DGIF approves elk stocking plan
I spent a long day in Richmond yesterday, where the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was meeting.
The prime order of the day was to take action on a proposed elk restoration plan for Virginia. As I wrote in my story that appeared on the front page of today’s Roanoke Times, the board approved a pilot program.
I’d love to hear what you all think about the plan.
I won’t be able to approve comments until a little bit later today as I get the fun of spending the morning in juvenile court with the kid who stole one my girls’ bikes. (I don’t bother using alleged because I actually rode the thief down on my own bike and caught him red handed.)
Anyway, hope to be out of there by midday.
August 18, 2010 - 8:31 AM
Justice would have be a stiff belt on his backside for I hate a frigging theft so….
I love that they are going to stock elk! I wish they would stock in more counties. Not sure why the cattle association threw such a fit, especially for Dickinson Co. which to my knowledge has no big cattle operations. Wise county has held some elk in the reclaimed areas already.
I know the Cattle association have yelled CWD but KY has had the program for a decade with no CWD. Also, you do not need elk to have CWD, deer can carry it just fine.
Court was quick and painless — for me. The thief got 30 days in juvenile detention (20 suspended). Turns out the judge was not too pleased to see him back in court just a few months after he was there for another offense.
As for “frontier justice,” Amateur, I learned after my neighbor got in trouble for touching a young punk that it’s best to let the law handle it.
And as for the elk, I think a big thing going here with the critics is just fear of the unknown. Yes, it’s pretty easy to look across the border and see what’s going on in Kentucky. That’s what DGIF board member Charles Yates did, which is why he was so committed to doing SOMETHING in Virginia. But until something is actually here in Virginia and the world doesn’t actually come to an end (see introduction of crossbows), you will have skeptics.
No doubt there was a lot of fear mongering going on, too, by a few very vocal folks who apparently wield quite a bit of influence. To hear some of the comments from critics yesterday, you’d have thought that elk reintroduction is the first step toward the apocalypse.
A couple of speakers were actually fighting back tears. One person, predicting mass food shortages said, and I quote: “You’re gonna affect everyone in the world if you bring in these elk.” Another, predicting his family would lose their farm due to elk damage: “Our forefathers fought in the Civil War to hold that property.” And another, predicting immediate fatal car/elk accidents said: “When these elk are released, someone will lose their life. Please take the kids into consideration.”
Not that the pro-elk folks weren’t also prone to hyperbole. I think estimations on tourism dollars and such may be ambitious, particularly since Virginia’s elk herd will likely be so much smaller than Kentucky’s.
One absolute truth came from DGIF Wildlife Chief Bob Ellis, who told me after the meeting, “It’s going to be an interesting few years.”
If most of the land is private land, how will people who get selected in a lottery for an elk tag hunt them? Will we have to pay an arm and a leg to access the private land?
Wish they were releasing the elk in counties with more public land, but regardless I am very excited that the DGIF is finally going ahead with the reintroduction of elk to VA.
Mark, got to LOL about those comments. Makes you wonder how anyone in Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico – or Kentucky, for that matter – manages to drive down the road without being killed by marauding elk!
Like you said, I suspect that once you get a small herd established in the pilot area and enthusiasm starts growing, many of the neighboring areas that were so dead set against it will suddenly start saying, “Me too!”
In the meantime, you’ll have some great story fodder!
Interesting development. I think the biggest legitimate concern is the possibility of serious injury or fatality due to a collision with an Elk. Hopefully folks in those counties will learn to exercise caution when driving more so after the elk are introduced. I would also wager that some farmers who feel that the elk are causing too much crop damage will take matters into their own hands and harvest elk unlawfully. If crops are damaged due to elk I think the dgif will have a messy situation to deal with. Personally I am excited for the possibility of seeing a “wild” elk in Virginia. With luck, hopefully they will one day make it back to our Blue Ridge Mtns. as it was long ago. Tags would be very coveted and it would be a good stimulant to the dgif purse. Mark, is there any data regarding the rate of growth and geographic spread for the herd in Kentucky? I know the plan is to keep the population under control and within those three counties, but often times mother nature doesn’t read the same rule books we do. Thanks for any information.
