Nashville, TN – The second-ever managed elk hunt in Tennessee is now underway as five individuals will be seeking a trophy at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. The hunters will have an opportunity to harvest an elk in the special hunt from October 18th-22nd.
Four persons won the right to participate as a result of a computer drawing held in June. The participants for this year’s hunt are be Jeffrey M. Burdick of Oakdale, Gregory Joseph Burns of Clarksville, Michael Duane Galloway of Corryton, and Joseph Edward McDonald, Jr. of Clinton. The winners were announced at a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission meeting.
The fifth participant is the recipient of a permit that is donated to a Non-Governmental Organization which this year was the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The RMEF auctioned the permit at its recent national convention and Randy Hoisington of Blocksburg, CA, bid $11,000 to participate in the hunt. Proceeds from the bid are part of a fund-raising project benefiting future elk restoration in Tennessee and enhancing elk habitat.
For the hunt, the North Cumberland WMA is being divided into five elk hunting zones, each about 8,000 acres. The division helps ensure the harvest is spread over the entire core of the elk zone. Each hunter has been assigned a zone through a random hand-held drawing. Studies have proven that the elk herd is seeing an annual growth rate of 13-15 percent. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has worked to make habitat improvements at North Cumberland WMA to aid the elk in adapting to their new home since the first arrival of 50 animals in December 2000, the first elk to be in Tennessee since they were reported in Obion County in 1865.
In last year’s historic hunt, all five hunters harvested am elk. Chuck Flynn, of Blount County, was credited with recording the first harvest in the state in more than 150 years.
