72 Microseasons of the Pacific Northwest

Through late summer, Roosevelt Elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) bulls carry their antlers at their annual maximum size, still sheathed in velvet — the richly vascularized skin that supplies blood and nutrients to the growing bone. The velvet stage of antler growth begins in spring and peaks by late July to early August, when a mature bull's rack may weigh 30–40 pounds and span five feet from tip to tip. In this state the antlers are warm to the touch, visibly pulsing with blood vessels beneath the fuzzy brown skin, and extraordinarily sensitive — bulls are careful to avoid striking their antlers against brush during this stage. Roosevelt elk are the largest elk subspecies in North America and the Olympic Peninsula supports the largest unmanaged herd in the world, numbering around 5,000 animals. Good viewing areas include the Hoh Rain Forest area (where elk graze openly in the river flats year-round), Hurricane Ridge meadows, and the Quinault Valley. The Elwha River corridor and the Queets and Quinault river valleys in the Olympics also host reliable elk populations. In the Cascades, herds frequent the Carbon River and White River valleys around Mount Rainier, and the Willapa Hills in southwestern Washington. By mid-August, changing hormone levels trigger the drying of velvet. The velvet begins to shrink and crack, and bulls accelerate the process by rubbing their antlers against trees and shrubs — behavior that strips the velvet in dramatic red-brown tatters and polishes the hardened bone beneath. Finding a tree with fresh rub sign — stripped bark and embedded hair — tells you a bull elk has been working nearby. This velvet-shedding behavior builds toward the rut, which fires in earnest in September, but watching a bull carry full velvet antlers in early August is one of the Pacific Northwest's more arresting wildlife encounters.