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I recently read in our local newspaper that elk from the Rocky Mts are being introduced to Nat'l Forest lands in southwestern Virginia.
This is a partnering project involving:
- USDA
- Rocky Mt. Elk Foundation
- Commonwealth of Virginia.
This news gladdens my heart during a time when most of the current news is depressing!
TR
Fire Up the Grill - Hunting is NOT Catch & Release!
it worked well in kentucky....and it will work well in virginia too..
most likely the introduction will be in the blue ridge area and off limits
for a few years....
Outstanding. No doubt it'll be a hard draw when the day comes, but I hope you'll have elk tenderloins on the plate sooner than later. (Lent? What's that??)
Cheers,
Oly
Cheers,
Oly
I hope and pray someday the world will learn
That fires we don't put out will bigger burn
There were elk reintroduced in the Peaks of Otter area and they were killed off as well. Elk have been wandering over from KY and some have been shot here as deer and checked as such, legally. That will change.
Sincerely,
Hobie
"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend." Robert Louis Stevenson
Well, you think reintroducing a species is a good idea? Wait till they decide to reintroduce wolves.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
Some of the Kentucky elk have also managed to find their way into West Virginia. We have an Elk River, so these wandering boys will feel right at home!
Lobo in West Virginia
Old List Veteran..Five Years..Five Hundred Posts
6pt-sika wrote:There have been rumurs for the last 10 years that they released a few cougars in the Blue Ridge mountains !
I'd heard about cougar sightings from the Piedmont to the foothills of the Blue Ridge for about 20 years starting in the '80s. More than one person saw them in some instances. On reporting it to Virginia Game folks, without a photo, they were all told there were no cougars in the state...no way.
Lefty Dude wrote:We in the West would love to send Y'all some Wild Horse's & Burro's.
I hear , Burro steak is delicious.
Someone let some stray horses lose in southern Missouri, I believe on the Current river.
When the Conservation Department tried to round them up because of environmental and stream damage, all hell broke lose.
Now we have federally protected "wild" horses in Missouri.
6pt-sika wrote:There have been rumurs for the last 10 years that they released a few cougars in the Blue Ridge mountains !
I'd heard about cougar sightings from the Piedmont to the foothills of the Blue Ridge for about 20 years starting in the '80s. More than one person saw them in some instances. On reporting it to Virginia Game folks, without a photo, they were all told there were no cougars in the state...no way.
A friend of mine who is pretty straight when it comes to sightings and such swears to me he saw a cougar in Orange county which is where he and I both live . This was maybe 8 years ago . nd we are most certainly in the Piedmont region of Virginia !
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
6pt-sika wrote:There have been rumurs for the last 10 years that they released a few cougars in the Blue Ridge mountains !
I'd heard about cougar sightings from the Piedmont to the foothills of the Blue Ridge for about 20 years starting in the '80s. More than one person saw them in some instances. On reporting it to Virginia Game folks, without a photo, they were all told there were no cougars in the state...no way.
That is a bone of contention throughout western VA and I remember people talking about it in WV back in the 1960s. The thing is that with all the bear, racoon and such hunters who run dogs, there's been no cougar contact.
Sincerely,
Hobie
"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend." Robert Louis Stevenson
6pt-sika wrote:There have been rumurs for the last 10 years that they released a few cougars in the Blue Ridge mountains !
I'd heard about cougar sightings from the Piedmont to the foothills of the Blue Ridge for about 20 years starting in the '80s. More than one person saw them in some instances. On reporting it to Virginia Game folks, without a photo, they were all told there were no cougars in the state...no way.
That is a bone of contention throughout western VA and I remember people talking about it in WV back in the 1960s. The thing is that with all the bear, racoon and such hunters who run dogs, there's been no cougar contact.
Maybe all their dogs are smart enough to stray away from any cougar scent
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
6pt-sika wrote:There have been rumurs for the last 10 years that they released a few cougars in the Blue Ridge mountains !
I'd heard about cougar sightings from the Piedmont to the foothills of the Blue Ridge for about 20 years starting in the '80s. More than one person saw them in some instances. On reporting it to Virginia Game folks, without a photo, they were all told there were no cougars in the state...no way.
That is a bone of contention throughout western VA and I remember people talking about it in WV back in the 1960s. The thing is that with all the bear, racoon and such hunters who run dogs, there's been no cougar contact.
Maybe all their dogs are smart enough to stray away from any cougar scent
Nope,
I have heard from WV, "that dog don't hunt"
and I have heard of WV(ians) that did not own a dog "I don't have a dog in the fight"
but I have never ever heard of a WV(ian) or a WV(ian) dog that would "stray away" from a fight.
jeepnik wrote:Well, you think reintroducing a species is a good idea? Wait till they decide to reintroduce wolves.
The coyotes have already found their way there.
True, the coyote range has expanded considerably in the last 100 years. And while they do on ocassion take young deer, they don't do near the damage a pack of wolves do. Now, that's not saying I want to see coyotes run amok. We have had children killed in my area by coyotes. But give a choice of the two, I'll take the coyote. At least you can hunt coy dogs. Heck out here, lions have been protected for so long they are showing up not only in backyards, but school yards. And in areas where wolves have been reintroduced, it's darned hard to get hunting approved.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
6pt-sika wrote:There have been rumurs for the last 10 years that they released a few cougars in the Blue Ridge mountains !
I'd heard about cougar sightings from the Piedmont to the foothills of the Blue Ridge for about 20 years starting in the '80s. More than one person saw them in some instances. On reporting it to Virginia Game folks, without a photo, they were all told there were no cougars in the state...no way.
That is a bone of contention throughout western VA and I remember people talking about it in WV back in the 1960s. The thing is that with all the bear, racoon and such hunters who run dogs, there's been no cougar contact.
Since I was a kid, I've known hundreds of folks to swear to have seen mountain lions in WV. But I've yet to every hear of one being killed by a hunter, vehicle, pack of dogs, etc. I work guys now that swear "I've seen them on my farm!". Personally I'll believe the stories when I see the first dead one.
As for the wolves, VA probably already has a few. Red wolves were reintroduced in eastern NC over a decade ago. I haven't heard of any problems with them other than getting hit by cars once in a while. I'm sure they eat a lot of fawns, but trust me, there are plenty of deer to spare around here.
JB wrote:
Since I was a kid, I've known hundreds of folks to swear to have seen mountain lions in WV. But I've yet to every hear of one being killed by a hunter, vehicle, pack of dogs, etc. I work guys now that swear "I've seen them on my farm!". Personally I'll believe the stories when I see the first dead one.
They're always black panthers, too. (No, I don't mean the two-legged kind from the 60s)
I've had several people in my family and lots of acquaintances claim they've seen a mountain lion before. If they don't claim it was black right off the bat, I ask them. They will invariably exclaim, "Yes, it was!"
Now we do have some confirmed sightings in our area, but none of them are black. I've yet to see one.
"Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world." - Thomas Carlyle
(No, I don't mean the two-legged kind from the 60s) 
