Reward Offered For Information On Weekend Poaching Of Three Elk In Bell County
November 18, 2009
Frankfort, Ky. – Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife law enforcement officers are seeking information about the weekend poaching of three young bull elk in Bell County and are offering a reward for the information.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Dr. Jon Gassett has authorized a reward up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who shot and killed the three elk Saturday on top of Redbird Mountain, located off KY 66.
State Fish and Wildlife officers say witnesses saw an elk fall, then spotted two more dead elk as they approached the first animal. The witnesses also saw two other persons approach the downed elk, then turn and leave the area.
The officers immediately opened an investigation and recovered several pieces of evidence, including ballistic evidence.
Persons with information are encouraged to contact Bell County state conservation officer Sgt. Ray Lawson at (606) 499-3520, or the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife poaching hotline at 1-800- 25-ALERT.
Deadline Approaching for Kentucky Elk Quota Hunt Lottery
April 9, 2009
Apr 09, 2009
Frankfort, KY – Hunters who dream of harvesting an elk in Kentucky have just a few short weeks left to buy a chance at that opportunity.
Kentucky’s elk quota hunt application deadline is midnight, April 30. One thousand lucky applicants will be drawn to hunt elk this year.
Elk lottery applications are available for $10 online at fw.ky.gov, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ website. Applications are not sold in stores or through the department’s phone license sales vendor.
Applying for the elk quota hunt lottery takes just a few minutes. Applicants will need to have their Visa, MasterCard or Discover card ready. From the department’s website, click on the blue “Apply for Elk Lottery” icon on the right side of the homepage. This secure license sales system walks applicants through each step of the process. Hunters must provide identification information, including their Social Security number.
Hunters who don’t have access to the internet can call Kentucky Fish and Wildlife at 1-800-858-1549. A department employee will take their credit card information over the phone using the same online system. Those without a credit card may purchase a Visa, MasterCard or Discover gift card, and use that gift card to apply through the internet or by calling Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. These gift cards are easily purchased at large chain stores such as Walmart and Kmart, as well as some grocery stores and gas stations.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife conducts a random electronic drawing in early May of all those who have purchased an elk lottery application by the April 30 deadline. Applicants can check to see if they were drawn beginning May 4. They can enter their license confirmation numbers online at fw.ky.gov or call the department at 1-800-858-1549. Drawn applicants are also notified and given further instructions by mail. General firearm elk quota hunts occur in southeastern Kentucky in October and December
Big-game hunting close to home | The Times Daily | Florence, AL
March 29, 2009
Kentucky, Tennessee now open to elk hunting
By Dennis Sherer
Staff Writer
The last time Jeff Patterson went elk hunting, he spent 25 hours behind the wheel driving to the Rocky Mountains.
He hopes to be able to go elk hunting this fall or winter a little closer to home – about 350 miles from Florence.
Patterson is among thousands of hunters throughout the country who have applied for a permit to go elk hunting in Kentucky.
“It’s exciting to think I might be able to hunt elk only five or six hours from here,” he said. “It would be really neat if I am able to kill one that close to home.”
Since being released in 1997, elk have proliferated throughout the eastern Kentucky mountains.
Dave Baker, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, said the agency will issue 1,000 elk permits this year. In 2008, only 400 were issued.
The cost to apply for an elk permit is $10. Those selected in the lottery-style drawing must then pay $365 for a permit for non-residents to go elk hunting in Kentucky.
Baker, editor of the agency’s magazine, Kentucky Afield, said 250 of the permits issued for upcoming elk season will be to harvest bulls. The remainder will be for harvesting cows. The reason for increasing the number of permits is to stabilize the state’s elk herd, which is the largest east of the Rocky Mountains. Elk hunting was first allowed in 2001.
Baker said Kentucky’s elk population has grown quicker than expected. Baker said grassy areas left when strip mines are refilled created prime habitat for elk. The mild weather of the Bluegrass State allows the animals to grow more rapidly than Elk living in western states where deep snow often covered grazing areas during the winter.
