tips for finding elk?

[hstone32]

With the most recent update (1.21.x at time of writing) finding elk in the wild is more important than in previous versions, because they must now be captured as a baby and raised, instead of just purchased from a trader. While I love any and all systems that require the player to explore the world, I haven't once found an elk, adult or baby.

According to the wiki, elk only spawn at a minimum of -12 degrees, and a minimum of -2. Does that refer to year-round temp, or just at the time of spawning? The wiki is quite often out of date, are those conditions still the case?

also wondering if it's possible to manipulate spawn conditions like in the other block game. If I kill all animals in an area, does that increase the likelihood of future spawn? I've also heard that leaving skeletons on the ground discourage spawning. Does that only affect spawn weights for animals that dropped the skeleton, animals of the same category, or any animal at all? Would a wolf skeleton, as an example, discourage elk spawns? A racoon skeleton? A moose skeleton?

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, hstone32 said:

With the most recent update (1.21.x at time of writing) finding elk in the wild is more important than in previous versions, because they must now be captured as a baby and raised, instead of just purchased from a trader.

Not really, since the traders will still sell elk. It's only important for the Homo Sapiens gamemode, where purchasing isn't an option at all. On normal gamemodes, the only advantage to capturing and taming wild elk calves is that you won't have to pay the trader for one(though you will have to go through a LOT more work).

 

1 hour ago, hstone32 said:

According to the wiki, elk only spawn at a minimum of -12 degrees, and a minimum of -2. Does that refer to year-round temp, or just at the time of spawning? The wiki is quite often out of date, are those conditions still the case?

I think when it comes to creature spawns, it's kind of both. Generally, I play temperate starts, and it's not unusual to only see moose in the wintertime, or at high altitudes; same goes for brown bears. I've even seen the odd polar bear roaming around on mountaintop glaciers outside of the arctic. So I think the creature spawns are tied mostly to the year-round temperatures, as that determines the overall climate of that particular area. In the cases that current temperature might be influencing creature spawns, I think the creature spawns are still limited to what you could realistically expect to find for that climate zone, hence why you might find a moose or two in temperate regions in winter, but won't find polar bears.

As for elk and where to find them...generally it's best to look in cooler climate regions. The arctic is too cold, and temperate is generally too warm, so the cool climate zone is overall the best place to look. For the default temperate start, you'll want to be looking in highland areas, since these areas are cold enough to count as taiga due to the elevation. Grasslands are the easiest places to spot them. If you're seeing spawns like mountain goats, ibex, and larch/pine trees, you're likely at a high enough elevation where you could expect to find elk.

2 hours ago, hstone32 said:

also wondering if it's possible to manipulate spawn conditions like in the other block game. If I kill all animals in an area, does that increase the likelihood of future spawn? I've also heard that leaving skeletons on the ground discourage spawning. Does that only affect spawn weights for animals that dropped the skeleton, animals of the same category, or any animal at all? Would a wolf skeleton, as an example, discourage elk spawns? A racoon skeleton? A moose skeleton?

To my knowledge, it's not possible, outside of certain modded creatures, or vanilla creatures that require specific elements present(like forest floor) in order to spawn. I think the best you could hope for here is finding some elk first, and then killing them all if no babies spawned, in the hopes that a baby elk will spawn in later(you could try breeding the adults, but I'm not sure that this is possible currently).

Honestly though, the easiest way to get a tamed elk currently is to just buy one. Raising a baby elk and then saddlebreaking it will save you the gears, but it also requires a significant investment in time and resources, even moreso if the spawn RNG isn't kind.