Elk migrate in larger herds than any other ungulate in the West, often dropping 6,000 feet of elevation between summer and winter range. The Jackson Elk Herd in Wyoming alone numbers over 11,000 animals. This map shows every USGS-mapped elk migration corridor across the western United States — 37 herd units, 1,134 individually GPS-collared animals, and 3,267 tracked migration segments, recorded between 1999 and 2022.
Click any shape to see herd-level statistics. Filter by state to focus on the herds local to you, or pick a featured corridor at the bottom of the page to load that herd’s GPS tracks onto the map.
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The elk migration in numbers
The numbers behind this map come from a multi-decade effort by the USGS Corridor Mapping Team and state wildlife agencies across ten western states. For elk, that effort has produced:
1,134 individual elk tracked by GPS collar, often for multiple years each
3,267 migration tracks recorded between 1999 and 2022
37 distinct herd units mapped across ten states
37,984 km² of corridor identified from the GPS data
About elk migrations
Elk (Cervus canadensis) are the largest of the migratory big game in this dataset, with mature bulls weighing 700+ pounds. They form much larger herds than mule deer — wintering aggregations of 1,000 to 11,000 animals are common across Wyoming, Oregon and Washington — and migrate in coordinated mass movements that biologists can predict to within a week using degree-days of accumulated snow melt.
Elk migrations tend to be shorter than mule deer migrations but cross steeper terrain. The Jackson Elk Herd, for example, moves only 30 to 50 miles between the National Elk Refuge in Jackson and summer range in Grand Teton National Park and the Bridger-Teton National Forest — but climbs more than 4,000 feet vertically.
Elk populations in the West are generally stable to increasing — a conservation success story driven by habitat improvement, predator management and hunter funding. But elk corridor connectivity remains under pressure from energy development, highway expansion, and exurban subdivision in winter range.
Elk herds by state
This dataset contains tracked herd units in the following states. Click a state to see every herd mapped within it.
A handful of elk migrations are particularly well-known — for their length, their conservation history, or their cultural significance. Each has a dedicated page with full GPS track animation.
The iconic elk herd that winters on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming — one of the largest elk concentrations in North America. 247 animals tracked.
I'm Daniel O'Donohue, the voice and creator behind The MapScaping Podcast ( A podcast for the geospatial community ). With a professional background as a geospatial specialist, I've spent years harnessing the power of spatial to unravel the complexities of our world, one layer at a time.
