Phil Burkhouse
PA’s
photo by
Elk
Herd
Is Worth
A Look
This bull elk wears a garland of vegetation. During mating season or ‘rut,’ excited bulls thrash around in the underbrush with their antlers, and these
headdresses are common. The fall rut is one of the best time to view elk in the several Pennsylvania counties that are home to the herd.
By John Fulmer
I t’s fall and the sounds of love will once again fill the
air in Elk Alley.
By that we mean screaming and bugling. Grunting
and bellowing. Huffing and puffing from aggressively
flared nostrils. The loud clack of antler-on-antler
contact. Yes, it’s mating season for Pennsylvania’s wild
elk herd, when the big fellows with an overabundance
of chest hair look for the girl of their dreams. But it’s
never easy. Faint heart never won fair cow.
“This is the time of year it gears up,” said Lisa Bainey,
park manager at Cameron County’s Sinnemahonig State
Park, which has a program of guided elk watches that
lasts until October 20. “The bulls are vying for domi-
nance over the herd. It goes on until the second week
of October, but usually by the first week in October, the
big bulls, the dominant bulls are pretty worn out. There’s
a lot of fighting going on. It’s interesting to watch be-
cause if there’s a cow in heat, they are just ravenous.”
During the “rut,” as it’s called, big, older bulls have
Page 
to “bugle” like crazy all the time, hardly have a minute
to eat, and must fight off lesser bulls to control their
harems, which normally contain fifteen to twenty cows,
though Bainey said some harems can reach twenty-
five females. The rut is crucial to the bull’s legacy, but
its rigorous demands—it can cause a twenty-percent
body-weight loss—might spell his doom during the
long, cold Pennsylvania winter.
The rut is the best time of year for elk viewing
in the Alley, officially designated by the state as Elk
Scenic Drive, a 127-mile loop made up of Interstate 80
between Exit 120 and Exit 111 and five state highways.
Route 555 from Weedville, in Elk County, to Drift-
wood, in Cameron County and part of State Route 872
to Sinnemahonig State Park is where most of the ac-
tion takes place. The elk range covers about 850 square
miles and also includes parts of Clearfield, Clinton,
and Potter counties. However, the town of Benezette,
in Elk County, is Elk Central, and there are several
public viewing areas nearby. Also, a string of hotels,
restaurants, and gift shops along Route 555 cater to the
MOUNTAIN HOME
tourists who flock here in the autumn.
In the fall, a bull’s antlers will have reached their im-
pressive peak, which can mean forty pounds of bone
that’s four feet high. They’re a pretty effective weapon,
and part of mating season’s fascination and fun—or
horror, for the squeamish—is watching these massive
creatures lock horns—or “antler wrestle”—as they
battle over cows. This can be extremely violent and
sometimes fatal, though Bainey said rutting deaths are
a rare occurrence. There’s also comic relief, provided
by adolescent bulls still perplexed by the proceedings.
“The yearlings are fun to watch,” said Bainey, who
studied wildlife management at Penn State. “They’re
totally confused because the hormones are kicking in
and yet they want to be by mamma’s side.”
A full-grown bull elk can weigh up to 1,000
pounds—cows are more petite and usually maintain
a svelte 500- to 600- pound figure—and a normal set
of antlers has six tines per side. The twelve points give
him the designation of “royal” bull while an “impe-
rial” bull has fourteen points. The rut’s time can vary,
OcTObEr 2007
but late September and early October mark
ELK SCENIC DRIVE C0UDERSPORT
the height of mating season. One thing that 6
EMPORIUM
doesn’t change is the bull elk’s “bugling,” Sinnemahonig
State Park
which is a signal that the rut is in full swing. 120 Kettle Creek
The elk’s distinctive mating call has been 3 872 State Park

described as a low bellow that continues as ST. MARYS 2 555 DRIFTWOOD

a squealing or whistle followed by several 1 RENOVO 120
255
grunts. BENEZETTE
Winslow Hill Road 120 LOCK
Bucktail HAVEN
Several elk-viewing areas, equipped with State Park 120
blinds and staffed by volunteers from “The WEEDVILLE
555
Bugle Corps,” have been set up along the Wykoff Run Road

drive. An estimated 75,000 people visit Elk 255

Quehanna Highway
4 144
Alley in the fall, and the herd is now 800 Parker Dam
strong, the largest one east of the Mississippi. PENFIELD
State Park 5
Hunted to extinction in the Appalachians VIEWING AREAS
West Branch
153 Susquehanna
around the time of the Civil War, the elk’s 4 BEAVER RUN DAM
River
1 GILBERT FARM
reintroduction and survival here is a tale befit- 2 DENTS RUN 5 HOOVER FARM
S B Elliot 3 HICKS RUN 6 SINNEMAHONIG
ting a proud creature. State Park STATE PARK
Exit 111
Today’s herd is descended from 177 elk 144
sent in by train from Wyoming and South
BELLEFONTE/
Dakota and set loose in ten Pennsylvania 322 153 STATE COLLEGE