I am 100% for the elk restoration, but I have listened to some rationale reasons from those in charge of economic development for the counties to vote against restoration. The main issue is that the areas in KY where there are elk, though similar, have less farm land, smaller populations and larger coal mine reclamation areas than in Virginia. Their carrying capacity in KY is a good bit larger than VA. I know that most of the elk hunting in KY is done on reclaimed surface mine lands and I am guessing there is some agreement with the landowners to allow it. The big questions is would the elk stay in similar areas in VA or in the national forest on the border (It all depends on food I guess).
It will be interesting to see what happens with elk in Buchanan County and if they will stay in Buchanan County or move into the other counties. Based on driving around in those areas, I would rank Wise #1 for elk habitat because of the topography and larger amount of surface reclamation areas, Dickenson #2 and Buchanan #3. Hopefully a friend or myself will draw a tag one day, so I can enjoy the experience of hunting elk in VA.
To briefly address some of the comments:
mb 915 – There should be land details in the draft elk management plan. They key will be obtaining cooperative agreements with major corporate landowners, primarily mining companies. Buchanan has about 20,000 acres of mine land. There won’t be any elk stocked until agreements are worked out, and those agreements would have to take into account public access for hunting and/or wildlife viewing.
It could actually be a good thing for the coal companies, which it seems will want to be good neighbors. And maybe when hunting does come to fruition some private landowners can benefit by charging for access. (I’m not a fan of charging for private land access; just bringing it up.)
Christian – I think you are right about others jumping on board. I just had a great talk with Randy Wood of TenPoint Crossbows. And, while the topic was crossbows and not elk, he made the domino comparison. One has to fall and eventually the others fall.
Bird Dog – Auto vehicle conditions are no laughing matter. Typically, elk are not roadside creatures like deer. And, when you’re talking about 400 elk (or even 10,000 elk) versus roughly 1,000,000 whitetails, the chances of collisions are pretty minimal. I think Kentucky had two last year. Still, a valid concern. But I suspect Virginia motorists run into more loose cattle every year (and will continue to).
As for the expansion of the Kentucky herd, I don’t know if there is specific info on geographic spread. There probably is but I haven’t seen it. One thing Bob Ellis mentioned to me is that he assumed that there would be more expansion of the Kentucky elk into Virginia, and has been surprised that the elk seem pretty content to stay in their core area.
But, no doubt, some of those Buchanan elk are likely to wander outside the county.
Nino – Rocky Mountain elk prefer open habitat (such as the reclaimed mine areas). They are grazers, not browsers. So the national forest, most of which is mature timber, is generally not good habitat. A chunk of public land that seems well suited for them is Mountain Rogers with all of its open areas. But as far as I know that area was never on the table as a possible restoration spot. Oh, you are right on the habitat availability in those three counties. Wise is by far the best.
Cougars are present in the New River Valley. I ran across many on Main Street in Blacksburg during my college days.
I live in Wise county and I am very excited to see them stocked. I have lived and hunted here my whole life. Although I may never draw a tag to hunt them it will be great to just be able to see and hear them here. I have seen one of the bulls that wandered over from Ky and it is a sight to behold in these mountains. I know alot of people here are against them but there are plenty of us that want them.
Mark,
Did the fact that Elk are coming into Virginia regardless of what DGIF does enter into this? I had a feeling it was kind of like, “well, they are going to be here anyway and we might as well do in a managed way”.
I hate to see the farmers sustain the damage I know an Elk can do but it would be awesome to one day take one of these trophies right here in the state.
I think this is devastating to the whitetails and their nutrition. We own private property and have food plots that we work hard on and spend $ on each year. Elk are as good as a herd of cattle. They will devastate the food plots and consume more food and little will be left over for the whitetails. I think it is a tragedy. Just my 2 cents worth…