Coastal Oregon communities grappling with rise in elk population

Millions of elk used to roam North America. But as the land was settled and hunted, they were largely driven out.

Yet over his 63 years, retired paper mill worker Bill Routh has seen the elk population in Warrenton and the surrounding area along the Oregon coast grow from maybe a handful to hundreds.

It’s not unusual, he said, to find a dozen roaming his yard. They eat his flowers and defecate on his lawn. Worse still, he’s sometimes scared to go outside to get the mail.

“(The elk) hit me from the side, threw me down and drug me across my driveway,” he said, describing an elk attack nine years ago that left the side of his body scraped.

“Luckily I got a hold of his horns, and when he lifted up, it popped me back up.”