counties from 1913 to 1926; but only those

twenty-four released in Cameron County and CLEARFIELD
80
Exit 147
the ten reintroduced in Elk County thrived SNOW SHOE
and developed a breeding base. Habitat loss
and elk hunting, legal from 1923 to 1931, 80

helped spell their decline in the other eight

map by john fulmer
counties. The commonwealth put them
under protection in 1932 and elk hunting
was not made legal again until 2001. It is,
however, a lottery-type hunt and only forty
elk tags will be issued in 2007, with the $10
license fee going to farmers’ crop damage.
In last twenty-five years, Bainey has
worked with the herd as part of several
commonwealth commissions, and she said it
was endangered recently until state agencies
and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
stepped in. “I can even remember when we
almost didn’t have herd,” she said. “This was
back in the 1970s and early ‘80s. The numbers
were very low, probably 100 elk.”
Several factors were in play. The brain-
worm parasite, which attacks an ungulate’s
spinal cord and brain, thinned the herd,
and without an effective fencing program
to keep them from feeding on crops, elk
were the target of angry farmers. Poaching was
another concern.
“Plus there were not a lot of habitat-enhancement
programs at that time,” Bainey said. “The foundation
entered and helped with land acquisitions. Elk are
grazing animals, like cows, and the Benezette area has
a lot of reclaimed strip mines. It’s grassland and it’s a
magnet to the elk. Plus it was remote.
“Tourism really became a factor in the ‘90s,” Bainey
said. “Before that, you could come to elk country and
you had to look hard to find one.”
More tourists may have guaranteed the elk’s survival,
but the influx of visitors required a delicate balancing
act. With the increased number of tourists, locals need- just immediately drawn like a magnet to the animal and
ed relief from the pressure the herd and herd watchers start taking pictures,” Bainey said. The viewing areas,
made on their lives. The infrastructure couldn’t handle
it, Bainey said, and the Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources, the Game Commission, Bureau Not an easy feat.
of State Parks, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Founda-
tion formed a partnership to address the concerns of
OcTObEr 2007
Elk Alley locals.
“There needed to be some way to disperse the num- visitor who’s trying to get close to take photographs.”
ber of tourists,” Bainey said. So the partnership helped
design the Elk Scenic Highway. “It guides the visitor
along in an organized way, instead of the helter-skelter
viewing that was occurring.”
A system of “elk etiquette” was instituted with the
help of Bugle Corps volunteers trained through the
DCNR. Responsible elk watching, Bainey said, is a com-
bination of respect for the animal and local property
owners, and recognizing that you, the observer, are very
close to a wild, huge, unpredictable beast.
“What happens is you see an elk for the first time, and of a bull elk and the responding bugle from another
they’re so big and magnificent and incredible, people
with their hedgerows and blinds, provide protection and of the antlers clashing.
a good look at an animal in the throes of sexual ecstasy.
“It’s for their own safety because a 1,000-pound bull me, it’s right up there with the howl of the wolf and
elk in full rut has only one thing racing through his
MOUNTAIN HOME
Guided elk Watches
where: Sinnemahoning State Park. Route 872, eight
miles north of Route 120 junction, Cameron County
when: Through October 20. Starts at 4:30 p.m.
cost: $30 for families; $15 for individuals. Week’s notice
required
information: sinnemahoningsp@state.pa.us or
Jackie Flynn or Janet Colwell at (814) 647-8401
description: After a short discussion on elk-watching
tips, you’ll be driven into the range to observe the rut.
A limited number of spaces is available and registra-
tion is required. Park Manager Lisa Bainey said it’s a
long program, so set aside some time. “One of the
woman lives right in the heart of elk country and has
a good pulse as to where they are,” Bainey said.
mind,” she said. “And he’s not thinking about the park
Though she’s been close to the herd for a quarter
century, like the arrival of fall foliage, the elk-mating
season always seems like a surprise to Bainey.
“I’m always amazed. It’s a cyclical thing, and you
look forward to it just like the leaves changing color
every year,” said Bainey.
Watching the elk mate can have an immediate,
elemental effect, she said.
“There’s nothing that compares to sitting out in
a blind on a moonlit night and you hear that squeal
dominant bull,” Bainey said. “You can smell them. You
can smell the musk. They come clashing together and
you can hear the grunting and groaning and the sound
“I think, if anything, it reconnects you with the
natural world when you listen to those wild sounds. To
that of the coyote.”
Page 2
Have You Heard
Gets Big TV Break JANA’s
Small-town PA Girl
S songs?
he sat at the café table, a collage of
color: bright-purple hoodie, boldly pat-
terned blue scarf, and the pink cheeks
that the Twin Tiers’ chilly spring air
requires everyone to wear in late March. The warm
expression in her kind brown eyes belied the cold and
welcomed me to her table. Singer/songwriter Jana
Losey proved to be as engaging face-to-face as she is
in her soulful music, as she shed light on her upcoming
projects, including a new album, her own reality/variety
show, and a new performance series held by her record
