North Carolina Elk

WVHUNTER · Mar 17, 2022

WVHUNTER · Mar 17, 2022

That small bull in front was still packing, March 14th. About ten to 15 cows and calves and one small bull.

bergy · Mar 17, 2022

Great to see these Eastern herds growing. I put in for Virginia's inaugural Elk hunt. Im sure its just a donation.

whiteantlertip · Mar 17, 2022

Cataloochee Valley area ?

EVILNR · Mar 17, 2022

I'd love an Appalachian Elk hunt.

ReinerDude · Mar 17, 2022

ReinerDude · Mar 17, 2022

Here’s one from Cataloochee!

WVHUNTER · Mar 18, 2022

These elk were in the town of Maggie Valley. Half way between Asheville and Cherokee. They must see them there frequently, they have an elk crossing sign on the highway. About twenty miles outside the park.

blazintowers · Mar 18, 2022

That bull looks like he's never missed a meal.

Shadow · Mar 18, 2022

The feed in that part of the country is incredible. I’m guessing those elk must be pretty tasty.

EVILNR · Mar 19, 2022

I once made a 10 hr drive to Maggie Valley, just to see those elk.

WVHUNTER · Mar 20, 2022

Evilnr, you are as bad as I am about elk. I love to hunt elk, view elk or listen to elk.

I spent three hours looking for the Smokey Mountain elk one year and never found them. I know I was supposed to go to the Cataloochee Valley but I never found the right place.

Kentucky has established some public viewing areas for elk but I don't know if you can actually see any elk. Of course there are a lot of places in Kentucky that you might see some elk.

The area the elk are located in West Virginia is closed to the public. But they do have guided tours in September and October. These are through the State Park System and cost $30 per person. I am pretty sure you would see some elk on these tours.

None of the elk I saw in Maggie Valley had any GPS collars on them. Seemed like none of the agencies cared about what they were doing. But if they weren't in the Park then the Park Service wasn't concerned.

EVILNR · Mar 20, 2022

That Cataloochee valley place is really hard to find, if thats the same one I'm thinking about.
There is/was one place driving out there, up on the side of a very steep mtn (think cliff) where there's room for one vehicle and the road had washed out on the cliff side. The pucker factor was at maximum level.

ReinerDude · Mar 20, 2022

EVILNR said:
That Cataloochee valley place is really hard to find, if thats the same one I'm thinking about.
There is/was one place driving out there, up on the side of a very steep mtn (think cliff) where there's room for one vehicle and the road had washed out on the cliff side. The pucker factor was at maximum level.

Try pulling a horse trailer there

If anyone ever needs a guide to take them there, let me know I’m only about 20 minutes away

wweaver79 · Mar 20, 2022

There is a viewing spot about 45 mins north of Knoxville TN up on the Cumberland Plateau. It is called Hatfield Knob viewing area, in Sept it is full of elk and rut fest if they are in there. Goes on like everywhere else most of the second half of the month into early Oct. Fun to do and with only a few bull tags they are not scared of people yet. There are some huge bulls in the herds in KY, NC and TN if you can find them.

WVHUNTER · Mar 21, 2022

EVILNR said:
That Cataloochee valley place is really hard to find, if thats the same one I'm thinking about.
There is/was one place driving out there, up on the side of a very steep mtn (think cliff) where there's room for one vehicle and the road had washed out on the cliff side. The pucker factor was at maximum level.

I must have been going in the right direction. When the road narrowed to a one lane cow path across the mountain I thought this can’t be right and turned around and went back. Sounds like I should have kept going. I will try again the next time I’m in the area.