Elk in Missouri

[Angus Cowman]

Missouri got their elk
we got them from Kentucky and they will be arriving in a month or so after the quarantine period is up
then they will be running wild in the hills of Missouri
They are putting them in the southeast part of the state in Shannon and Reynolds county I believe

 

[kenny thomas]

They may already be gun shy. They were stocked in Ky in the county joining us in VA. They are considered by law as a deer in VA and you can shoot them for a deer. Every time one sticks it's head over the mountain (which is the state line) it gets shot at. Sure are some nice ones though. If I remember correctly they came from Wyoming.

 

[ga.prime]

Seriously, why turn elk loose in Missouri?

 

[Angus Cowman]

Seriously, why turn elk loose in Missouri?

They are trying to rebuild the missouri elk herd of 200 yrs ago I guess
I don't really know guess it is the same as putting them in Arkansas,Kentucky and Virginia

 

[kenny thomas]

Seriously, why turn elk loose in Missouri?

Money! VA is going to do the same thing soon after years of us shooting them as deer. They are proposing to charge $15 per application just to try to get in the draw to get a permit. Lots of money for the state.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

You guys will love them.

 

[dun]

You guys will love them.

Until you accidentally get inside their comfort zone. Happened to me once with Tule elk in the desert. I had no idea that old bull was laying up in that hollow till I got to the edge and he stood up. Nearly needed to change skivvys

 

[Calman]

I don't think Reynolds or Shannon county is such a good place to turn them loose AC.
Most them ol boy's I know there look at game as freezer meat and are good at filling there freezer. :lol:

Cal

 

[cfpinz]

Wonder if they're putting electronic tracking devices on any of them?

 

[dun]

Wonder if they're putting electronic tracking devices on any of them?

You can be sure and they probably all will have a chip implanted too

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I will bet they have a few collared. Mo conservation folks has go a lot to learn about elk from what i have heard.

 

[cfpinz]

The chips are what would concern me, collars can be taken care of readily enough.

 

[kenny thomas]

The first ones turned loose in KY had the collars. No one here could figure how much time you had to get rid of the collars after the kill so some got by. KY game commission came over here and tranquilized some of them that came into VA and took them back to KY.
We also got a lot of their bears with the ear tags but nobody seemed to want them back.

 

[hayray]

When I was in college at Mich. State the grad students did research on Elk in Norhtern Michigan and the biggest cause of mortatlity of the radio collared elk was from poaching. Radio collars were often found in mail boxes, tossed over bridges, garbage cans. Education and acceptance by the locals are the only ways to allow a re-introduction of a species into an area otherwise they have minimal chance of establishment. My guess Mo. will only let the pop. get to a certain density and then have a hunting season to keep population in a small area at a set number of animals, otherwise there will be too much confilicts with agriculture.

 

[john250]

They may already be gun shy. They were stocked in Ky in the county joining us in VA. They are considered by law as a deer in VA and you can shoot them for a deer. Every time one sticks it's head over the mountain (which is the state line) it gets shot at. Sure are some nice ones though. If I remember correctly they came from Wyoming.

Report from KY:
•In Stoney Fork, Ky., in southeast Kentucky, near Pineville, residents have been given permission to hunt elk on residential property. The Associated Press reports that the animals have become so plentiful, they are causing problems. "When they started bringing them in here, I thought it would be a good thing," Stoney Fork resident Nelson Short said. "It wasn't." The elk were re-introduced into the area after they had been overhunted. Wildlife officials thought the elk would like the growth on property that has been mined, but turns out the animals prefer flower bed sprouts. More than 100 elk have been killed in road collisions since 2005.

 

[kenny thomas]

Yep John, that is about 40 miles from here. Darn things don't seem to like crossing the mountain anymore. Only one killed here this year about 4 miles from where I live.