Elk and deer farm

I was wondering if anybody has tried running an elk and deer farm on the same property and if so how'd it work?

On a preserve the elk will out compete the deer. The browse line will be out of reach of the deer. If you have separate areas for them it should be OK.

When we tried it the elk if in large numbers treated them like dog or coyotes and would chase them till they struck their back and then would kill them. The two harvest facilities were large over 2000 acres but had 600 head of elk bulls in them.  If the elk were not in as large of numbers I'm sure the deer would have done ok.

Jack your the mule deer guy I have a question about the mule deer industry. Are mule deer as highly sought after as whitetail are?

Tabeast,


I can sell all the mule deer I want.  Harvest facilities always used to want my mule deer but I sell my stock before a year old anymore.  The reason is there aren't many good mule deer breeders out there in this industry. Those that raise bucks to adult age get good prices for them as they are in demand.   Most mule deer guys have not taken advantage of AI and just use whatever buck mule deer they bought. The mule deer industry is 10 plus years behind in antler size when compared to whitetail.  I always have whitetail bucks for sale but the truth is why would anyone go to Montana to get whitetail when there are so many available a lot closer.


I'm willing to sell my best 280 inch typical 38 inch wide AI stock which most people will not do but I raise deer to sell so everything is for sale.  We have no harvest facilities in Montana.  I believe mule deer will live back East if a few things are looked after.  Place them on a south facing slope or hill which will dry fast after a rain.  Mule deer hate wet weather.  Build sheds for them to get out of the rain.  Worm for mennenga  worms which whitetail are immune too with Ivermic each month in spring and summer.  Don't feed a lot of corn as mule deer don't do well with corn.  IM opinion.  Pull fawns at 24 hours or sooner if it is raining and bottle raise them as fawns at a young age will die from excess rain. We are sending some of the best mule deer yearlings I have raised to date to PA this year with a top whitetail breeder and expect him to do well with them as I'm sure he will follow this advice..

We have been raising both whitetails and elk for the past 5 years.  We have separate breeding areas for each, but then release both into the main enclosure to be hunted.  Our elk breed pen is about 15 acres, and our whitetail breed pen is similar in size.  These two pens share a common side and we have no problems between the two.  The main enclosure is over 450 acres and we have a resident whitetail herd of between 30 and 50.  We introduce the elk to be harvested in the summer and they are gone by the end of October.  The two species do well together and they feed in the same fields at the same time.  During the elk rut (Sept.) the deer tend to keep a bit more distance.  The problem we found was that the elk consume so much more, and the habitat takes a beating.  We had 15 elk in the 450 acres last summer and they worked over all the young apple trees, and sought out every sumac bush on the property.  We had 10 acres of soybean planted as well, and they demolished them to the ground by mid-July.  Elk unlike deer will feed all day long out in the fields and don't have that spookiness that deer do.  In the future we will reduce the number of elk to be put out into the main enclosure, or delay putting them out till late August.

That is what we've seen.  The elk eat everything in sight leaving little for the deer.  Also, destroys the habitat and creates a distinct browse line.

We have elk and deer on the same property. Although like mentioned above, they cannot be in the same pen, elk will kill them. 


hardest thing we run into is handling facility, elk need a bigger set up then deer so you would need to have separate chutes  and an area where you can funnel deer into to make smaller spaces.