Elk, elk, elk!

What do y'all know from personal experience that elk don't eat? I read polar opposites in books that claim to be authorities. Particularly, fruit trees and regular garden produce. I'll start off - lamb's quarter and potatoes were safe until their favorite foods became scarce. Snowberry is untouched. They only ate the baby prune tree once all summer. They ate baby maple to the ground. Some fir trees but hazelnuts go untouched. I'm thinking they don't like fuzzy leaves. They eat all the honeysuckle except those growing in the hazelnuts. The book said they don't eat lilac but they skinned mine completely. I just put in a fig and the prune. Think they'll be there in the morning? I put rosemary around it, trying to repel them. Anyone have any help for me?

In, a mountain town I frequent, the elk own the place. Tourists regularly try to commit selfie-cide while I yell at them to "back TF away idiot" -- I'm not a great diplomat I guess. The residents have endless strategems, tall fences with tinsel danglies. One has long hedges encased in a sturdy "cube" cage of page wire -- as a result the hedge is studiously maintained and green, the elk have fresh nibblies, and the owner sleeps well at night. Brilliant.

Usually, strong-smelling plants go untouched by wildlife.

Also prickly plants with thorns and stickers.

My deer hate my rosemary so I cut branches off and decorate my rose bushes so that the deer will leave them alone.

Deer are similar to elk so expect them to do what most wildlife will do.

Invest in fencing or electric fencing might help though not always effective.

Check out the threads on our forum about deer fencing.  I imagine with elk it needs to be a lot more substantial.

I have also heard that some folks plant extra for the wildlife.  Something like instead of 10 plants maybe plant 20, etc.

They don't seem to like black walnut. They do like hay fields but that's not surprising.

"back TF away idiot"  

 Very good advice!!!

In our area, Roosevelt elk presence at the seedling stage contributes to Sitka spruce dominance in forest stands due to the spiky spruce needles being the last thing they will try to eat. The other species are eaten back and allow the spruce to get more light and space. My strategy with elk, deer and bears is to fence in my Pyrenees-Anatolian around my most prized plants and have him keep the large herbivores/omnivores away. Outside this 1 acre of fenced area, I put a 3ft diameter, 5ft tall, and 2”x4” gapped welded wire cage around the trees. I plan to apply Sepp Holzer bone sauce as soon as I can safely burn outside and make it.

Ben Zumeta wrote: I plan to apply Sepp Holzer bone sauce as soon as I can safely burn outside and make it.

I had forgotten about Sepp's Bone Broth!

Here is the recipe:

https://permies.com/t/1805/Sepp-Holzer-recipe-animals-trees