Elk are rideable animals in Vintage Story. These imposing deer can become loyal companions for long journeys, but you first need to obtain one, equip it, and complete the taming process.
There are two ways to get an elk: buy one from a treasure hunter or capture a wild elk calf in a reinforced wooden crate trap. A captured calf must be fed until it becomes partially tamed, then broken to the saddle.
Buying an elk from a treasure hunter
Find a trader named “Treasure hunter” and follow these steps:
- Speak to the trader while you do not have the “Map to the resonance archive” in your inventory, then select “Know of anything interesting around here?”
- The treasure hunter will mention a major find and ask for a “Tin bronze pickaxe”.
- Put the pickaxe in your inventory, speak to the trader again, and select “I got the tin bronze pickaxe you asked for. Now tell me what you know.”
- The trader takes the pickaxe, says “I appreciate that. Now listen up.”, and gives you the “Map to the resonance archive”.
If the trader has already given you the map, you will not be asked for another pickaxe. Travel to the Resonance Archives next.
Talking to the Library resonator
Follow the map to “The Resonance Archives” and talk to the “Library resonator”. Select the dialogue options in this order:
- “(Search for a recent recording)”
- “(Continue)”
- “(Search for a different recording)”
- “(Keep searching)”
- “(Search for more from the old alchemist)”
- “(Search for related recordings)”
- “(Continue searching)”
- “(Continue)”
- “(Continue)”
The resonator's final line begins with “If you do not know these lands...”. After hearing it, a new dialogue option about the ruins becomes available with the same treasure hunter. You do not need to visit the Lazaret.
If you have already heard the old man's recording but left the conversation early, choose “(Listen to the old alchemist again)”. The recording resumes at “(Search for related recordings)”.Returning to the treasure hunter
Return to the same treasure hunter who took your pickaxe. Select these options in order:
- “I went to that ruin you mentioned.” The trader will ask what you found.
- “The structure housed a massive device and a library.”
- “I heard a voice there who bade me to seek him out. He gave me a list of names.” The trader will ask which names you heard.
- “The Lazaret”. If you do not already have the “Letter with directions to the lazaret”, the trader gives it to you.
- “Thank you. Anything else you can tell me about it?”
- “(Continue)”
Note: on a server, do not buy the elk next to another player's claimed land. The animal may appear inside a building you cannot enter, or may fail to appear at all.
The treasure hunter will now offer to sell you an elk. The regular price is 100 rusty gears, which must be together in one inventory slot. You must also carry a “Saddle” and either a “Bridle with snaffle bit” or a “Bridle with curb bit”. The trader does not take the saddle or bridle. Confirm the purchase with “Of course. (Buy the elk)”. The trader takes the gears and tells you to look outside.
You can get a discount by giving the treasure hunter an “Eidolon elucidatory vessel”. For the dialogue option “How much would it cost if I gave you this treasure I found?” to appear, you must not have a 100 gears in your inventory.
On your first discounted purchase, the trader takes the vessel and 50 gears—the vessel covers the other 50. On later purchases, each new vessel gives only a 25-gear discount: the trader takes the vessel and 75 gears. Without a vessel, every elk costs 100 gears.After payment, the treasure hunter summons a male elk between 8 and 15 blocks away. A female cannot appear this way. Walk away from the trader and search around the shop. You can buy another elk from any treasure hunter by selecting “Can I buy another elk?”
There is a 98% chance of receiving a regular “Tamed elk (male)” and a 2% chance of receiving a “Tamed albino elk (male)”. Albino elk do not spawn naturally in a normal world.
Saddle and bridle
A saddle is required both for buying an elk and for riding it. Without one, the game displays “Riding needs a saddle”. A bridle lets you turn: “Turning needs a bridle”. A “Bridle with snaffle bit” uses the same movement controls as the player. With a “Bridle with curb bit”, pressing Forward once makes the elk continue moving without holding the key; press Forward again to stop.
Craft the saddle in the grid. Place three stacks of 5 leather in the top row. In the bottom row, place 2 leather, 2 nails and strips, and 2 leather. The recipe uses 19 leather and 2 sets of nails and strips in total.
For the “Bridle with snaffle bit”, fill the top row with three leather, place leather in the two outer slots of the middle row, then place leather, 2 nails and strips, and leather in the bottom row. For the “Bridle with curb bit”, place nails and strips in the centre of the top row and fill the bottom row with leather. Each recipe uses 8 leather and 2 sets of nails and strips.
