Calif. Elks Will Be Sent to Roam Free

ELKCHSR

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Calif. Elks Will Be Sent to Roam Free

By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer

LOS BANOS, Calif. - Dozens of tule elk will be sent to areas where they can roam freely, from the northern Coast Ranges to the southern Sierra Nevada, in an attempt to restore a native California species that has rebounded from the brink of extinction.

"We were down to an Adam and an Eve, for all we know," said Jon Fischer, head of the elk capture project for the California Department of Fish and Game. "This has been a real success story."

State and federal wildlife officials captured about 35 elk Wednesday from the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, a fenced-in range that is surrounded by farm land about 80 miles northwest of Fresno. The animals will be moved through Thursday.

Tule elk are the smallest of the three species in the state, but a bull can still reach 1,000 pounds.

In the refuge's marshy grasslands, turned muddy by recent rain, a helicopter flew over the galloping herds Wednesday, dipping close to the ground and firing a weighted net when an elk separated from the others. Officials tried to avoid using tranquilizers. Once an elk was netted, members of a field team tackled the animal, bound its legs and covered its eyes to keep it from panicking.

The elk were measured, weighed and checked for disease before being herded into a truck.

"This is the glamorous part of the job," Department of Fish and Game biologist Rebecca Barboza said after processing a young male elk, her boots and jacket splattered with mud.

Tule elk exist only in California, where they once roamed the San Joaquin Valley and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

Gold miners and the first farmers to move into the marshy lowlands found a population estimated at 500,000. By the 1870s, farming and hunting had narrowed the elk's habitat and thinned the herds.

By the 1970s, only about 500 tule elk survived across the state, prompting biologists to start transplanting some of the survivors to the San Luis refuge.

There now are about 3,700 tule elk grazing in their original habitat, enough to allow limited hunting in certain areas.

The 760-acre refuge proved such a good home for the elk that Fish and Game officials have taken animals from the area to re-establish or supplement other herds several times since 1978.

Still, controlling the population is important because the growing herds can interfere with surrounding farms or wander into ever-expanding suburbs.

Tule elk are not listed as threatened or endangered. State and federal biologists said they expect the population to remain at its present size.

"We just can't have 500,000 elk again," Fischer said. "Environmentalists, hunters, farmers — we have to keep all these interests in balance."
 
Elks? Is that like mices?? Note to Russ JUST FUNNIN' WITH YOU PARTNER!

Actually they have pulled out of this refuge quite a few times...its target capacity is only 50 animals and it tops that frequently, leading to the transplants. I just want to pull my Grizzy Island tag once before I die...he's right unfortunately that we'll never see a half-million animals in Kaliforny and thats with all three species combined in this state. I'm 0 for 16 years in elk apps. but figure that my $7.50 app fee at least pays for part of the transplants......
 
I've been applying for Grizzly for years. Of course, I only apply for a bull tag. No sense wasting the luck for a cow tag, IMHO. My older brother actually got a cow tag there, and then drew a bull tag a few years later! Since I lived in Fairfield at the time, and trained my shorthairs regularly on Grizzly Island, I guided him to a nice, huge bull.

The bummer is that I don't think the new preference points work on the Grizzly Island draw, since there is only bull tag per "session", they don't use the points system - at least that's the way I read the regs. :(
 
Cali, I believe you've read them right and are correct.

Even with the pref. point system I will look at the Cal. elk tags as almost a once in a lifetime draw. I realize that they split the draw into two pools- one with points and one randow, but with the random chances numbers now cut in half if I ever did draw a unit (I sometimes put in for Big Lagoon as well) it would take years to get back to the top of the prefernce point pool.....

Some dang nice bulls on the Island...I drool every time I'm duck hunting down there. Have they had any more probelms with hunter harrassment on that hunt like they did years ago??
 
I don't know, since I moved south. When Greg got both of his elk there, we had to be escorted by police through the protestors at the bridge and had to dress out the elk in an area screened off by 10-foot tall tarps, so no one could photograph the process. DFG staff hauled the elk there whole on a skip loader or on a trailer via a winch.

