Post by Woody Williams on Dec 15, 2006 14:48:04 GMT -5
Planned hunt makes elk victims of own growth
By MICHAEL A. WEBER
Staff Writer
The year Abraham Lincoln was shot was the last time for a long time that anyone saw an elk in Tennessee for a long time.
For 135 years, the massive animal — second only to the moose as the biggest of the deer — was nowhere to be found in the Volunteer State.
Six years ago, with human help, they made a comeback. State wildlife officials brought 50 elk from Canada to a new home on the upper Cumberland Plateau. And there they've thrived.
The Tennessee elk have fared so well that they've reached an unusual milestone of success: The state plans again to allow them to be hunted.
The herd of 150-200 of the antlered creatures, now roaming in parts of five plateau counties, has too many males, state wildlife officials say. The money generated from the application process for hunting permits will be plowed back into developing the remaining herd.
Having a huntable elk population in a state where the animals roamed 200 years ago is "exciting for hunters, but it's also great for non-hunters," said Mike Ridings, president of the Davidson County Sportsman Club. "It's a conservation success story that we can all be proud of.''
The last elk in Tennessee was shot in Lake County, in the state's far northwestern corner, in 1865.
Many folks living in the state today might echo the sentiments of Steve LaFever of Wichita, Kan., a Tennessee native who read about the hunt on the Internet: "I didn't even know Tennessee had elk."
Earliest date is 2008
The earliest the hunt would take place would be 2008, but first it will need approval of the state legislature. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission on Thursday voted to recommend the '08 hunt.
If the hunt is allowed, it would be limited, state officials say. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency proposes to award only five permits via a lottery system, each allowing one hunter to kill one male elk each, for a total of five. Hunting would be allowed only in Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area on the Plateau.
Some say it's too early to start hunting elk again. "There is no conservation-management reason to rush hunting," said John Sunde of Brentwood. "Give them a chance. They're majestic animals."
Predators are too few
Advocates say the elk population has reached the point where hunting is needed.
"In nature there are predators and prey," said Drew Foster, former chair of the Middle Tennessee branch of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. "Civilization has wiped out all the big predators, so the only way to manage the population is through hunting."
While several other U.S. states, including Kentucky and Pennsylvania, allow elk hunting, no other state in the East has resumed hunting before its herd had at least 400 elk.
However, TWRA has plans to add about 200 animals early next year. Officials see the elk population hitting a maximum of about 1,500 in 15-20 years.
For Nashville's Rod Thurley, watching the state's elk herd grow to the point that some can be hunted "has been like watching a dream come true."
Thurley has guided elk hunts in New Mexico for 12 years and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. He and some fellow members helped deliver Tennessee's first truckload of elk from Edmonton, Canada, in 2000.
"To go from zero to a huntable herd makes a tremendous statement about what hunters and conservationists can do," he said. "It's a very powerful message.''
www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061215/NEWS0201/612150410
By MICHAEL A. WEBER
Staff Writer
The year Abraham Lincoln was shot was the last time for a long time that anyone saw an elk in Tennessee for a long time.
For 135 years, the massive animal — second only to the moose as the biggest of the deer — was nowhere to be found in the Volunteer State.
Six years ago, with human help, they made a comeback. State wildlife officials brought 50 elk from Canada to a new home on the upper Cumberland Plateau. And there they've thrived.
The Tennessee elk have fared so well that they've reached an unusual milestone of success: The state plans again to allow them to be hunted.
The herd of 150-200 of the antlered creatures, now roaming in parts of five plateau counties, has too many males, state wildlife officials say. The money generated from the application process for hunting permits will be plowed back into developing the remaining herd.
Having a huntable elk population in a state where the animals roamed 200 years ago is "exciting for hunters, but it's also great for non-hunters," said Mike Ridings, president of the Davidson County Sportsman Club. "It's a conservation success story that we can all be proud of.''
The last elk in Tennessee was shot in Lake County, in the state's far northwestern corner, in 1865.
Many folks living in the state today might echo the sentiments of Steve LaFever of Wichita, Kan., a Tennessee native who read about the hunt on the Internet: "I didn't even know Tennessee had elk."
Earliest date is 2008
The earliest the hunt would take place would be 2008, but first it will need approval of the state legislature. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission on Thursday voted to recommend the '08 hunt.
If the hunt is allowed, it would be limited, state officials say. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency proposes to award only five permits via a lottery system, each allowing one hunter to kill one male elk each, for a total of five. Hunting would be allowed only in Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area on the Plateau.
Some say it's too early to start hunting elk again. "There is no conservation-management reason to rush hunting," said John Sunde of Brentwood. "Give them a chance. They're majestic animals."
Predators are too few
Advocates say the elk population has reached the point where hunting is needed.
"In nature there are predators and prey," said Drew Foster, former chair of the Middle Tennessee branch of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. "Civilization has wiped out all the big predators, so the only way to manage the population is through hunting."
While several other U.S. states, including Kentucky and Pennsylvania, allow elk hunting, no other state in the East has resumed hunting before its herd had at least 400 elk.
However, TWRA has plans to add about 200 animals early next year. Officials see the elk population hitting a maximum of about 1,500 in 15-20 years.
For Nashville's Rod Thurley, watching the state's elk herd grow to the point that some can be hunted "has been like watching a dream come true."
Thurley has guided elk hunts in New Mexico for 12 years and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. He and some fellow members helped deliver Tennessee's first truckload of elk from Edmonton, Canada, in 2000.
"To go from zero to a huntable herd makes a tremendous statement about what hunters and conservationists can do," he said. "It's a very powerful message.''
www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061215/NEWS0201/612150410