Attach the saddle to the elk's back and the bridle to its head, mount it, and enjoy the ride.
Medallion
A medallion assigns a tamed elk to its owner. Hold an “Elk medallion”, aim at the “Medallion spot” on the animal's brow, and right-click. The elk then becomes your owned mount and can be summoned with a bone flute.
A medallion can be attached only to a fully tamed elk; the slot is unavailable on a partially tamed animal. Each elk has one medallion slot, so it can wear only one medallion at a time.
Note: a player can own only one elk at a time. Attaching a medallion to another elk transfers ownership to it. The medallion remains on the previous animal, but the bone flute will summon only the new one.
All medallions work identically and differ only in appearance. “Elk medallion (Sawtooth)”, “Elk medallion (Rivers)”, “Elk medallion (Keys)”, and “Elk medallion (Trident)” can be crafted from leather and “Nails and strips (Tin bronze)”. Other designs are sold by traders or found while exploring.
Capturing and taming an elk calf
Wild elk spawn in cold highlands. Spawning requires a temperature from −14 to −2 °C, precipitation of at least 0.2, forest and shrub density no higher than 0.6, and a climate height from 1.2 to 1.8. Only a calf can be tamed; a wild adult elk cannot.
Capture a wild calf with a “Reinforced wooden crate trap”. Craft it in the grid with nails and strips in the four corners and 4 boards in each of the other five slots. The recipe uses 20 boards and 4 sets of nails and strips. The metal can be tin bronze, bismuth bronze, black bronze, iron, meteoric iron, or steel.
Place the trap and right-click it with bait. Elk calves are attracted by cabbage, carrots, turnips, pumpkin slices, and wet or dry fruit mash. Grain cannot be placed in this trap because the bait is tied to a rope. Onions, fennel, bell peppers, cassava, parsnips, cooked cattail or papyrus roots, peanuts, and dry grass do not work either.
The chance of capturing a calf is 40%. If the trap fails, the bait is consumed, but the trap remains intact and must be picked up and set again. Right-click a closed trap to carry it. It occupies one of the four backpack slots, so free a slot first. A calf can survive inside for 2 in-game days; the item tooltip shows the remaining hours. If it is not released in time, it dies.
The survival timer resets only after the calf has spent at least half of the trap's time limit outside it.To release the calf, select the trap in its backpack slot with Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3, or Ctrl+4, then right-click the ground.
Feeding and growth
The calf eats from a large or small trough on its own, with a delay of 1 to 4 in-game hours between feedings. Each portion increases satiety by one. The calf needs 12 satiety to become partially tamed.
One portion consists of:
- 2 vegetables;
- 2 grain;
- 2 fruit mash;
- 8 dry grass.
Satiety is preserved when the calf is captured and carried. As soon as it eats the twelfth portion, it immediately becomes either a “Partially tamed elk (male)” or a “Partially tamed elk (female)”, preserving its sex. This is the only way to obtain a female, because treasure hunters sell males only.
If the calf does not reach 12 satiety in time, it grows into a regular wild adult that can no longer be tamed. The growth time depends on whether it has been carried in a trap:
- a calf that has never been trapped grows up after 28 in-game days;
- after release from a trap, it receives 9 days for each portion still missing.
For example, a calf with zero satiety grows up after 108 days: it is missing 12 portions, at 9 days each. If it ate 4 portions before release, 8 remain, giving you 72 days.
The number of missing portions is recorded when the calf is released. Feeding it afterwards does not shorten that deadline, but reaching 12 satiety still turns it into a partially tamed elk immediately.
Fully taming the elk
A partially tamed elk no longer runs away from the player. Attach a saddle and right-click the animal to mount it. A bridle is optional at this stage because the elk does not yet obey and cannot be steered.
After about 4 seconds, the elk throws the rider off. During this attempt it charges forward and may jump. Each fall has a 50% chance to deal between 1 and 2.75 damage.
Full taming requires between 15 and 25 successful throws, chosen at random; the average is 20. Only one throw per in-game day counts. Mounting earlier still causes the elk to throw you off, but does not reduce the remaining counter.
After the final counted throw, the animal becomes a tamed elk. You can now control it normally with a saddle and bridle.
Bone flute
Craft a “Bone flute” by placing a bone next to a knife in the crafting grid. To summon your elk, hold the flute and right-click. The chunk containing the elk must be loaded, and the animal must be within 1000 blocks. The flute searches for the elk you currently own through its medallion. It can be used again after 4 seconds.
Wiki page: Tamed elk.