I am thinking about putting into the draw for a KY elk tag.


Has anyone here ever hunted KY for elk?

If so, what was the hunt like?

I'm guessing it won't be very crowded. Isn't that a really hard tag to get?

Its a hard draw. I think they issue fewer than 1500 total elk tags.

Very tough draw. But it's only $10 for the lottery so why not? They have 4 different tags you can apply for:
Archery cow
Rifle cow
Archery bull
Rifle bull

And only the drawn hunter can use the tag. No selling or letting a family member use it.

From the pictures I have seen of the elk coming out of Kentucky, I may put in for one of those bull tags too.

It will be worth the long odds for a $10.00 investment.

Who knows I might be the pig that finds the truffle.

By all accounts pulling the tag is the only hard part. Only guy that i know who pulled a tag said it was an easy hunt as at that time F&W guys pulled it out with a tractor so they could run a ton of test/measurements on it. That was very early on. I don't think the state guys are that bad anymore, but the one guy I know who guides said they always had a choice of which animal to shoot.

That's good information. Thanks.

WOW, imo that's a lot of tags.

I just left the AGFC site and from the best I could count, Ark issued 51 tags ALL TOGETHER for 2011.

You might want to check that fewer than 1500 #.

The latest positive figures I could find said around 1,000 permits total with a 70% success rate.

The KY elk herd is over 10,000 head now according the info I have found.

Only 40 tags in 2003. It went to 1000 tags in 2009. It could be 1500 now. In 12 years the herd went from zero to 11,000! It sounds like a hot spot for elk hunting. Do you have any mountains?

Good Luck man, you stand a lot better chance of being drawn than I have.

I've missed applying 1 yr, IIRC, but so far NOTHING.

I'm jealous.

Oh yeah we have mountains in NC. I deer hunt around 4000 feet ASL and the Black Mountains about 40 miles west of hear have altitudes of over 6500 feet.

From what I understand about the KY elk country it is not unlike the NC mountains with the exception the KY elevations aren't quite as high.

no offense but how is 6500 feet a mountain?

It isn't compared to the Rockies but the Black Mountains are the highest range east of the Mississippi.

Well, WYO take it from a Ky. boy ours may not be tall but they are nearly vertical.

I haven't hunted anywhere in Colorado as stepp as the land around home.

We got steep too. You need to talk to the rock climbers.

Most elk habitat is old reclaimed strip minds. Some of the area is very rugged, all of it is at least very hilly. Only thing working against most folks is at least 90% of the tags have to go to residents..

And every time it's posted here your chances go down .

I was lucky enough to draw a cow tag in 2010. Shot a 500 lb. cow with a .308 at a little over 100 yds. She went about 20 yds. and went down. The hunt was in Knott Co. on reclaimed strip mine land. We located a small herd and stalked to within range, much like in the West. Very enjoyable hunt and not too strenuous.

By the way, the hunt area covers a 16 county area and in 2010 there were 800 permits issued out of a little over 60,000 applications. Last year, the announced number was again 800 permits, so good luck to those who apply.

Was your hunt on public or private land and did you hire a guide?

Private land, and yes I hired a very knowledgable guide. Rates vary a lot so be careful there. If you get drawn, pm me and I'll be glad to share info.

I appreciate that.

I have been applying the last several years but no luck to date. If you need a gunbearer or skinner give me a call!

From the F&G Website there will be 900 tags this year (2012). I got drawn for a cow tag several years ago and haven't drawn since. The herd is very healthy. But I agree it is probably the easiest elk hunt you will ever do if you get drawn.

Well TN only is issuing 5 (yes five total) tags per year, and one of those goes to an auction. Of course our herd is still an infant. But it has 5 tags/yr since the hunting was started 3yrs (I think) ago.

As mentioned above, most of the good KY habitat is on or near strip mine reclaim. I missed a church mission trip a few years ago, but our hosts took the rest of the group out in the evening. Late June, they saw 30 to 40 elk grazing in the evening within 200 to 300 yards of the vehicles on multiple evenings.

AS stated above, difficult part is drawing a tag. I have applied most years (including years when they only drew 10 tags total). Still have not been drawn.

Feeling lucky ? If you are deer hunting in any of the non-elk-zone counties, you can legally shoot any elk that has escaped the elk-zone, provided you have a valid deer tag. Might be higher probability than being drawn.

