Elk Problems
\n Elk are beautiful and majestic animals, but their presence in Pennsylvania and, in particular, the elk hunting season, has created a lot of controversy and headaches for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The agency is in the process of changing regulations and the number of permits in an attempt to better manage the elk herd and address some of the problems.
\nApplications for elk licenses are now available for the 2003 season. This will be the commission\u2019s third attempt at a modern-day elk hunt. One hundred licenses (80 antlerless, 20 antlered) will be available this year, as compared to 70 last year and 30 for the first hunt in 2001.
\nWhen the topic turns to elk, people line up in one or more of many opinion camps. The anti-hunters are opposed to an elk season of any kind, others fear that reducing the herd will hurt tourism, and still another group criticizes the hunt for biological reasons. The herd and its gene pool is just too small for hunting without hurting the health of the population, they claim. This camp particularly fears the targeting of the best breeding bulls by hunters.
\nOn the other side of the fence there are hunters who are thrilled at the opportunity to hunt elk in Pennsylvania. They love watching elk, but also view the herd as a resource that can support hunting. These hunters are willing to do their part to help the commission manage the growing herd and limit property damage.
\nYet another group views the presence of elk as an unwanted intrusion on their property rights. Some of these individuals, to the dismay of most hunters, have shot multiple elk for \u201ccrop damage.\u201d A few in this camp would be happy if all of the non-native elk were exterminated.
\nIt should be said that most property and camp owners love watching the elk and put up with intrusions by tourists and hunters, as well as the damage caused by the elk themselves.
\nOn top of all of this, the behavior and alleged behavior of a small number hunters and their guides during the 2002 season brought an avalanche of criticism down on hunters and the commission and really fed the rumor mills. Among those things alleged were hunters shooting elk within safety zones; hunters or guides driving elk from safety zones; elk being shot along highways, in people\u2019s yards and in streams; and, of course, that allegation that the game commission did nothing about it.
\nDuring the past six months, I\u2019ve attempted to track down some of these allegations and I\u2019ve questioned commission personnel about their role in the entire affair. Here\u2019s what I learned.
\nUpon PGC investigation, an elk was confiscated and three individuals were charged with illegally driving a large bull elk from a park. A guide was found guilty by the local magistrate. Much to the dismay of the commission and the officers involved in the prosecution, the second guide and the hunter who shot the elk were found not guilty and the elk was returned to the hunter. Don\u2019t ask me to explain that decision.
\nIt was documented that at least one other elk was driven from a safety zone and shot. This was done legally, however, with the permission of the owner of the safety zone.
\nAll of my other hot leads turned into dead ends. For example, the \u201cI know a guy who saw a hunter shoot an elk in First Fork,\u201d actually turned into \u201cWell, the elk was wet when it was brought into the check station.\u201d This went on and on.
\nHow did the commission handle this? According to PGC Northcentral Director of Law Enforcement Quigg Stump, \u201cWe investigated every reported violation and I gave instructions to our officers to follow up on all specific rumors.\u201d
\nSeveral commission officers confided that they were unhappy with some activities of hunters and guides, but these actions fell into the realm of ethics rather than the law.
\nWith the entire elk hunt under a public microscope, poor ethical decisions made by a few make all hunters look bad. Hunters, guides and the commission should keep this in mind, and the commission should move to quantify ethics as law where necessary.
\nThe first step in this direction occurred at the commission\u2019s April meeting when they voted to make the herding (pushing or driving) of elk illegal. This regulation will be voted on again for final rule-making at their June 23-24 meeting.
\nAccording to the commission, as it stands now, their elk management goals are designed to stabilize the elk population on the entire range and allow hunting in all management areas. They continue to target human-elk conflicts by issuing more permits in those areas, while not allowing hunting near the better elk viewing areas. By making the vast majority of the 2003 permits for antlerless elk, they address some of the biological concerns and better target the limiting of the elk population\u2019s growth.
\nThe commission continues to pledge money from the first 10,000 applications ($100,000) toward habitat improvement within the elk range. The Sinnemahoning Sportsmen, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and other groups are aiding with habitat acquisition and improvement. It is hoped that this effort will also help to keep elk away from problem areas and provide a more natural hunting experience.
\nThis year\u2019s elk season will be held November 10-15, one week earlier than last year, but in the same time slot as the 2001 hunt. The non-refundable application fee is again $10. Applications can be made on-line through the commission\u2019s website www.pgc.state.pa.us or mailed in with the form found in the 2003-2004 regulations booklet.
\nMark Nale can be reached at MarkAngler@aol.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elk Problems Elk are beautiful and majestic animals, but their presence in Pennsylvania and, in particular, the elk hunting season, has created a lot of controversy and headaches for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The agency is in the process of changing regulations and the number of permits in an attempt to better manage the elk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}