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Western Big Game — In Pennsylvania?
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Thriving elk wander a property managed by FORECON, Inc. near Weedville, PA. This group of 6 bulls were seen crossing a strip mine that had been reclaimed and didn’t seem to mind the attention as they stood for a few minutes and allowed us to get some pictures!

When most people think about elk, they think of them as a western big game species, but did you know that there is a thriving population of nearly 1,000 elk in Cameron and Elk Counties, Pennsylvania?

Habitat loss and unregulated harvest lead to the fall of the “natural” Pennsylvania elk herd in the late 1860’s, but after the creation of the Pennsylvania Game Commission in 1895, a plan was put in place to reintroduce them to the northern Pennsylvania landscape.  From 1913-1926 almost 200 elk were trapped and transferred via railroad and placed throughout Elk, Cameron and a few other surrounding counties. 


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