Having hunted both Eastern KY, and Colorado, for sure the mountains are taller and the air is thinner in Colorado. But, in KY, the hills can be just as steep. And in warmer weather the humidity will melt those who are unaccustomed to it. "Easy" is always relative...

Good luck to all who have applied in both KY and CO !

That is good to know about the deer tag for the "escaped" elk.

I think I saw an article posted here a while back about a guy who did just that. He killed a 5x5ish bull with his deer tag.

Regarding taking an elk with a deer tag, according to the regulations and I am copying " Hunters must follow deer season and equipment regulations to take elk from any county not included in the 16-county elk restoration zone and must have an out-of-zone elk permit." By the way, the State requirement on firearms is .270 caliber or larger for elk. Just a little more info.... Cost of resident elk permits is $30.00 and for non-resident it is $365.00 whether in-zone or out. Good luck guys. I'll be trying again too.

lastround is correct iirc you use to be able to take stray elk outside of the zoned counties pretty freely early on but that has changed in the past couple of years so if you don't have one spotted( as it is frequenting your cattle feeder on a county just outside of the zone)it would be a long shot on locating one and shooting it . Having said that they do travel quite a distance outside of the zoned counties and stray individuals have shown up in odd places on occasion. I have seen some of the elk and previous poster are correct in that they are concentrated largely on controlled strip mine sites in the eastern KY mountains and yes they are steep. I have not developed too much excitement for the elk project as most of the hunting is pretty controlled and mostly like shooting park deer. On the strip mines they are quite use to vehicles and human activity from the mining that often is still going on and you can generally drive to within 50-100 yds and get out and observe them with little reaction from the elk. Also the terrain on the mines is rolling enough that a man on foot can usually stalk to within a short distance and then peek over the crest of the ridge and have a good chance at a close shot. I do know of one area golf course that has electric fences around the greens to keep the elk away.

Just applied today....good luck to all. No luck yet, maybe that'll change this year.

I am a Kentuckian. I have hunted WY, CO, MT and ID. Kentucky hunting is the easiest of the 5.

I participated in the first 7 or 8 KY seasons as an observer. The available of harvestable game was astounding from the beginning. 300 class 6x were common.

At the time I understand there are a number of 6x7 to be found, and an occasional 7x8. One biologist supposed had four 7x7 named.

The hunt is definitely worth the trip. Unfortunately I am no longer hunting, and have no current knowledge of good locations on public land. Historically the reclaimed strip mines have been very good to the hunters.

Sounds like Kentucky not only has plenty of elk but plenty of BIG elk.

They are big. On one trip I made the biologist actually talked about how big the elk grew on the abundance of forage that is available and the relative light winters compared to the west. IIRC he indicated that they averaged a good 10% larger than their Rocky mtn cousins. he also told me that they wanted to maintain the herd at about 12000 animals. with a life expectancy of 7 yrs. and a herd conception rate of 90% and a 90% survival rate to maturity for the calves you can see that to maintain their herd #'s they will be having to harvest quite a few elk a year. A good idea of the terrain etc can be seen on you-tube just key in Ky elk hunting.

Here are some pic's from the last couple of years...These Elk moved in on the property I deer hunt.

Those are some nice critters. Are you in the elk zone or could you go the out of zone permit route?

Yes I'm in the Elk zone...I put in every year,but haven't been lucky enough to draw a tag yet.

Here is a picture that I like.

Talk about a cruel tease. Maybe this year will the year for you.

I sure hope so.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine saw an elk cow and calf on Big Rock Creek, Mitchell Co., NC. This is in the community of Buladean, at the base of Roan Mountain. The collar on the elk indicated that she came out of Kentucky (probably Pike Co.). That is at least 70 air miles from the Roan Mountain area.

I'd imagine that a fair amount of elk have bled over into Tennessee.I'm wondering if TN. will have a season in the near future?

Here's the tread of my cow hunt, and a few pics of the country side. Still waiting on my bull tag.

Cow elk hunt.........

Kennon

Looks like you had a terrific hunt. I'd be tickled pink with a cow tag.

That elk had taken a LONG walk to get from KY to Buladean.

There are elk resident in the Cataloochee area near Waynesville. One would think that a more probable home of our errant cow (its only 60 miles!). But no, the collar says otherwise. I don't know what became of the cow and calf, but I suspect that they may have settled in Elk Park.

BTW, isn't there an elk herd in the Big South Fork area?