“There is a tremendous amount of food available to the elk. They grow very rapidly and the bulls get really big,” Baker said. “We’ve already had several Boone and Crockett-class bulls harvested here.”
Gabe Jenkins, a wildlife biologist for the agency, said many hunters who harvest elk in Kentucky had never hunted anything larger than a white-tailed deer before being selected to receive an elk permit. He said most are amazed by the size of the elk.
“When somebody asks me how big the elk are, I tell them to imagine a horse,” Jenkins said. “They are as big as horse.” Click link below for full story!
via Big-game hunting close to home | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL.
Officers Seek Information in the Deaths of Four Bull Elk in Leslie County
January 10, 2009
Frankfort, Ky. – Conservation Officers with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources are investigating the illegal shooting of four young Leslie County bull elk in the early morning hours last Sunday, Jan. 4. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is seeking information from anyone who may know details of the illegal shooting.
Sgt. Greg Watts said someone shot the three spike bulls and a young 4 x 4 bull elk near an older reclaimed strip mine near the community of Trace Branch just off KY 699, not far from Hyden and Hazard. The perpetrators left the elk to die.
Watts says ballistic evidence recovered at the scene is being analyzed. He requests that anyone with information about the crime to call the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife poaching hotline at 1 -800-25-ALERT (1-800-252-5378).
Hunter from Clay County bags state-record bull elk | The Courier-Journal
December 28, 2008
By Gary Garth • Special to The Courier-Journal • December 28, 2008
Kentucky wildlife officials have certified an 8 x 8 bull elk killed by Kelvin Jackson of Clay County as the nontypical state record with a 3677/8 score.
The previous nontypical record was a 3493/8 bull taken by Andy Kidd of McCreary County.
“I wasn’t after a state record or anything,” said Jackson, who had hunted elk in Colorado before being drawn for the Kentucky hunt. “I’m kind of a meat hunter — everything I harvest, I enjoy it.”
Jackson was in Harlan County for the October quota hunt. He obtained permission to hunt on private land, and some local residents helped him out.
“I went to people in a little place they call Greasy,” he said. “They told me where they’ve been seeing elk. When I found the herd there were 22 cows and seven bulls.”
Jackson started scouting in July and watched the herd several times. He quickly concluded that a long shot would be required.
“They were in a field, and if you approached them they would leave,” he said. “I practiced shooting long-range because I figured I’d have to do that.”
He was right. He downed the big bull with a 465-yard shot from a .300 Remington Ultra Magnum.
The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission recently voted to increase the number of elk tags from 400 to 1,000 for the 2009-10 season. Officials estimate that the herd has grown to about 9,000.
Elk lottery applications for next year cost $10 and can be purchased at www.fw.ky.gov. Hunters drawn will be required to purchase an elk tag
via Hunter from Clay County bags state-record bull elk | courier-journal | The Courier-Journal.
The Logan Banner > Kentucky elk grass greener!
December 24, 2008
By Bob Fala, Outdoors Columnist
Special cow elk seasons in Kentucky will shortly make scenes like this much more common there. Will the Mountain State ever join the club of elk states? It may be up to readers like you..see today's column for more. (PGC Photo
What’s more, they’re in addition to the 400 previously drawn.
If you’re in the existing pool of applicants, you could be one of the lucky 50!
The special cow elk season is slat ed for Jan. 24-Feb. 6 as “designed to help private landowners reduce damage from elk in portions of Knott, Bell and Harlan counties,” per a recent Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) release.
Big game coordinator Tina Brunjes is one of them.
“What we’re hoping to accomplish is to have some animals removed from specific landholdings that have had problems with elk” she said. “The primary goal is to provide these landowners an opportunity to have elk taken from their property during the time of year when most damage occurs.”
