Quoted text from the current Virginia hunting regulations

Elk of either sex, antlered or antlerless, may be taken during any open deer season using the weapons legal for deer during that season.
The taking of an elk counts towards the hunter's daily and license year bag limit for deer.
Licenses, tag validation, and checking requirements for elk are the same for deer except that elk must be checked at a check station.
It is unlawful to destroy the identity (sex) of any harvested elk until checked. Elk may be dismembered to pack it out from the place of kill. The identity of the sex and all parts of the carcass must be present when the elk is checked.
Successful elk hunters are asked to contact the Wildlife Division of the Department's Marion Regional Office at (276)-783-4860 as soon as possible after killing an elk so that arrangements can be made to collect Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) samples. CWD testing is voluntary.
End quoted text.

Just found this too:

http://www.dgif.state.va.us/hunting/elk_hunting.asp

AllanD

Wow! Talk about liberal hunting. I guess they are deer! A deer is a deer is a deer! They need some wolves!

Actually if you follow the link you'll find that the elk in questions are invaders from Kentucky's reintroduction program.

Rather than capture and transport the elk back (and lose most of them from transportation shock and adverse reactions to the tranquilizers) it's easier to simply let them be shot by hnters during the regular deer season...



AllanD

Looks like a great opportunity to me.

With family down in SW Virginia...

Elk have been introduced back into Kentucky...

Some have wondered over into SW Virginia....

The State of Virginia doesn't want them in the state based on all of the crop damage.....

Hence.. the liberal rules....Too bad, that they are not wanted in the Mountainous areas of VA, but they do raid crop land...

Guess Elk should really be considered a western animal... or areas where they are not going to be an agricultural problem....

seafire -
perhaps you haven't noticed but out "West", those elk compete with cattle. Cowboys don't much like elk at all. Not to mention elk, more than bison, carry the dreaded brucellosis disease. Nope, kill'em all everywhere every time, if that's your critiera. Elk were common in VA once upon a time.

Brent

quote:

Originally posted by Brent:
seafire -
perhaps you haven't noticed but out "West", those elk compete with cattle. Cowboys don't much like elk at all. Not to mention elk, more than bison, carry the dreaded brucellosis disease. Nope, kill'em all everywhere every time, if that's your critiera. Elk were common in VA once upon a time.

Brent

VA would probably have a huntable elk herd by now if efforts to reintroduce them had not been blocked by the politics involved.

The patriarch of the elk herd reintroduced to PA in their program was killed and abandoned by a poacher a few years back. The OIC of the investigation posted a pic of the dead elk on the internet fishing for leads. As I recall it was of good size.

Kentucky appears to be doing well with their program.

Gary

The Kentucky elk that range outside the designated counties of management can also be taken in the Kentucky deer season by a legal hunter hunting deer.

quote:

perhaps you haven't noticed but out "West", those elk compete with cattle. Cowboys don't much like elk at all. Not to mention elk, more than bison, carry the dreaded brucellosis disease

Every cowboy I know loves to hunt elk, enjoy watching elk and are as anxious for the draw as a kid at Christmas. If there is hate, it is toward your pet wolves. And not just because they are a threat to cattle but a threat to elk, deer, sheep, and moose. Many ranchers and cowboys earn part of thier income guiding and outfitting elk hunts. If you would attend one RMEF banquet in Cody or Thermopolis over half of the attendees are cow hands from local ranches. Do you want me to name the cowboys?

quote:

Originally posted by buckeyeshooter:
The Kentucky elk that range outside the designated counties of management can also be taken in the Kentucky deer season by a legal hunter hunting deer.

Yeah, I just found that out by looking at the Kentucky fish&Game web site.

Hunting virginia or the kentucky "fringe" area
probably isn't worth the cost and expense compared with the number of non-resident tags available... Or the additional cost of simply paying for a Cow Tag in a western mountain state.

The odds of drawing a Kentucky non-resident
tag are probably greater than those of winning a resident Pennsylvania tag....


AllanD

quote:

Originally posted by Brent:
seafire -
perhaps you haven't noticed but out "West", those elk compete with cattle. Cowboys don't much like elk at all. Not to mention elk, more than bison, carry the dreaded brucellosis disease. Nope, kill'em all everywhere every time, if that's your critiera. Elk were common in VA once upon a time.

Brent

Brent,

I live in SW Oregon.. Elk aren't competing with any cattle in this area, as there isn't any cattle to speak of....actually...plenty of elk, but plenty of forest also.... they are like finding a needle in a hay stack.. especially come the complicated elk season....courtesy of the Fish and Wildlife guys, who secret wished the worked for the State Lottery commission instead...

seafire

Don't go running out to Virginia thinking you can just get a deer tag and knock an elk over. I've been stationed here for almost 4 years and while there is some great deer hunting here for whitetails, elk hunting is a matter of luck.