I don't understand why NC doesn't use the Cataloochee herd as seed to restock elk all over Western, NC.

They are going to issue 900 tags this year. You can put in 2 times for either firearm or bow. For cow or bull. They are located in the southeastern counties of the state. They are estimating the elk population to be somewhere around 10,000. I'm not sure what percentage of the tags are issued to non residents. They guy I work with kid got picked last year. He shot a huge 6x7 with a rifle. You got to think with our mild weather, no natural predators, and low hunting pressure there have got to be some bigs ones out there.

Speaking of the Cataloochee elk, here are some pictures I took a couple of years ago on a trip over there:

I have put in for a few years now with no luck. Might be easier to hit the powerball

Powerball would be much better. Than you could hunt wherever you want.

You win that BIG money lottery and you can buy your own elk herd.

I likes how you think

Well, my application is in as of yesterday. Got my fingers crossed. I am about out of elk meat in the freezer.

Why not indeed? Why not re-stock bison? They would be a natural in the high mountain balds, along with the elk. For that matter, I wish we could transplant the Kentucky Wildlife agency into NC!!!

That would be a good start for sure

The elk releases at Cataloochee were done by the Feds. The NC Wildlife Commission apparently doesn't approve of such releases, and to date, does not have a policy concerning elk. The whole issue seems to be a bother and nuisance to them. I would love to see the establishment of a good, non-politically motivated Wildlife Commission in NC!

It is sad how politics runs Game Management in NC.

Politics aside, it's really cool seeing elk in some of these places in the east.

Good luck on drawing a tag guys!

We have resident elk within 5 miles of my Ky. home. I see tracks on our land a couple of times a year.

You can see elk every day on Lower Johns Creek, at the College Farm, Over at Tri County Airport, on US 23 between Pikeville and Prestonsburg as well as several Pike/Martin County strip mines.

The dang bears have been tearing up the trash cans for the last couple of years. Gettin' downright gamey around home.

With all that land we could have a hell of an ELk herd in very little time.

The Western half of NC is ideal elk habitat. All the state would have to do would be stock them and keep the yahoo poachers at bay for a few years and I suspect the elk herd would flourish.

Exactly, perfect terrain for those things...they might have to create more clearings by logging out all the kudzu killed trees but yes it is ideal habitat.

Wonder if elk would eat kudzu?

The northern counties (Yancey through Ashe) have little kudzu. That being said, I suspect that elk might munch on it more than a little bit. I think the Black Mountain range, the Roan massif, Yellow Mountain, Unakas, Iron Mountain, the Balsams, Snowbirds, etc. would be ideal range. All one has to do is look at a list of place names: Elk Park, Elk Shoals, Elkmont, Banner Elk all indicate former hot spots. Maybe we should really get behind the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and start pushing hard!

Probably will

How do the elk get away from the summer heat there? They go up to 12,000ft here.

The mountains here are usually pretty nice for weather in summer especially above 3500-4000 feet and most all of the better elk areas are that high or higher.

I think this is a great idea with the RMEF.

You must have already purchased a out-of-zone elk permit. But I'd say the odds are about as good as being drawn. My family owns a large farm that is divided into two counties, one in the zone, the other out of the zone. I have seen some elk sign on the property, but I have never spotted one. On the other hand, I also have a nice chunk of land in Knott County Kentucky which we have mined and reclaimed and cleared for gas wells. It's not big enough to get a land-owner tag(5000 acres), but if I ever get drawn, there are a ton of elk on the property.

Cattle love it, kudzu is extremely high in protien.

I just e-mailed the director of the NC Wildlife Commission's office with an inquiry about an elk restoration plan in NC.


Hopefully, I will get a response.

Don't hold your breath! They are a political organization and will probably only respond to political pressure. I joined RMEF today; maybe we can become annoying to NCWC and get some action.

I figure the Director just hit the delete button.

I have a friend running for the State House. If she wins, maybe she will be willing to bring some political pressure on the Commission. I'll talk to her husband (who is a former Senator) tomorrow and see what he thinks about it.

If she gets elected let me know and I will send her a letter too.

I'll get started early; right now she is a county commissioner. Perhaps we can draft a resolution and get the county commission to adopt it. It will have to be a stealth attack, since my friend is in the minority on the commission.

