People have been hunting in the Bow Valley for hundreds of years but it was still a surprise for Mary-Beth Laviolette to discover bow hunters stalking elk so close to her home.

Once they reach nine or 10 years of age, female elk have usually learned to outsmart their main predators - human hunters - and become almost "invulnerable" to them.

Elk and other animals often fall through the ice on the Bow River in the spring and fall, according to Parks Canada. “This is a natural occurrence,” the federal agency said.

Elk numbers dropping in the Bow Valley: officials Wildlife officials in Banff have noticed a significant decline in the number of elk in the Bow Valley over the past 10 years. In the mid-1990s ...