Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Thursday, February 11. 2010

Kentucky Elk


Who knew? The restoration of Elk to Kentucky has been a huge success. (Thanks, reader.) Now they need their hunting season, since the predators haven't found them yet. No Cougars or wolves seen in KY lately, alas. Wildcats, yes! A wonderful state, but too far from salt water for me.


There used to be forest-dwelling buffalo ("Bison" for purists) throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, too. How about trying a restoration of them? I do know that they bust through fences...

Posted by Bird Dog in Hunting, Fishing, Dogs, Guns, etc., Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays at 14:10 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Nice pic.Thanks.
Tennessee released some "Canadian" Elk a few years ago and this year began "limited" hunting.It would be fun to bag one of those big boys.

As to buffalo,Ted Turner still has a restaurant in Nashville,I think.lol.
#1 RickTn on 2010-02-11 14:28 (Reply)
Pennsylvania has a smaller herd that has been growing rapidly in numbers in the past decade.

http://www.visitpago.com/travel-tools/counties/elk/elk-herd/

http://paelk.com/
#2 Steve K on 2010-02-11 15:13 (Reply)
They prefer open fields so the shot would be fairly easy. Dragging one out is a whole nother matter.
#3 Santay on 2010-02-11 16:40 (Reply)
It is not likely you will ever get an easy shot on a bull elk. In my 50 years of hunting I would say that elk are the toughest hunt in North America. They are ghosts in the bush. You will see the cows in the open like that but not anything older than a yearling spike bull. By the way its nice to see they are doing good. I was surprised to read the bit about them being 15% bigger than the ones here in the west. Must be the easier winters that cause it.
#3.1 Bob Devine on 2010-02-11 21:15 (Reply)
Elusive is an understatement when hunting for bull elk with the exception of the ones that have figured out where to be safe in protected areas - see town of Gardner, MT during the hunting season. There are ususally a few bulls hunkering down in the city park knowing they won't be shot.

I say the more elk in N. America the better. Good job Kentucky.
#3.1.1 Tralfaz on 2010-02-12 11:01 (Reply)
One word: corn. Lots and lots of corn.
#3.1.2 ricefarm on 2010-02-12 11:18 (Reply)
That picture, I could swear, was taken in Yellowstone, probably on the Madison River.

I see the downed and blackened timber on the hillside that was left after the '88 fire, and the new growth of Lodgepole Pine at the base of the ridge. I see Elk Thistle and Spotted Knapweed in the foreground.

Not saying there aren't elk in Ky, but that ain't KY.
#4 rdesigns on 2010-02-11 17:19 (Reply)
Could be. Fires lots of places.
Elk, anyway.
#4.1 bd on 2010-02-11 17:29 (Reply)
Good grief, we are getting overrun with whitetail deer, as much as I would like to hunt them I don't think another corn eating animal on the loose is a good idea. Plus, ask anyone who has experienced a car/deer collision how they feel about something roughly twice the size roaming the roads.
#5 ricefarm on 2010-02-11 18:47 (Reply)
Elk have also been reintroduced with success to the Cataloochee Valley area of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park west of Asheville, NC.

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/elk.htm
#6 Pete on 2010-02-11 19:52 (Reply)
The Mogollon Rim area of Arizona is overrun by the critters. Real pests. They easily jump fences and have a liking for the bark of young trees. Particularly the ones you paid $100 for.

But they sure do taste good.
#7 Roy Lofquist on 2010-02-12 08:38 (Reply)
The pic is from the Ky web page at the link.
Not all are/were thrilled about the Elk stocking
http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/site/voice_stories/virginia_officials_butt_heads_over_kentucky_elk/issue/537
Interestingly, according to the article at the link above, Pa did a similiar stocking in 1917 with some decendents surviving. Va did also, but without permanent results.
#7.1 MikeinAppalachia on 2010-02-12 19:26 (Reply)
In the backdrop, the trees are likely part of a forestry/timber operation and just behind them you will see a reclaimed highwall from a surface mining operation. Many of the mining companies are creating a natural habitat these days from fishing lakes (if safe) to wildlife refuge type properties. A gal from my hometown here in KY took one of these by permit last year.
#8 Ohio girl on 2010-02-12 13:06 (Reply)
You think car-deer accidents are bad????
#9 Richard Aubrey on 2010-02-15 16:05 (Reply)
Richard is right about that one. One my neighbors has kin down in Knox County and while down that way visiting he hit an elk with his pickup. He says he was only going about 35 mph when he hit it but it damaged the front end so bad the insurance company totalled it.

The elk are starting to become a nuisance in that part of the Commonwealth.
#9.1 Big Bob from Eastern KY on 2010-03-03 12:23 (Reply)
I do know that they bust through fences...

Yeah. I thought so too. But a neighbor has been quietly raising a herd that has increased to 60 or 70 bison, and in 15 years not a single bison has escaped the fence. A plain, 5-wire fence, suitable for cattle.

They could if they wanted to, you understand, but given forage, water, and trees to shade them they seem perfectly happy to stay put.
#10 razorbacker on 2010-02-16 10:24 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.