You’re reading that right.
Elk are already reaching problem proportions in parts of Kentucky. Click Link Below For Full Story!
via The Logan Banner > Archives > Sports > Kentucky elk grass greener!.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission Proposes 1,000 Quota Elk Hunting Permits Next Season
December 12, 2008
Frankfort, Ky. – Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission members voted today to raise the number of quota elk permits to 1,000 and proposed additional firearms season days for elk hunters for the 2009-10 season. Commission members at today’s quarterly meeting in Frankfort also proposed standardizing the muskellunge minimum size limit at Cave Run, Buckhorn and Green River lakes.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission recommends all hunting, fishing and boating regulations for approval by the General Assembly and approves all expenditures by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. All recommendations must be approved by legislators before they become law.
In wildlife-related business, the Commission voted to increase the number of quota elk hunting permits to 1,000 for the 2009-10 hunting season, up from 400 quota elk permits awarded in 2008-09. The total number of permits will include 250 permits for antlered elk and 750 permits for antlerless elk. Commission members also voted to allow drawn elk hunters the option of paying for their quota elk permit online. These changes do not affect regulations and therefore do not require approval from legislators.
The Commission proposed adding a second week of firearms quota antlered elk hunting to the current one-week season. Under the proposal, drawn hunters who receive an antlered elk permit would be assigned to either the first or second week of the season. If approved, the two-week antlered elk firearms season would run Oct. 3-16, 2009. Hunters with a Landowner Cooperator or Special Commission permit would be allowed to hunt during both weeks of the firearms season. Archery and crossbow season framework for quota antlered elk hunting would remain unchanged. However, the proposal would move the opening of antlerless elk archery and crossbow seasons to Oct. 17, 2009, one week later than the current season framework.
Commission members also proposed additional hunting days for drawn quota antlerless elk hunting. Under the Commission recommendation, drawn quota antlerless elk hunters would be permitted to hunt antlerless elk during the modern gun deer season in November, in addition to the existing two-week firearms antlerless elk season in December. If approved, the change would allow quota antlerless elk hunting Nov. 14-23 and Dec. 12-25, 2009.
The Commission proposed a special youth elk hunt and drawing for 2009. Under the recommendation, five either-sex elk permits would be available to youth ages 15 and under. The permits would be valid for a special youth hunt on Paul Van Booven Wildlife Management Area Sept. 26-28, 2009. If approved, youth hunters could apply for the hunt by purchasing a $10 elk lottery application April 1-30, 2009.
Youth hunters may still purchase a separate $10 elk lottery application to enter the regular elk quota hunt drawing. Two youth permits, one antlered and one antlerless, are already awarded through the lottery, and will remain available for the 2009-10 elk season. These permits are valid during the regular elk season only.
In fisheries-related business, the Commission recommended standardizing the minimum size limit on muskellunge at 36 inches at Cave Run Lake, Green River Lake and Buckhorn Lake. Previously, Cave Run Lake and Green River Lake had a 30-inch minimum size limit for the species and Buckhorn Lake had a 40-inch minimum size limit.
Fisheries regulations voted on by the Commission at today’s meeting would take effect in March 2010.
The Commission also recommended implementing a 9-inch minimum size limit on crappie at Fishtrap Lake and removing yellow bass from the statewide aggregate daily limit of 15 fish for white, hybrid striped and yellow bass. There will be a 30 fish daily creel limit on yellow bass. Lick Creek in Simpson County and East Fork Clarks River in Calloway County will be removed as seasonal catch and release trout streams. Lick Creek will still be stocked with trout in the summer months.
The Commission also recommended discontinuing the practice of using a tooth patch as the regulatory method for identifying spotted bass. Anglers use a tooth patch as a means of differentiating spotted bass from largemouth bass. However, many largemouth bass also possess this tooth patch, which leads to confusion.
