Oct 5, 2018 By Ben Moyer for The 5 min read

This space last devoted its attention to the National Bison Range in western Montana, a worthy destination for certain. But despite its wild wonders and importance in America’s history of public lands and their role in conservation, the Bison Range takes five hours of flying and a rented car to reach. My visit happened only as a side-excursion after a fishing trip.

Just a three-hour drive north is a more convenient wild experience, and this is the best time of year to savor the spectacle. Autumn is rut-time on Pennsylvania’s elk range, centered on the Elk County village of Benezette. The elk are in prime condition now, with polished antlers and glossy coats, and they aren’t shy about being seen.

Last week I attended a meeting at the Elk Country Visitor Center outside Benezette on Winslow Hill. After a long day inside, participants were fortunate passengers on the popular horse-drawn wagon ride that departs the Center to tour elk habitat nearby. The Visitor Center was still in sight when we spotted three massive bulls just inside a forest edge. The married-couple volunteers who drive the wagon promised to try and get us close to the elk if passengers remained quiet. They got us close, but I can’t confirm that passengers kept their part of the deal.

“Look at those antlers!” someone marveled.

“That one’s a seven-by-seven (referring to the antlers’ foot-long tines),” another passenger hissed.

The bulls ignored the wagon-riders awed banter. They were intent on winning the attention of an apparently disinterested cow (female elk) and enraged at one another.

Combat ensued. Two of the bulls clashed antlers, torquing their necks side-to-side, trying to push the opponent off balance. Flailing hooves churned leaves and dust. Saplings gave way, while the wailing bugle calls of still more challengers pealed out from deeper in the woods. One of the bulls broke off the fight and bolted toward the wagon, eyes reddened, jaws agape and tongue lolling. The waggoneers ordered everyone to sit down fast so they could turn us to the right, fearful, I guessed, for the horses.

The vanquished bull galloped away as the victor sauntered up beside the cow, which continued to graze, unimpressed. Her suitor threw back his head until that great arc of antlers nearly scratched his own back. From deep inside him rose that weird bugle that sounds like nothing else in the wild, finished off with a series of grunts.

The same jealous clashes were going on all over Elk, Cameron, Clearfield, southern Potter, western Tioga and northern Centre counties. Game Commission biologists who survey the herds every winter believe there are as many as 1,200 wild elk living now on that 1,000-square-mile swath of northcentral Pennsylvania. The most dependable places to see them are near the Keystone Elk Country Visitor Center and several viewing areas, developed by the Game Commission and the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, overlooking woods, fields and reclaimed surface mines around Benezette. Tens of thousands of people take advantage of the show. “Every fall we get people visiting here from every one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, every state in the nation and several dozen foreign countries,” said Rawley Cogan, President of the Keystone Elk Country Alliance (KECA). “They come here hoping to see these magnificent animals. When you combine that with the fall foliage here it’s a pretty special experience.”

Most visitors who make minimal effort do see elk. Traffic snarled when two bulls stepped out of the woods to graze along the humble township road the winds up Winslow Hill.

The Commonwealth finished construction of the Visitor Center in 2010 on land purchased for that purpose by the R. K. Mellon Foundation. But no state funds go into operating or maintaining the facility. Operations and visitor services are the role of the private, non-profit KECA, which took on that responsibility for the next 30 years. The Center interprets the story of elk renewal in Pennsylvania to visitors and school groups. KECA raises money to run the Center through a winter series of fund-raising banquets around the state, through tickets to the wagon rides, gift shop sales, and through an annual raffle of one elk-hunting license granted to KECA by the Game Commission.

Readers interested in seeing Pennsylvania’s elk in the fall rut season should expect crowds on the roads and at viewing sites. If schedules permit, it’s good to visit during the week when the throngs diminish. Early morning and late evening are the best times to see elk, but they do appear at random times throughout the day.

Many visitors are surprised to learn that Pennsylvania holds an elk-hunting season. This year’s hunt will run Nov. 5-10. About 20,000 competing hunters apply for approximately 100 elk licenses every year. Success rates are high but the conspicuous elk around Benezette live within a limited safe-zone where no hunting is allowed. Beyond that boundary the elk are as wild and elusive as whitetails. The hunt is designed to prevent the growing herd from conflicting with farms, private property and highway traffic. The Game Commission also designates hunt-zones to discourage elk dispersal south and west, toward denser human population centers.

Benezette, the Elk Country Visitor Center and a growing range of restaurants, small-scale lodging, wineries and other visitor services are located about 35 miles northeast of Dubois, PA along Rte. 555. More details on the region’s outdoor opportunities and tourism attractions is available at www.VisitPAGO.com. For more on the Keystone Elk Country Alliance and Visitor Center check www.experienceelkcountry.com.