Elk on the Prairie

On this episode of Cal’s Week in Review: In the Field, MeatEater’s Director of Conservation Ryan Callaghan heads to the Zumwalt Preserve, which is 37,000 acres of bunch grass prairie that look like heaven at first glance. Owned and operated by the Nature Conservancy, bow and rifle hunting are used as tools in the elk management plan. Hunters move elk around the prairie to prevent overgrazing and mitigate the presence of invasive weeds. Although Cal is the only hunter on the preserve with a bull tag—open terrain and large wary herds make hunting these elk more like hell. In the end he puts the pieces together and earns it the hard way.