The next Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting will be held at 8 a.m., Friday, March 6, 2009 at #1 Sportsman’s Lane off U.S. 60 in Frankfort. Persons interested in addressing the Commission must notify the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner’s office in writing at least 30 days in advance to be considered for placement on the meeting agenda. People who are hearing impaired and plan to attend the meeting should contact Kentucky Fish and Wildlife at least 10 days in advance and the agency will provide a translator. To request to address the commission, write to Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Commissioner Dr. Jon Gassett, #1 Sportsman’s Lane, Frankfort, Kentucky, 40601.
Fifty Additional Hunters Drawn for Special Season Hunt for Cow Elk in January-February
November 25, 2008
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources has selected an additional 50 hunters from among the previous pool of unsuccessful applicants for a special cow elk hunt in January and February.
This special season for antlerless elk is designed to help private landowners reduce damage from elk in portions of Knott, Bell and Harlan counties.
Hunters who bought an elk lottery application for the 2008-09 season can now go to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website at fw.ky.gov to see if they were drawn. Applicants must enter either their Social Security number or their date of birth and the 19-digit number that appears on their elk lottery application. Applicants without Internet access may call the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Information Center toll-free at 1-800-858-1549 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern) during the week.
The special season will take place Jan. 24 – Feb. 6 on private land within two of the state’s Elk Management Units.
“What we’re hoping to accomplish is to have some animals removed from specific landholdings that have had problems with elk,” said Tina Brunjes, big game program coordinator for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “The primary goal is to provide these landowners an opportunity to have elk taken from their property during the time of year when most damage occurs.”
Drawn hunters must purchase a quota elk permit from Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. Permit fees of $30 for Kentucky residents and $365 for nonresidents are the same as for the regular-season quota elk hunt. After confirming that they were drawn online, hunters will see several information links detailing special season hunt regulations, where to send a check or money order for the permit, and who to contact to find a place to hunt.
Hunters must possess an annual Kentucky hunting license in addition to the quota elk permit. General elk hunting regulations, including equipment restrictions, hunter education requirements and more, are available in the 2008-09 Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide at fw.ky.gov and wherever hunting licenses are sold.
Shift to Online-Only Applications to Solve Elk Hunter Notification Problem
November 18, 2008
Other licenses and permits will not be affected by the change.
Elk lottery applications for the 2009-10 hunting season go on sale Dec. 1, 2008. Applicants can purchase their $10 quota hunt application through the department’s secure license sales webpage by going to fw.ky.gov and clicking on “Purchase Licenses Here”.
Good year for elk in state – Glasgow Daily Times, Glasgow, KY
October 17, 2008
Published October 16, 2008 07:17 am – Elk hunters bag some possible record takes in non-typical class.
Good year for elk in state
By JOEL WILSON
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW —
Last week on Kentucky Afield we saw 10-year old John Taylor Shirley, of Warren County, have great success on his elk hunt in eastern Kentucky. John Taylor also has some local connections.
On this week’s show, another 10-year old is featured as he participates in Kentucky’s youth hunt weekend. Bourbon County’s Houston McFarland is joined in the deer woods by host Tim Farmer. We’ll also get part two of the deer dressing tutorial and there will be a segment on rifle marksmanship.
Kentucky Afield airs on KET at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and repeats at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Back on the subject of elk season, KDFW outdoor writer Hayley Lynch tells us that it was a good year.
Kentucky’s 2008 bull elk firearms quota hunt ended Oct. 11, with hunters taking 115 bulls in the southeastern part of the state.
“Hunters had an 88 percent success rate, and most of those bulls were taken within the first four days of the season. This level of success is outstanding,” said Tina Brunjes, big game program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “It would not be possible without the hard work of our biologists and officers in the elk zone. Most of our hunters at some point speak to a Fish and Wildlife employee, who gives them information on where to hunt, both public and private land.” Full Story
Glasgow Daily Times, Glasgow, KY – Good year for elk in state.
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