Mike in the Wild

Arizona is not especially known for its megafauna - very large animals that populate a given habitat.  Not since the extinction of large ground sloths in the late Pleistocene and the near extinction of bison across the continent in the 19th century have such big mammals roamed the state.  That is until 1913 when several score of elk were located to the state's White Mountains from Yellowstone.   Since then, the population of this massive deer has mushroomed to over 30,000, even with a yearly hunting season. The first time you see a male elk you might mistake him for a reindeer.  While the first time I got close to a female I thought she resembled a moose.  Of course others consider them big varieties of the common mule deer that roams the areas.  In any case most studies consider all of them cousins in a large family of even-towed ungulates known as the cervidae. The elk species has extended its range across the pine forests and meadows of the stat...