Like watching a child come of age, many in West Virginia have had a close eye on their newfound elk herd. Floating close to 100 animals, the herd is showing signs of slow but steady growth since their reintroduction in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the herd looks strong, there are concerns about growth and the state\u2019s top elk boss believes we are a long way away from any sort of hunting season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt could actually set us back if we jumped on that too early,\u201d said Randy Kelley, Elk Project Leader for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources in a recent conversation on West Virginia Outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without any official announcements or plans, there are murmurs in the West Virginia hunting community about whether or not the state\u2019s herd is ready for a limited bull hunt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelley\u2019s concern, and one that echoes the sentiments of many Mountain State hunters, is that removing the mature bulls at this time would likely be detrimental to the overall herd health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really messes with your herd dynamics because if somebody gets a bull tag, they\u2019re going to want to take the big, mature bulls. But probably less than 30 percent of our herd is in that prime 5 to 9 year old breeding age. By removing those bulls of breeding age, you change the herd dynamics,\u201d Kelley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With so many variables such as the amount of healthy bulls, predation and calving success, Kelley is reluctant to give any indication as to what the population would need to look like to facilitate a hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighboring Virginia recently greenlit their inaugural elk hunt for this year and like biologists across the country, Kelley and his team are planning to keep a close eye on the effects of this year\u2019s hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no use to reinvent the wheel. We learn from what others are doing and have done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two studies are currently being conducted to help future decision making. The first study, being conducted in conjunction with West Virginia University, is looking to help determine genetic predispositions on survival rates, resistance to parasites and a variety of other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hope is that the results of this study will help reveal which bulls are fathering which calves and if any of the genetic traits from the two sources of elk are superior or make a difference in strength and survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second study at the University of Tennessee is focused completely on brainworm – the number one threat to West Virginia\u2019s elk since reintroduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cU.T. has developed a blood test to detect brain worm and we can send them a blood sample and find out if any of our elk have it even if they are showing no symptoms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of right now, Kelley and his team are not tabling the idea of importing additional animals from other states. With CWD rates rising, the plan at the moment is to stay put and concentrate on the establishment of the current herd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elk officials are sticking to their guns and not rushing a hunting season in WV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n