Elk hunting season underway; applications open

Elk hunting season. I hope you guys loved that transition as much as I did. It's now underway. It began on Saturday. It runs through the middle of December. It's Wisconsin's ninth elk hunting season since the reintroduction of elk in the state. I want to bring in Steve Burns, DNR deer and elk specialist. Steve, thanks so much for joining me today on Fox 6 Now. Thanks for having me. So first I want to talk a little bit about the history of this because I know it's the ninth season, so what is the history behind elk hunting in Wisconsin? Yes. so it's a pretty long history actually to get to the point where we're at today um, back in 1989 the state legislature actually advised the DNR to pursue whether reintroducing elk, moose or caribou to the state was possible fast forward to 1995 when elk were first reintroduced as part of the university of Stevens Point research study, actually, in following that reintroduction, when the population reached about 40 animals, management was turned over to the DNR. And then once the population had reached this, you know, steady population stasis, still growing, but enough to sustain a harvest, the first hunting season was implemented. And I'm looking here, only 16 people are selected that are able to hunt. Why is it so exclusive? Yeah, it's very exclusive because there's only about 600 animals currently in the state of Wisconsin. So the population is still growing and we're just trying to grow the herd steadily. And so we're just managing, you know, the sex ratio and age classification of animals with these limited hunts as the population continues to grow. So typically we have about 25,000 residents apply for the chance at an elk tag. And like you mentioned, this year 16 lucky people were chosen for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Yeah, seriously. I mean, that is uber selective. How do you do it? Is it a lottery or are there certain criteria that you're looking for on an application? Yeah, it's a lottery in essence. So people can apply each spring, basically between March and May. And then the drawings take place. And the lucky, you know, individuals that are selected, then have the opportunity to purchase a license. So it's $10 to apply, and of that $10, $7 goes directly towards elk management in the state. The remaining $3 goes to administrative fees. And then, like I mentioned earlier, if you are chosen as one of those lucky hunters, to purchase the actual license costs $49. Wow, so honestly, I mean, not too shabby of prices for such a cool opportunity, I feel like. but you said tens of thousands of people apply. Why is this so popular? Well, I mean, elk were extirpated from the state in the 1880s, right? And so the opportunity to hunt elk within Wisconsin is really only one that's, you know, been available to hunters since 2018. Typically hunters would have had to travel out of state to you know, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado you know far off locations like that to have an opportunity to bag an elk and so to have that opportunity in Wisconsin it's really pretty special not to mention the hunters that are selected in the state there is a pretty high success rate so if you are chosen there's a good chance you're going to get you know an opportunity at that trophy animal. Yeah wow and you had talked a little bit about the steady growth of the population and making sure like the males and the females that everything is going smoothly. Talk a little bit about the science behind what you're doing to track that. Yeah, so we have field biologists in the areas of the state where there are these elk herds located and they're managing them pretty closely. Many of the animals have radio collars on them where they can follow their movements throughout the season. each year when cows give birth to calves a large number of those calves are actually found and tagged or collared as well so there's pretty close tabs kept on a lot of the population that's so interesting too and i know i was reading in the release that you guys sent out about something new this year i know you brought up a little bit the elk tags what does that all entail specifically? So I think the new thing that you're alluding to is probably the breakdown of these elk management units. So historically, people that were chosen to draw an elk tag could hunt within the entire management zone. And in order to more closely manage the herd distribution and how the herd is interacting with adjacent private landowners or things like that. Tags have been issued this year on these management unit levels, and that just gives our biologists more opportunity to manage the harvest across the entire population. Historically, we saw a lot of the harvest occur within, you know, these smaller areas within the greater zone. So it's just more specified management when done this way. I see. It's cool, though, to have this in Wisconsin now. I know it's the ninth year that it's been going on. You had mentioned that applications for 2027 are open. If people are interested, how should they go about applying? Well, they're not actually open yet. They'll be open this spring, but they can apply through the DNR's website on Go Wild. That's where hunters and fishermen can purchase all their license um equipment so yep watch for that this coming spring and honestly a ten dollar application fee is it's pretty small for what i said earlier is the chance of a lifetime and even if you're not selected you can sleep sound at night knowing that uh seven of those ten dollars went to continuing to manage the herd within the state of wisconsin yeah is that how rare is it to see one? If I'm just like driving through a wooded area or I'm like on the highway and I see something in the woods, how likely am I to see an elk? Is it near to impossible? Do you really have to be looking? I wouldn't say it's near to impossible. In fact, within these kind of core ranges within the northern and central elk zones, there's areas that elk frequent, you know, rather regularly. So if you are a person just interested in elk viewing and wants to see this awesome creature on our landscape, call your local biologist in, you know, Black River Falls or, you know, up north and just say like, hey, I want to view some elk. Can you make a suggestion on where I might, you know, be able to see some? And I'm sure they could point you in the right direction to be successful now granted we did mention that um hunting season is ongoing right now so you just want to be aware of that um and and not have any negative uh interactions between non-hunters and hunters out on the landscape yeah absolutely some great things to remember steve uh anything else you feel like is important to add as we get the season underway just that it's really pretty amazing pretty cool that we have the species that once roamed throughout Wisconsin and North America was gone off the landscape and now it's back. It's really quite a success story. And like I mentioned, even if you're not a hunter, it's just really cool to know that the species is back. It's performing the ecological roles that it, you know, historically held and that there's opportunities for everyone to enjoy this animal on the landscape. Yeah it's back and it's growing in Wisconsin which is huge so that's so great to hear and learn about Steve. Thanks so much for joining us today on Fox 6 Now and happy hunting to the 16 lucky people who got selected that's so exciting.