Atlanta, the Elk Capital of Michigan

If Montmorency County has a mascot, it’s the elk. Atlanta, the little county seat where M-32 meets M-33, calls itself the “Elk Capital of Michigan” — and it has earned the name. The surrounding Pigeon River Country, a huge block of state forest that one conservationist nicknamed “the Big Wild,” is home to one of the largest free-roaming elk herds east of the Mississippi River, with somewhere around a thousand of the big animals living in its woods and fields.

There’s a real comeback story behind that. Michigan’s native elk were hunted out by the late 1800s. Then in 1918, seven Rocky Mountain elk were released into the forest north of here, and the herd slowly grew into the one we have today. The state manages it carefully now — planting open meadows deep in the forest to draw the elk out where people can watch them, and allowing a small, lottery-only hunt to keep the numbers in balance.

For anyone who loves wildlife, this is a special place to call home. On a quiet evening in spring or fall you can often watch elk graze at the edge of the trees, and in autumn you may hear the bulls “bugling” — an eerie, whistling call that carries a long way through the woods. Atlanta even throws an Elk Festival to celebrate. You can find elk-viewing areas and tips at Michigan.gov/DNR.