Hodge: Hunt is about money - for elk program
By Bob Hodge

Posted July 26, 2009 at midnight

In a few hours from now - if you're reading this on Sunday - some eBay bidder will walk off with one of Tennessee's five elk tags, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will pocket a few thousand dollars and everybody goes to bed happy.

Except for the people clamoring about what a bad idea the elk hunt is.

After four elk tags were awarded to hunters through the quota hunt system, the fifth tag was given to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation and put up for auction. As of Friday afternoon there had been 64 bids on the hunt and it was going to cost a minimum of $17,500 to get the fifth elk tag.

It's likely to be quite a bit higher than that when the bidding ends at 10 p.m. tonight.

It was expected the tag would be worth between $20,000 and $25,000, but some of the early bidders were looking for a bargain. The first bid was for $150 and the second for $200. It took less than 90 seconds for the bids to get over $1,000 and less than 12 minutes for them to climb above $5,000.

After that things have slowed to a $1,000 and a $1,000 there. What's been more fun to watch are comments going up faster than the bids under stories about the TWRF auctioning off the tag.

Pick a site where you can read a story and leave a comment then watch TWRA and hunters get beat up by anti-hunters.

"Why introduce them back to the area just to kill them?"

"This hunt boils down to nothing but a bunch of rich rednecks with manhood issues getting their jollies by killing magnificent animals. TWRA has lost all credibility with me."

"Just a money thing by TWRA!"

"Bringing Elk back to TN is nothing but a money making scheme by the TWRA, don't kid yourself. The "herd" is no where near the size it needs to be to warrant a hunt. Harvesting, what a PC term. LOL"

All of the above were under a story at WBIR's Web site and are a pretty good representation of the majority.

Some posters think the elk are in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Some think they are behind a fence. Some are hoping the hunters accidently shoot themselves or each other. A couple are pulling for a rutting elk having its way with the hunters. Some don't like their tax dollars being spent this way. One compared the hunt to racism.

But the ones above stand out because, yeah, it is about money. And why bring them back just to kill them? Because that has been the plan all along.

Back in 2000 when Powell's Terry Lewis stood up at Paris Landing State Park with his idea to bring elk back to the state sooner than later, getting a population big enough to hunt was one of the original reasons. Not a single commissioner, biologist, member of the public or TWRA official ever thought otherwise.

And this October's hunt is about money, as in more money for the elk program.

Elk restoration in Tennessee has been hindered by everything from cash-on-hand to goofy lawsuits to fears of disease. The original restoration plan was to have been completed by now and the herd was supposed to be humming along on its own. But the state needs more elk and getting more elk takes more money.

I can hear it now: If we need more, why are we trying to kill five of them!? You don't have to have a degree in biology to know that if you have 20 cows and one bull you can have 20 baby elk. If you have 20 bulls and one cow you can only have one baby elk. The bulls - sorry guys - just aren't that important.

The people commenting on the elk hunt are commenting on the end result of a debate that went on for over two years at commission meetings and within the agency. It hasn't been a secret.

The only reason elk are on the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area is because of hunters and their dollars. Some of the money came from license fees, a lot of it from donations to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and other conservation groups.

People who enjoy having elk back in Tennessee need to thank the very people they call names and want to see injured. They are the same men and women who footed the bill for all the deer, bear, turkeys, ducks . . . well, you get the picture.

Bob Hodge is a freelance contributor.

sadly, hunting is fast becoming a sport where "skill/ability/recognition" can all too easily be gained dependent upon how much money one has. want a big deer? if you have enough money you can easily put one in the B&C book. same with any other animal. but then, hasn't that always been the case? at least in the last 20-30 years? "hunting" and "killing a book animal" are often two completely different things. once hunters realize that, and spend their money accordingly, perhaps "trophy hunting" will decrease in prominence. perhaps doing away with the name of the "hunter" in the record book would be a fine first step.

The elk program in kentucky has been very successful and there is a large population, a large interest in hunting them and good revenue generated for the state. Why is it wrong for Tenn, to see this and bring the same thing to the state. Sounds like a win-win to me.

I think we should put a wildlife restoration tax on tufo and plastic sandals.

So four guys got their elk tags thru the quota draw, and one guy is gonna pay $20K?
Sounds like a good deal for everbody and the elk, too. What better way to get money for the program and still let the average guy have a chance at a tag? They could have as easily sold the 5 tags for $4k each--in which case most guys would have little or no chance of buying one.

Friends, I joined the RMEF as a life member some years ago. Served as a Committee member here in our Nashville chapter. Having been involved since early on, it is with shared pride we see our Elk herd coming to fruition. Personally, I did not enter the draw. Simply, I have other things going on and chose not to enter. I'm very happy for the 4 Hunters that drew a tag, and, for someone here locally that won the auction. I think he paid $17,700.00 for the privilege of hunting (yes, hunting) a bull Elk. My good friends are joining him to act as guides (Tennessean's but very experienced with hunting Elk, as is the winning bidder). The hunt will be filmed and yes; most of the money will go back into our States Elk fund. It cost us a lot of money to bring our Elk in from Alberta; quarantine them, transport them again and release them on a wild area in east TN. Tomorrow, the 5 Hunters will draw for their own area. They each will have 8,000 acres of land to themselves to hunt on. Each hunter must stay within their own area (marked by roads, creeks, etc) as to not disturb each others hunt. Elk are Elk, and they may move out of one area and into others or run out of the country. That's Elk hunting. But we are hopeful our program will continue to grow, despite losing some Elk to natural causes, vehicle collisions, poaching and even mistaken harvest (we had an elderly gentleman shoot a young bull. Checked it in as the "biggest Deer he'd ever shot"). Yes we have protected Elk in the Smokey Mountain Nat'l Park (thank you anti-hunting ass-holes for all your assistance and donations....NOT!) So for all of those against everything from drinking milk to using worms for fish bait, the next time your in the Smokie's and hear a bull Elk bugle, close your ears if your offended. To the rest of the real world, Cheers!
David