big draw for cooling off myself....I\'m sure others have so I\'m not saying it isn\'t important. I think working out frustration and spreading scent are more motivation for them to roll in the mud....otherwise we would see the cows do it too more. Cows may wallow...I haven\'t seen it. Basically I am saying don\'t look at a nice cold pond and think of it as a magnet for them to cool off.....it will be a magnet for drinking though and that is a MUST for elk when it is hot. They need a lot of water then and it won\'t matter if it is 3 inches deep or 3 feet deep.

We have a camera over the mud/water hole that I shot my elk at last year. I am very interested to see how often it\'s hit.
It might be cool catching them play in it if they do start rolling around in or to see if they just come drink.

 

[Swede]

I have never seen bulls play in the water. I have seen cows and calves come in and splash around. I like a water hole with an adjacent wallow. That cover both needs, but I would rather have just a water hole with several trails coming in than a water hole/wallow combination with no particular trail nearby. Elk need a lot more water for drinking, especially when it is hot, than they need to wallow.

 

[colorado russ]

Dan, I have a short video of a bull playing in the water but the .AVI extension isn\'t allowed. I\'ll try to save to another format but it\'s 11 Mb so probably will be too big.

 

[cnelk]

Check this pic I got a few years ago

 

[elkmtngear]

Here\'s one we got a few years back...early Season temps were in the 70s:

After reviewing the trail cam, we decided to sit the wallow.

The temps dropped 20 degrees that day :x

 

[iccyman001]

Awesome pictures guys, thank you for those :upthumb: