Do you have to capture specifically a baby elk, or can you tame other deer?

[Tabulius]

The game isn't very clear on this, I assumed it could be any deer since the trailer showed what looked like a white tail.

Edited August 31, 2025 by Tabulius

[Tabulius]

Looking back at it now white tail fawns and elk calfs are identical for some reason. I checked creative mode and there's no tamable deer. So I'm guess I just wasted half a year raising a useless animal.

[OBAMFSpike]

Ive read that the only viable option for the Elk is through a trader. I cannot recall if I read that in the wiki or here in the forums but I did pursue this knowledge after trying to raise moose calfs. 

[LadyWYT]

For the vanilla game, you need to either buy a tamed elk from a treasure hunter trader after completing the first story chapter, or find and trap a baby elk and feed it to maturity within a year to get a partially tamed elk. You can then saddle-break the partially-tamed elk over several days to get a fully tamed elk. Tame elk purchased from the treasure hunter are already fully tamed and do not need to be saddle-broken.

For mods though...you might be interested in this mod: https://mods.vintagestory.at/cervinae

It's not yet updated for 1.21, so I'm not sure how well it works, but it's one to watch, and it offers a different type of deer to tame as a mount.

[hstone32]

17 hours ago, OBAMFSpike said:

Ive read that the only viable option for the Elk is through a trader. I cannot recall if I read that in the wiki or here in the forums but I did pursue this knowledge after trying to raise moose calfs. 

That used to be the case prior to 1.21

[OBAMFSpike]

1 hour ago, hstone32 said:

That used to be the case prior to 1.21

So after 1.21 we can wild catch Elk and breed our own ridable mounts?

[OBAMFSpike]

18 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

For the vanilla game, you need to either buy a tamed elk from a treasure hunter trader after completing the first story chapter, or find and trap a baby elk and feed it to maturity within a year to get a partially tamed elk. You can then saddle-break the partially-tamed elk over several days to get a fully tamed elk. Tame elk purchased from the treasure hunter are already fully tamed and do not need to be saddle-broken.

Well thanks a million for clearing this up for me as I was curious too. Now if I could only find Elk. Are they particular to a specific biome or distance from the tropics? Exploring can be a bit a tedious but I won't lie, ive become a huge fan of the telecommunicators. Ive only delved into one world too and I'm hooked. But every shred of knowledge obtained concerning this game adds to overall gameplay and integrity. This game is sweet but I can see a benefit to finding a discord or something similar to to play multiplayer with other players and hands to lessen duties. (Im just now learning the ramifications of having a sounder and drift of hogs leads to stacks and stacks of spoiled meats). This game takes a ton of planning ahead to avoid heartache and the school of hard knocks. XD

[LadyWYT]

12 minutes ago, OBAMFSpike said:

Now if I could only find Elk. Are they particular to a specific biome or distance from the tropics?

You can find them in colder regions and/or at higher altitudes. Think taigas and high mountain grasslands. If you're living in a warmer climate, you'll be wanting to look at higher altitudes, but it's possible you may need to trek a decent ways north before you begin to find wild elk.

[OBAMFSpike]

I am definitely in the colder regions. Im noticing that my fruit trees blossom far later than other fruit trees south of my base. Also, ice blocks remain in the lakes throughout summer which im guessing is a bug. Anyways, powering on. I dig this game. 

I am far north enough that moose spawn in place of deer so im guessing I need to locate higher altitudes. 

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, OBAMFSpike said:

Also, ice blocks remain in the lakes throughout summer which im guessing is a bug.

I think that's more just due to weather systems and chunk loading/updating being a bit rough around the edges.

 

1 hour ago, OBAMFSpike said:

I am far north enough that moose spawn in place of deer so im guessing I need to locate higher altitudes. 

Yeah, that might work. I have seen wild elk a handful of times, but they do seem to be somewhat of a rare find.

[OBAMFSpike]

Months later and now ive captured elk and am attempting to breed them. We shall see......if I remember to post again. XD

[OBAMFSpike]

On 12/31/2025 at 8:33 PM, OBAMFSpike said:

Months later and now ive captured elk and am attempting to breed them. We shall see......if I remember to post again. XD

Can't breed them. 

[Shpick]

so if you have like 6 deers or elks or whatever enclosed, they will never grow in number??? like they wont breed??

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Shpick said:

so if you have like 6 deers or elks or whatever enclosed, they will never grow in number??? like they wont breed??

They will not. At least, not without mods. Perhaps in a future update deer will be able to breed

[Shpick]

21 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

They will not. At least, not without mods. Perhaps in a future update deer will be able to breed

ah thank you, sad, cause i made a  huge trench around my farm, and i got like dozens of deer, i am kinda sad to kill em all, though will it affect their population? like if i free some of them will it be better then killing all of em trapped

[LadyWYT]

7 minutes ago, Shpick said:

ah thank you, sad, cause i made a  huge trench around my farm, and i got like dozens of deer, i am kinda sad to kill em all, though will it affect their population? like if i free some of them will it be better then killing all of em trapped

It shouldn't, aside from you'll just need to wait for more creatures to respawn. You can free them if you really want, but it's probably better to just harvest them for food and materials.