Clearwater
Elk
BY ERIC FOWLER
46 Nebraskaland • December 2019
t was a bit quieter in farm country southwest of
Clearwater this fall. Missing was the occasional bugle
of a bull elk that showed up in Antelope County during
the summer of 2006 when he was about 2 1/2 years old and
stayed. "The Elk," as he was known, spent the rest of his life
in this neighborhood, leaving only when he headed 13 miles
south to winter on the edge of the Sandhills in northeastern
Wheeler County. The elk died last winter, apparently of
natural causes. He was 13.
Merle Sehi of Clearwater first saw the elk's tracks around
his farm, but thought it was a neighbor's cow. Soon after,
while on his daily walk, he came face to face with the source
of the track. Neighbors didn't believe him when he told
them he'd seen an elk, until they saw him themselves. The
elk bedded in a shelterbelt during the day and wandered
around the area at night, feeding in crop fields. He showed
up on hunters' trail cameras and was spotted from county
roads, and became a local celebrity, drawing "tourists" to
Sehi's neighborhood who hoped to catch a glimpse of the
young bull. I was one of those tourists, making two visits to
photograph the elk that fall and capturing photos of him on
I
Jim Funk, Mike Dwyer and Ron Funk hold sets of
shed antlers and the skull of a bull elk that made
its home south of Clearwater between 2006 and its
death last April. Dwyer is holding the largest set,
shed in 2015, one of four complete sets he found. Jim
Funk is holding the antlers the bull shed in 2018, one
that he found and the other that a neighbor found.
Ron Funk is holding the skull he salvaged when he
found the bull dead in April.
a follow-up
The