Some guy even tried to use scuba gear to swim to the island and disrupt the hunt. :rolleyes:
 
A few years back we were driving to the coast, right by San Luis, and I nearly ran off the road. There out in the open was a herd, maby fourty or fifty elk. That herd has a few giant bulls. The RMEF raffeled off a set of San Luis sheds that scored 380+ two years ago. I wish they would issue tags, it would be my first choice.
 
I don't know if it is specifically for hunters, but there are laws to prevent someone from interfering with a lawful activity. The protesters are allowed to protest, and the law enforcement escorts were to avoid trouble and to make sure we were not blocked from using the narrow bridge. The guy in scuba gear was arrested., as were others in boats with air horns, etc. The island is a large national wildlife preserve - lots of duck hunting, pheasant and rabbits in addition to the tule elk.

It was a lot of fun to be out there hunting pheasants and have my 2 shorthairs drive a bull elk to me, jumping the narrow slough and crashing through the tules! :rolleyes:
 
LOL Marv...
I had to read part of the article twice, I at first thought it was the "Elks Club" but realized that is exactly as the reporter spelled it...
I was wondering if any one would catch that one... :)
 
CHSR :p

Thats right Cali...I remember hearing about that yahoo in the wetsuit!
Didn't know about the screened off gutting area haha!...only in our state!

Sure some dandy bulls on that island, wish they'd bump the permits by a couple but a guy can only dream. Do you put in for that hunt exclusively now that we've gone to points? I have so far but am thinking about going back to (as previously mentioned) the Big Lagoon draw in May since I know that area and my sis still lives over on the coast. Gotta donate my app. fee for my annual antelope no draw as well :(
 
Hey MarvB... There used to be a herd out at the old Concord naval weapons station as you go over Highway 4 towards Pittsburg. I know the base has been shut down for years but did they relocate that herd?? Man there were some real bruisers in that herd for years I commuted over that hill and would get stopped in traffic.. Helped the traffic time go by easier as you could sit there and look at some nice bulls. I was down that way this Christmas but didn't asked about it.. Just wondering.
 
Ridge, not sure. They were there last time (been awhile) I drove down that way. I think that base was something like 13,000acres and when they closed it down a large portion was designated as a wildlife preserve. I know that in the past they also leased acreage to local farmers for cattle grazing.

That whole Suisun bay has got lots of critters roaming around it!
 
Yeah, Suisun City was an okay place to live. I was 1/2 mile from the CIty Boat Ramp - good striper and sturgeon fishing after a hard day at work. It also had lots of places to train bird dogs with a decent wild population of pheasant. Otter, muskrat, coyote, raccoon, jack rabbits, cottontails and possums all over the place.

Marv - I have been putting in just for Grizzly, and accumulating points, I guess. If I drew Big Lagoon, would you help point me in the right direction? That's the main stumbling block to applying for different areas - knowing where to go! I've seen the herds in the Owens Valley, but usually they are on private land along 395.
 
Cali.. I grew up in Antioch when there was nothing out there but hills and the delta! Deer Valley had deer and not one house out there maybe just a farm or two. Used to fish stripers,sturgeon,Black bass,Salmon, and the bird hunting was unbeatable. Pretty scary out that way nowadays.:( Used to be a great place to grow up not to sure about now though:mad:
 
Yeah, they have built a lot of homes out there by both Antioch and Suisun. Since they are cheaper than the homes closer in to the Bay Area, a lot of "riff raff" have moved in, along with drug and gang problems, I imagine.

The same thing has happened down here in the Moreno Valley, and is happening out in the desert in Victorville and Apple Valley.
 
Cali if you drew Big Lagoon I'd be glad to help you out. Good thing about that hunt is nearly all of it is on posted, gated, private timberlands that WANT to help you in gettting your elk....even a "manditory" meeting prior to the hunt to line people out in the right direction.

Some thick stuff in that country with just enough open cut blocks to keep it interesting. My sister lives in McKinleyville which is just south of the hunt area. Another draw I'm considering is the Northeastern zone hunt (the "old" Shasta Hunt) as there are supposedly getting to be some real RMt toads in there!
 
interesting info on the NE herd there Marv--may have to change my strategy also as

I too keep putting in for the GI bull hunt and so does my bud--been doin about as long

as you guys--chris
 

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