# NC to discuss elk hunting



## lampern (Oct 17, 2015)

Apparently at the wildlife meeting, the wildlife folks in North Carolina will discuss possibly hunting the elk.

Not sure on any details. I think they already hunt elk in Tennessee.


----------



## joshb311 (Oct 19, 2015)

Wow... There's elk in NC??? I had never heard that. Cool to know. Except for the fact that I have to save for an out of state license now....


----------



## NCHillbilly (Oct 19, 2015)

joshb311 said:


> Wow... There's elk in NC??? I had never heard that. Cool to know. Except for the fact that I have to save for an out of state license now....



We've got a pretty good herd in the western end of the state that's slowly growing and expanding. I almost smacked one with my truck a couple months ago. I don't really think it's at the level for much hunting yet, though. Our elk herd started with a reintroduction in the Great Smoky Mountains NP back about fifteen years ago. Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania all have elk hunts now.


----------



## joshb311 (Oct 19, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> We've got a pretty good herd in the western end of the state that's slowly growing and expanding. I almost smacked one with my truck a couple months ago. I don't really think it's at the level for much hunting yet, though. Our elk herd started with a reintroduction in the Great Smoky Mountains NP back about fifteen years ago. Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania all have elk hunts now.



That's awesome that the efforts to repopulate them have been so successful. I saw a few videos of the North Carolina elk after I read the thread last night. They look to be way too comfortable with the presence of people nearby watching them. One would think that they would have to undergo some sort of hazing period to condition the elk to avoid people before hunting was allowed. Still very interesting stuff.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Oct 20, 2015)

joshb311 said:


> That's awesome that the efforts to repopulate them have been so successful. I saw a few videos of the North Carolina elk after I read the thread last night. They look to be way too comfortable with the presence of people nearby watching them. One would think that they would have to undergo some sort of hazing period to condition the elk to avoid people before hunting was allowed. Still very interesting stuff.



It depends. Some of the ones that hang out in the fields beside the road in the National Park are pretty tame, but hunting isn't allowed there anyway. Some of the others that hit the woods are wild as the dickens. The original restocking was done with elk from different sources, some are wild and some are used to people, and each bunch seems to raise their calves that way.


----------



## lampern (Oct 29, 2015)

Looks like NC might be hunting elk:



> Elk
> 1) Open an elk hunting season with the following restrictions:
>  The season for elk is from September 1 to October 1.
>  Hunting is by permit only.
> ...



http://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0...2-NCWRC-Commission-Meeting-Agenda-Package.pdf


----------



## wray912 (Oct 29, 2015)

This is in nc


----------



## The mtn man (Oct 30, 2015)

Their not all that wide spread, the concentration of the population is over around the park, with some small herds that venture out. It's not like they have populated every area. I have a hard time believing their would be a season.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Oct 30, 2015)

The discussion was about a lottery hunt with only 4 tags issued.


----------



## lampern (Oct 30, 2015)

Why only 4 tags?


----------



## NCHillbilly (Nov 2, 2015)

lampern said:


> Why only 4 tags?



Probably because there aren't much over a hundred elk in the state.


----------



## bearhunter39 (Nov 2, 2015)

I think it is way to early for a elk hunt,just not a big enough population yet.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Nov 3, 2015)

bearhunter39 said:


> I think it is way to early for a elk hunt,just not a big enough population yet.



I totally agree.


----------



## lampern (Nov 3, 2015)

But you see articles every so often of the elk causing troubles for farmers.

Maybe they need to shoot some to keep them from eating crops?

I don't know.


----------



## turkeyhook (Nov 3, 2015)

I  can't   believe  they  are  talking  about an elk  season  in  n.c. with no more elk  they  are.


----------



## lampern (Nov 3, 2015)

turkeyhook said:


> I  can't   believe  they  are  talking  about an elk  season  in  n.c. with no more elk  they  are.



Estimates I've heard about are as many as 300-400 animals.


----------



## The mtn man (Nov 3, 2015)

lampern said:


> Estimates I've heard about are as many as 300-400 animals.



