Officials estimate Kentucky’s herd at more than 10,000, by far the largest east of the Mississippi River.Ī Kentucky elk tag is one of the hottest tickets in big-game hunting, and those lucky enough to be drawn generally enjoy an excellent experience. Stocking ended several years ago, but the big animals have flourished. Hundreds of elk were trapped in several western states (primarily Utah) and hauled to Eastern Kentucky, where a 16-county swath had been designated as an elk reintroduction zone. But fueled by funding from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and aided by the surprisingly elk-friendly habitat - largely reclaimed coal-mining terrain - the project took off. Kentucky’s elk reintroduction program started in 1997 with a token release of seven animals. An additional 10 tags were available for the youth quota hunt. The Fish and Wildlife Department issued 1,000 tags for the 2014 season, divided up among firearm antlered (150), firearm antlerless (460), archery antlered (100) and archery antlerless (290). Kentucky’s elk hunt has become tremendously popular, and the demand for tags is likely to increase. “We have so many people putting in every year that preference points wouldn’t guarantee that someone would get drawn in their lifetime,” said Karen Waldrop, director of wildlife for the state agency. That wouldn’t make much difference for elk hunters because there are so many applicants for so few tags. Preference points, which are offered to unsuccessful quota deer applicants, eventually tilt the odds toward hunters who apply annually but aren’t drawn. But the agency has shied away from offering preference points for the draw. Kentuckians do have an advantage, as the number of nonresident tags is limited to 10 percent of the total available.
#KENTUCKY ELK SEASON HOW TO#
Most will, but the odds of being drawn are not likely to improve.įish and Wildlife officials continue to wrestle with how to fairly manage the elk quota draw. The polite rejection assumes that those who were not drawn for a tag this year (including me) will apply again in 2015. Results were posted Thursday on the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ website. “You were not selected for an elk quota hunt this year.
Of the 38,935 hunters who applied for a 2014 Kentucky elk tag, 37,925 got the following message:
0 kommentar(er)
