Elk researchers busy with calving season White-tailed deer Elk Buckrail - Jackson Hole, news
Newborn calf doing exactly what momma has taught it. Stay low and remain quiet as she leads prey away from young. This one lays down to 'hide' as researchers leave the area. (WGFD)

JACKSON HOLE, WYO – It’s elk calving season so that means Ben Wise is out looking for his tracking devices. He often finds them somewhere right next to a newborn calf.

Wise is the Game and Fish Jackson Brucellosis-Feedground-Habitat (BFH) biologist. He has been busy locating and retrieving Vaginal Implant Transmitters (VIT) in the Jackson Region. Jackson and Pinedale BFH biologists have been busy finding VITs they implanted in pregnant cows this past winter.

Since 2006, BFH biologists have been capturing cow elk at various feedgrounds throughout the Jackson and Pinedale Regions to implant pregnant cows. The transmitters are expelled when the calf is born or aborted, and a new signal is emitted from the transmitter. By identifying elk calving (parturition) areas, wildlife and livestock managers can work together to keep livestock and elk separate at this critical time of year to help reduce the risk of brucellosis transmission to cattle.

A collared cow elk runs away from the birth site to attract the attention of approaching ‘predators,’ in this case researchers. (WGFD)
Jackson BFH Biologist Ben Wise uses a radio telemetry receiver to locate and retrieve the Vaginal Implant Transmitter near a newborn calf at the birthing site near Hoback Junction south of Jackson recently. Occa-sionally, the newborn calf will still be at the birth site when researchers arrive. (WGFD)