Wildlife viewing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Elk!

Almost 10 million visitors a year come to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to see the beautiful mountain views, fish the mountains streams and observe the bounty of wildlife that lives in the park. With all of the fantastic animals to watch in the park the most impressive and exciting is the North American Elk.

Elk were brought into the Great Smoky Mountains national park in 2001 as an experimental introduction which appears to be going quite well.

These huge animals once roamed all of the Smokies and the surrounding areas of Tennessee and North Carolina until the 1800's when elk were hunted to extinction in both states.

Now Elk can be found a quick ride away from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge in the Cataloochee section of the Great Smoky Mountains national park and have been spreading out to Cosby, Oconaluftee, Smokemont and Big Creek.

A full gown male bull elk can grow up to almost 700 pounds and have a rack of antlers that can be as large as 5 feet across. Elk have a lifespan of 15 years and give birth to their young in the late spring and early summer.

The best time of the year to watch the elk in the Great Smoky Mountains national park is in September and October when the elk go into rut. At this time male elks called bulls bellow back and forth called bugling and fight to gather female elks called cows for their harem.

Year round the elk in the Great Smoky Mountains national park are a fantastic part of nature the whole family can enjoy.

Information about North American Elk in the Smokies.