I doubt they kill over a dozen a year here and all of those are in the southwest corner of the state along the Kentuckey line. Virginia doesn't want the elk to compete with the whitetails and that is why they have no restrictions on taking them. They don't want pheasants either due to competion with quail and grouse so you can shoot pheasnts year round with no ag limit. The problem lies in actaully finding a pheasant. I have not heard of one being shot since I've been here.

As to the elk, I have a friend that hunts his grandparents farm in the southwest part of Virginia and he tells me he only knows of 3 or 4 elk ever shot in that area and they were all knocked off by farmers when they saw them in their hay fields. An elk here doesn't stand much of a chance when he enters the state.

If you want elk, head west. Simple as that.

Mac

I wasn't even thinking about wasting my time hunting a Kentucky Elk that trying to become a Virginia Elk.
Though throwing away $10 on an entry to the Kentucky Elk draw is cheap enough. and there is a reasonable success rate...

PA averages 50tags a year in their elk draw and has the same $10 application fee. (Like the Maine Moose Draw
a non resident isn't required to buy a non-resident licence
to buy a chance in the draw)
And kentucky has a larger elk population...

Though 63 Elk harvested out of 200 permits issued doesn't seem like good odds...
$10 for the application, plus $365(non resident)
for the elk permit if you win, plus the cost of a non resident hunting license doesn't seem too bad for a 31.5% chance at an Elk... that has to be tempered against the 50 tags issued in PA
and the 80% success rate.

Going west is a good idea, if you actually have the $3000
that the cheapest elk hunt is likely to cost you. Hell I'd be happy to get an Elk Cow!
I can't eat antlers, but I'd want the bull only because they are bigger...

Simple fact is I don't have $3000 to spend on
outfitter and license and adding to that travel, loging and gratuities... it's simply out of my reach, unless some kindly soul wants to be real nice to a 44year old deer hunter from PA...

And many western Elk hunts can run 2-3 times as much. Yeah I can do it... If I win the lottery first...

Frankly, If I want to shoot a big animal I'll apply for both the NewHampshire and Maine elk draws. (I'll admit to being a meat hunter
though having a nice 6x6 Elk rack to display would be "cool"...
Maine allows you to buy multiple chances... ($15 for one chance, $25 for three
$35 for five or $55 for ten and if you want more chances than that Maine will sell them to you in multiples of 10 for $55, Or you could simply Bid on one of the tags they auction off, they run just under $11-grand.)

(Maine's rules are a facinating read...)
maine issues just shy of 300 non-resident tags, nearly six times as many non-res Moose tags as pennsylvania has elk tags available total.

Bu in PA the draw is a "progressive" lottery, one chance the first year, two chances the second etc... like the "preference points"
in a western state.

I was baffled at first reading about Deer draws in western states...
Out here on deer the only thing we draw for are Doe permits
And in some areas there as many Doe permits as you could
want available over the counter. this year in PA there were two WMA's that combined to leave 7500 doe tags unsold...
your first buck tag is included with your basic hunting licence and the Black bear tag is another $18, no "draw".

I never realized until very recently how easy we have it back east on deer or black bear.... of course here in the wetter climate they multiply like rabbits...

AllanD

Allan DeGroot,

Why do you think an elk hunt back west would cost you $3000 or more? In my native Colorado you can buy an over the counter non-resident bull tag for $450 or so and a cow tag for $250 or so. Granted the cow tag is a draw, but the state has been giving out almost unlimited cow tags because they want to reduce the herd size before they get a bad winterkill. You can get more than 1 elk tag by using the left over license procedure after the official limited drawing is conducted.

The cow elk tags for the late season in the northwest part of Colorado around the town of Craig are a gimme on he draw. Almost all the land up there is public so you don't need to pay a trespass fee or hire a guide. Contact the region's big game biolgist through the Colorado Division of Wildlife's Denver office and the biologist will tell you the best areas to go to fill your freeze. They want to kill 60,000 elk a year for the next couple years to thin the herds and the biologists are really good about pointing you in the best directions.

In addition to the elk, you can get a deer tag and a bear tag and basically hunt all 3 species at the same time. Not all areas are really good for bear, but the state has plenty of them. And the state is world famous for it's mule deer hunting.

I guess I'm just continually amazed by the number of residents back east that think they have to hire a guide for several thousand dollars to hunt elk or deer back west. Pack up your gear and go hunt you an elk. Hell, we got plenty of them and every western state except Texas is comprised of primarily public land. There are hundreds of thousands of acres you can hunt if you want.

I won't be hunting Colorado this fall due a deployment with the Navy, but will be on shore duty for the next couple years until I retire. I'll gladly show you how to hunt elk in 2007 if you'll hook me up on a good whitetail hunt. What do you say?

Just my 2 cents worth.

Mac