WHIDBEY ISLAND — It’s not a good time of year to be a yard ornament around Strawberry Point.
Santa and his little elves might want to get out of the cold.
Whidbey Island’s lone resident elk is known to knock around a few yard features.
The elk is typically restless this time of year and might still be a little high-strung because he is experiencing the post-rut period, according to Ralph Downes, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement officer who lives on Whidbey.
Downes has seen the elk in recent weeks and said he sports a large rack of antlers and appears very healthy despite being in his second year alone on the island, where hunting for his species is not allowed.
Although he’s seemed to adjust well to his new range around Strawberry Point on North Whidbey, this is the time of year he has tended to get in the most trouble with property.
Downes pointed to a few minor resident complaints last year during post-rut when the elk knocked over yard ornaments and lawn furniture.
“He does get frisky,” Downes said. “He was out there basically playing kick the can with a five-gallon bucket.”
He said he’s had no complaints so far in 2014 but is mindful that it’s the time of year when elk still possess excess energy.
Since he’s the only elk on Whidbey, “Bruiser,” as he’s called locally, also didn’t experience the normal rut period, when males spar and attempt to round up females for mating.
“His body went through the process of rut,” Downes said. “He wasn’t able to engage in the normal dance, so to speak.”
So, should residents around Strawberry Point hide their plastic snowmen?
Downes wouldn’t go that far. He said residents have been understanding and are protective of the elk. There’s even a neighborhood joke.
“It’s a standing joke that no yard gnome is safe,” he said.
Bruiser also apparently had a run-in with an electric-fence controller, which was moved to safer grounds.
Downes characterized the elk’s behavior as playful and curious, not aggressive. “He’s got a large, heavy set of antlers on his head,” Downes said. “Sometimes, he needs to bump into things.”
Elk haven’t been common on Whidbey Island in more than a century.
Downes’ theory is Bruiser belongs to the mainland North Cascades herd and swam across Skagit Bay to the Whidbey shores. The first sighting on North Whidbey came in September 2012, and he’s remained in the general Strawberry Point area ever since.
“He’s kind of liking where he is, I guess,” Downes said.
Particularly when a bucket or a gnome is around.
Ron Newberry: rnewberry@whidbeynewsgroup.com; 360-675-6611.
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