The three majority commissioners - a dunce, a dolt and a dupe - wouldn't willingly do anything that one of the minority proposes. But, it may be possible to out-maneuver them and get them to pass something that hasn't been ordered by their (Democrat) party Commissar.

Are the majority commissioners city folks that have moved in from up North or Florida and/or California?

I have seen quite a bit of this locally.

No, they are all local people. What we have are political hostilities that go back to Reconstruction. The county commission is under the control of a political operative (commissar) appointed by Bev Perdue. They get their operating instructions from the D-party hierarchy; therefore, they have to be shamed into cooperating with the minority.

Bev Perdue is the worst joke ever played on the people of NC. I am SO glad the Queen of the Brain Dead is not standing for reelection.

Why don't we start a new thread and not hijack this one. That way we can better keep track of our efforts.

Yeah but Andy Griffith said she would make a wonderful Governor
ROTFLMFAO

Andy is a hardcore Lefty. Always has been.

Good idea.

I just wish we still had the eastern elk with us. They say it was more brown than tan and it was primarily a browser which made it better suited for the eastern mountains.

Gary,

I have applied for Bull and Cow Rifle tags in KY. Have applied for a Cow tag in Colorado. Will pick up an OTC Bull tag when I get to Colorado. Already committed to the trip to CO. If I would happen to get drawn for KY, will have to ration out the vacay to ensure I have enough time to cover both trips. But, as they say, that would be a GOOD problem to have !

Warren

There may be some eastern elk genes floating around. There should be some hybrids in New Zealand, and possible a remnant population in Ontario.

He was also a big supporter of Obama....

Al this KY elk talk has convinced me to put in. I haven't put in for a couple years in KY.

It's Kentucky or bust for me. I may go out west if I don't get drawn by the time I'm 40. I've been putting in for about 6 years, I've got another 10 to go.

When is the drawing date for Kentucky and how much will it cost if I'm drawn? I couldn't find the answers on their website.

$10 per app for the drawing, can apply for 2 of 4 options: bull/cow, archery/rifle. Mmm I think the application date is past. Drawing is May/June time Frame. Not sure, I've never been drawn...

Tonight by midnight, last check a non-resident tag was a about $250 if you get drawn

I got in. I was just wondering when the drawing date is because I can't find it.

They'll post it soon. The site says early May, but if it follows history a definite date will be up soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the results aren't out by the end of the week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've put in every year the lottery has existed and still no draw.

Update...just got on the KDFWR site to see if they'd posted a drawing date yet. They've extended the application deadline because of a payment glitch last night. This may delay the drawing a few days. I did copy something interesting though. Below is last years drawing breakdown.


�

Residents

Non-residents

Bull Firearm

1 in 185(r)

1 in 742(nr)

Cow Firearm

1 in 37(r)

1 in 100(nr)

Bull Archery

1 in 91(r)

1 in 568(nr)

Cow Archery

1 in 15(r)

1 in 63(nr)

Did they post the total number of tag applications?

Last year was approximately 61,000.

Better yet, here's a link to the page where I got the info.

http://fw.ky.gov/elkfaq08.asp

Good info on the link.

Results are up....

No luck for me!

Link to check if you were drawn.....no love for me...

http://fw.ky.gov/app/ElkQuotaLookup.aspx

Me either!

No luck for me this year.

No Joy here on the tag.

No luck for me either!

Not selected...

No go.

No go for me or the SIL... But, oldest daughter was drawn for cow rifle tag ! Still waiting to see when they post the season dates. The SIL will need to start checking units.

Awesome! She'll enjoy it.

I just submitted my application for an Elk permit in Ark for 2012.


For this yr. there are 25 permits for Public Land (WMA) and 34 for Private Land. There COULD be 1 or 2 very special permits but as far as I could tell @59 is the total permits to be issued.

ladymulerider - if you're following this thread, it's time to apply. I noticed they stipulated this yr. that NO PAPER appliations will be accepted. It is ALL ON LINE.

Struck out again

+1

Anyone here on the 'Fire score on an elk this year in KY ? Daughter and SIL just got back from Unit 6E for cow rifle. Nada... According to local Game Officer KFW "relocated" approx 70 elk out of the zone in the past couple months. Only one cow seen in the zone this week. Was killed on opening morning. Apparently some of the locals raised a fuss with KFW and were re-assigned to a different zone.

Any update or rationale why KFW would be moving elk after hunters had to declare their units ? Anyone with better intel on the situation ?