Putting it into prospective, say we have 350 head, now I know several cattle farmers around that have that many cattle, now scatter them out from Asheville to Tennessee, that's not many.


----------



## weathermantrey (Nov 3, 2015)

NC has already issued a couple depredation permits for elk in NC. That's probably the reason for discussing a lottery elk hunt.

Might as well let hunters kill a few instead of disgruntled landowners.

It really ticks me off that they actually issued permits for landowners to kill these elk.  One of them was due to an elk ruining someone's pumpkin patch...


----------



## lampern (Nov 3, 2015)

NC issues permits for farmers to kill bears, deer and turkey.

Why not elk?

Its completely legal to shoot an elk in your pumpkin patch without a permit.

One was shot a few months ago that way legally.


----------



## Resica (Nov 3, 2015)

weathermantrey said:


> NC has already issued a couple depredation permits for elk in NC. That's probably the reason for discussing a lottery elk hunt.
> 
> Might as well let hunters kill a few instead of disgruntled landowners.
> 
> It really ticks me off that they actually issued permits for landowners to kill these elk.  One of them was due to an elk ruining someone's pumpkin patch...



Why would you be angry about someone protecting their livelihood?


----------



## weathermantrey (Nov 3, 2015)

lampern said:


> NC issues permits for farmers to kill bears, deer and turkey.
> 
> Why not elk?
> 
> ...



It's just that they spent all this time,effort, and money to reintroduce them, then they get 300 or 400 and they are already issuing depradation permits? Seems like it would be worth it for them to dart and relocate "problem" elk to another part of NC.  Otherwise, what was the point of reintroducing them in the first place?


----------



## weathermantrey (Nov 3, 2015)

Resica said:


> Why would you be angry about someone protecting their livelihood?



I'm not angry at the landowner, actually I'm not really "angry" at anyone. It just doesn't make sense to me that so much would be invested into reintroducing a species only to start killing them off before they have been re-established.


----------



## lampern (Nov 3, 2015)

The Federal government reintroduced them against the state's wishes as I understand it.

NC Hillbilly and others would probably know more.


----------



## PappyHoel (Nov 3, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> It depends. Some of the ones that hang out in the fields beside the road in the National Park are pretty tame, but hunting isn't allowed there anyway. Some of the others that hit the woods are wild as the dickens. The original restocking was done with elk from different sources, some are wild and some are used to people, and each bunch seems to raise their calves that way.



Will you need to use scent control when hunting the wild elk?


----------



## NCHillbilly (Nov 4, 2015)

lampern said:


> Estimates I've heard about are as many as 300-400 animals.





cklem said:


> Putting it into prospective, say we have 350 head, now I know several cattle farmers around that have that many cattle, now scatter them out from Asheville to Tennessee, that's not many.



Yep, and most of them spend most of their time inside the national park where hunting is illegal. There probably aren't a hundred outside the park at any given time, if that many.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Nov 4, 2015)

PappyHoel said:


> Will you need to use scent control when hunting the wild elk?



Not if you chew backer.


----------



## shakey gizzard (Nov 4, 2015)

I hope to win big in the Murphy casino and the elk lottery!


----------



## lampern (Nov 17, 2015)

You can comment on the elk hunt proposal now. Out of state comments welcome

https://ncpaws.org/PAWS/WRC/PublicComments/PublicEntry/PublicComments.aspx


----------



## satchmo (Nov 20, 2015)

*Tags*



NCHillbilly said:


> The discussion was about a lottery hunt with only 4 tags issued.



Tennessee has five tags. Lottery and auction.


----------



## lampern (Nov 25, 2015)

The plan seems to be declare elk "big game animal".

For a GA resident that would mean you would pay 5 dollars for a hunt permit and 295 dollars for a license.


----------



## lampern (Nov 25, 2015)

Compare that to TN with 305 for a hunting license, 10 dollar application fee, and 300 dollars for the non resident elk license.

Or KY with 140 dollars for a hunting license, 10 dollars for the elk drawing and 550 for a bull permit (400 dollars for cow permit).


----------



## birddog52 (Jan 2, 2016)

That solves the puzzle  (all about the money) for what folks will pay for one of those tags


----------

