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Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
Jenny Wiley State Resort Park will open the elk-viewing season with its Elk Night buffet Sept. 16 from 4-9 p.m.
The menu will include elk roast carved on the line, hunter’s elk chili, elk meatloaf, fried chicken, catfish with hush puppies, lyonnaise potatoes, shoe peg corn and other vegetables and desserts.
The buffet is held on the first day of elk viewing tours at Jenny Wiley that run through the fall and winter. Adults are $18.95 and children ages 6-12 are $8.95. Ages 5 and under are free. Drink not included.
Elk were re-introduced to Kentucky in 1997 as a restoration project by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. The department estimates there are more than 10,000 elk in Kentucky. Some of the best areas for elk habitat are on reclaimed surface mines in Eastern Kentucky.
Jenny Wiley State Resort Park is sponsoring elk tours at a cost of $30 per person or $15 per child, 12 and under. This fee includes transportation by van to the viewing sites and a continental breakfast. The elk-viewing tours will run through Dec. 2. The tours will resume in January.
The park also offers overnight tour packages that include lodging, dinner, and an elk tour with continental breakfast for $160 per couple. Guests should register for the trips. Special group and business tours are available.
Call 606-889-1790 for information and reservations. For a list of dates, visit: http://parks.ky.gov/calendar/details/appalachian-elk-viewing-tour/21209/
Jenny Wiley State Resort Park is located on 1,100-acre Dewey Lake. The park has a lodge and conference center as well as fishing, boating, marina, swimming, and other recreational opportunities. The park also has cottages, a campground and dining.
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
Twenty years ago this December, seven elk were released atop Potato Knob in Perry County in front of thousands of onlookers. The landmark restoration of a free roaming elk herd in Kentucky was off and running.
Fast forward to present day. There are now more elk in Kentucky than any state east of the Rocky Mountains and each year the prospect of harvesting one compels tens of thousands of hunters to apply for Kentucky’s quota elk hunts.
Those interested in applying for 2017 should not delay. Applications must be submitted online at fw.ky.gov by midnight (Eastern time) April 30.
“For the person who has always wanted to elk hunt but just couldn’t afford to hunt out west, consider applying for a Kentucky elk quota hunt,” said Gabe Jenkins, elk program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Our application and permit costs are low in comparison and our elk hunters enjoy some of the highest success rates in the country.”
Kentucky residents and those living out of state can apply for each of the four permit types – bull or cow firearms and bull or cow archery/crossbow – but can be drawn for one hunting permit only. Each entry costs $10. Applicants for the youth-only hunt can put in for the regular elk quota hunts as well but cannot be drawn for both in the same year.
This year, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife will issue 700 general quota hunt permits and 10 youth permits. The permit breakdown will be 100 bull archery and crossbow permits, 150 bull firearms permits, 160 cow archery and crossbow permits and 290 cow firearms permits. Youth permits are valid for use for either sex during all elk seasons.
At least 90 percent of the available elk quota hunt permits go to Kentucky residents. Last year, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife received almost 75,000 applications from more than 34,000 applicants. Kentucky residents alone submitted 46,365 applications.
Sixty-eight percent of hunters who were drawn and purchased their elk permit for the 2016-17 season filled their tags.
Bull elk hunters enjoyed the highest rate of success among drawn elk hunters last year. Eighty-one percent filled their tags and 70 percent of hunters utilizing archery and crossbow equipment successfully harvested a bull. The success rate for cow elk was 35 percent for archery and crossbow hunters and 67 percent among hunters using a firearm.
“A drawn hunter isn’t guaranteed an elk but a little planning goes a long way,” Jenkins said. “Whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer or hire a guide, putting in the time and effort goes a long way and increases your chances of success.”
The bull firearms season generates the greatest interest at application time, and understandably so. The past two seasons have produced two state records and five of the 10 largest bull elk taken in Kentucky since the species’ reintroduction in 1997.
The bull firearms season consists of two week-long hunts, one starting in September and one starting in October. Likewise, the cow firearms season is broken into two week-long hunts in December.
The bull archery/crossbow seasons open in September and the cow archery/crossbow seasons open in October. Each runs through Dec. 31. However, hunters drawn for a cow or bull elk archery/crossbow permit cannot hunt when an elk firearms season is open.
Applicants’ names will be drawn at random by the Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT) in May and randomly assigned a permit type based on their application choices. Hunters drawn for an elk hunting permit are blocked from re-applying for three years.
While waiting to learn if you’ve been drawn, explore Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website. It offers information about the basics of elk hunting in Kentucky as well as a newer featured called Kentucky Elk University. Designed to educate hunters of all experience levels, this online tutorial covers preparations before an elk hunt, what to expect in the field and what to do after the shot.
EARLY RETURNS: The 2017 spring youth turkey season ended April 2 with hunters reporting a harvest of 1,693 birds.
The youth-only weekend precedes the opening of the 23-day general statewide spring turkey season. This year, the general season opens Saturday, April 15.
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: With spring now in full bloom across Kentucky, it’s important to remember to guard against tick bites if you plan to be on their turf.
This means minimizing the amount of exposed skin by tucking pants legs into socks or boots and tucking in your shirt, utilizing repellents containing 20 to 30 percent DEET per the directions on the label and checking your clothing and body after being in wooded and brushy areas and areas with tall grass.
Consider treating clothing and boots with a product containing Permethrin, an insecticide that kills ticks, mosquitos and other pests, but allow any articles treated with Permethrin to dry completely before wearing. One treatment can protect through multiple washings.
Should you find a tick attached, grab the tick with tweezers as close to the skin’s surface as possible and steadily pull straight back to remove. Afterward, clean the area around the bite and wash your hands.
The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission will meet in Frankfort for a special called session at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern time) Jan. 6 to discuss proposed changes to the state’s elk regulations.
Items on the agenda for discussion include:
- Compress or reduce the elk season;
- Eliminate elk hunting in January;
- Establish a regulation to eliminate elk hunting during deer season;
- Establish a regulation to mandate a minimum bull size of 3 points on one side;
- Establish a regulation to mandate wounding an elk ends that hunt if the animal is not successfully retrieved. Convicted hunters get substantial penalties, plus lose the right to hunt elk. Guides lose guide license for 10 years;
- Establish a wanton waste regulation for elk, deer and bear with substantial penalties;
- Establish a regulation to establish refuge (no hunting) areas at tourist/viewing areas;
- Requests for management and data collection plans to be developed by the Department for Commission Discussion;
- Meet in executive session if necessary.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission meetings are open for the public. Sessions are conducted at the Arnold Mitchell Building on the main campus of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife headquarters is located at 1 Sportsman’s Lane (formerly 1 Game Farm Road) in Frankfort. The entrance is located off U.S. 60, approximately 1½ miles west of U.S. 127.
