Virginia Elk reintroduction plan

[MrKrabs]

This won't mean much to most of you, but there has been alot of hard work by the RMEF and volunteers to make this happen:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/257202

 

[completesportsman]

Wow, thanks for the post, I don't live far from there, I had not heard!

I do a lot of hunting in Grayson County, I had heard that possibly they would have a herd in the Mt Rogers / Grayson Highlands area. Hope that eventually happens.

 

[MrKrabs]

Farm Bureau has fought this tooth and nail. They even went as far as telling farmers their cattle would be worthless since no one would want to buy them.

It has been a hard fought win that started back in the 90's and only recently came back into the picture. Bob Duncan has been really excited about an elk reintroduction plan since taking over as executive director of the DGIF in 2008. There are also big supporters on the board like Charles Yates, Sherry Crumley, and Ward Burton to name a few.

 

[completesportsman]

Farm Bureau was lobbying hard for making the deer season here in NC an "any weapons season" meaning from September through January you could deer hunt with any weapon. They lost out on that too thanks to lots of NC sportsman and bow hunting organizations.

We still are having lots of changes this year to our deer season that should decrease deer numbers. During archery season anyone now can use a crossbow, you can now bow hunt on Sundays, one week of muzzleloader season was added, and two weeks of gun season was added.

 

[MrKrabs]

That should help the NC population as long as they increase the number of does that can be taken and reduce the number of bucks or implement an earn a buck program. The area I deer hunt near Asheville has very few either sex days during gun season so you see tons of does and very few bucks. The Western NC QDMA seems to be gaining ground and size of big bucks killed every year keeps steadily increasing.

 

[bergy]

Excellent news! The Virginia Fish and Game had been using scare tactics saying that the elk would bring in CWD. Just last year they found a deer with CWD up by Winchester and there isnt an elk within 150+ miles. Cant wait to have a huntable population of Elk in back in Virginia. Whats it been...like over a hundred years!!

 

[completesportsman]

MrKrabs,
Yeah, I forgot to say that hunters can take an unlimited amount of does and are limited to only 2 bucks. The unlimited doe bag limit started last season. btw, I hit a small buck this morning on the way to work and saw another small buck dead in the road!

 

[7ultra]

CS, what area of w. nc are you located? We can still shoot 4 bucks in the east b/c of all the dog hunters lobbying for it. No daily bag limit this year either. Still have to buy the extra doe tags, 2 for $10 though. Good luck hunting this year. Sorry to hear about the accident. I've hit 2 deer in the last 2 years. They're everywhere at night.

As for the elk in Mt Rogers, that would be a good place to see them. Every time we hike there, it brings back memories of Co. Beautiful scenery and setting.

 

[completesportsman]

>CS, what area of w. nc
>are you located?

I live right on the Ashe/Alleghany County line, just below the VA state line.

 

[MrKrabs]

My old stomping grounds! I went to Appalachian State and my roommate was from West Jefferson.

 

[sasquatch]

Man, that is GREAT news. I'm from VA and now live in UT. The main reason I moved to UT was for work but a close second reason was to chase elk around the mountains. I might be moving back after that elk herd grows in a few years! Thanks for the info.