company, Posey Tunes.
Having grown up in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania,
Losey understands what it is to be a small-town person
with big dreams. She started exploring her musical
talents when she was eight years old and continued to
study seriously at Ithaca College. Leaving college early to
join Squok Opera, an avant-garde troupe, Losey spent
five years touring and ultimately went to Broadway.
Burned out and needing time for herself, she took a
sabbatical from music and moved to California to work
in wardrobe at the La Jolla Playhouse and later became
a licensed masseuse with her own practice. During this
time, Losey recovered some of her drive to create and
“music started creep back in.” She joined a cover band
and started writing again with band mate, Melanie Pe-
ters. Now her business and life partner, Peters played an
integral role in helping Losey rediscover her voice.
“That really restarted my joy in music,” says Losey.
“Slowly Melanie and I started saving some of the songs
we wrote for ourselves with the idea that we might sell
them to other artists.” Fate had other plans, however,
and soon her first album, Bittersweet, was given life. Peters
used some forty hours of studio timed owed to her to
record their songs. “Soon we were writing a song a week
and then going in to record it,” says Losey with a hint of
awe in her voice. “We still think of Bittersweet as a bit of
a miracle; a kind of really wonderful mistake.”
From there, Losey decided to become a full-time
musician, touring the country and getting airtime for
some of her songs, including “London Holiday,” which
was a local favorite on radio stations across the Twin
Tiers in 2006. They moved to Losey’s childhood home,
a Lawrenceville farm, and started touring, first with a
band and then as a duo. “Right now, it’s basically me and
Melanie touring in a little hybrid car and doing acoustic
sets,” explained Losey.
This is one of the many things Losey speaks on when
she visits area high school in hopes of raising awareness
of her upcoming album, Blocks, her reality/variety show,
The Song You Heard, and her desire to get kids involved
and confident about their talents. “Being from a small
area, I think some of the kids here have a general lack
of confidence that they can do whatever they want in
life,” said Losey. “City kids might have more exposure to
theater and music but it’s so important for kids here to
page 16
By Dara Riegel
know that there’s no reason why they can’t do it just
because they’re from here. I want to do everything I can
to help them understand that.”
One way she hopes to get that through to kids is
through The Song You Heard, which first aired in March
on Big Fox stations from Wellsboro to Rochester. Each
monthly episode features Losey’s travels and the artists
she meets along the way in cities big or small. The epi-
sodes will then run weekly until a new one airs.
“It’s cool for people to see familiar places and people
on TV,” said Losey. “It might make performing seem
more accessible to kids if they see their hometown or
someone from it on a real TV show.” She also sees this
opportunity as a way to bring more attention to some of
the lesser-known artists she encounters along the way.
Each show will show the highs and lows of touring, but
will also showcase interviews of and performances by
different artists, as well as live music by Losey.
Part of one of the upcoming episodes will be shot
at Losey’s April 4 concerts/album-release parties at
Elmira’s Clemens Center. At the schools she has visited,
Losey made sure to offer all students half-price tickets
to the shows, acknowledging the importance of get-
ting teens involved with music, as well as her show. “It
should be a nice tie-in,” said Losey. “This episode of
MOUNTaiN HOME
JANA LOSEY
Big FOX TV: Check local listings for The Song
You Heard
Clemens Center performances: 7 and 9 p.m.
April 4; tickets $20 (half price with student
ID; must call ahead)
Information: www.janalosey.com or (570 )
504-5589. Search MTV’s Web site to vote for
Losey’s music video
show will include part of the concert, backstage shots,
and some of the music from our new CD, Blocks.
More structured and thought-out than Bittersweet,
Blocks was a “very fulfilling album to make,” with Losey
and Peters taking the opportunity to set out to make a
whole album, while paying attention to “the moods of
each song” as they pertained to the whole. “To me, the
whole album is much more important than making a
few hit singles,” explained Losey. “I feel like people are
getting tired of the whole ‘hits culture’ and are ready, as
a society, to go back to more of a grass roots approach
and really listen to each song.”
In that same vein, Losey hopes to invigorate the
region’s interest in new talents through a concert series
she will host at Corning’s Radisson Hotel. From May
through October, 2008, Losey and Peter’s record com-
pany, Posey Tunes, will bring a new act to the Radisson
each month, featuring artists from all over the country,
including those from New York, Buffalo and California.
“We want to bring in artists who are on the cusp
of great success, and introduce them to the region,
in hopes of gaining them attention and bringing new
sounds to the region,” said Losey. She is also hoping to
bring a few teenage artists from other areas to both per-
form and visit the schools with her to further reinforce
her point that “you don’t have to be from a big city to
be a great artist.”
Dara Riegel is a frequent contributor to Mountain Home magazine.
april 2008