Elk!?

[hunterofthedeer]

We were driving between Prince George and Quesnel and we saw six elk in a field by Dunkley Lumber. None of them had any bone growing yet though. I never new that there were elk between PG and Quesnel.

[kgriz]

Very few elk around PG....I wouldn't worry about it.

[hunterofthedeer]

I was just surprised and excited. Mabey I should buy an elk tag when I'm going into the woods this fall.

[Jelvis]

Hey hunterofthedeer. I did'nt know the elk were around Queznell an Prince, wow are they open for the gos cuz I want a taste of Wapiti beside my garlic and onion gravy this season. Elk steak with those big potatoe steak fries dipped in dark onion gravy with bacon crispy strips over top and cheese melted all over.
Jelly elk steak fried to parfaction over the barby in the back yard with barby sauce.
I'm hongry

[Timbow]

Yes they are elk around Quesnel. The Dunkley herd is the largest with 40 to 60 in number. I know of a few that been harvested with the first two years of the elk opening being a bumper crop with some impressive animals.

The other herd include the Quesnel/Hydraulic with a fair number. There are a few other herds.

[Jelvis]

What kinda season or leh is ah for in the area tween Quezzy and Prince?

[hunterofthedeer]

someone told me that these elk were transported from around Banff
is this true?

[Jelvis]

I hope not cuz Alberta has TB in there animals and cwd and brainworms, they tell you to wear rubber protective gloves to gut animals because of tuburculosis, pilgrim.
That would be real dumb if that were true but I don't think anyone in the moe would allow this to transfer from across the border in short order.
Jel -- no Alberta wildlife wanted period ok Amigo!

[BCrams]

We were driving between Prince George and Quesnel and we saw six elk in a field by Dunkley Lumber. None of them had any bone growing yet though. I never new that there were elk between PG and Quesnel.


The elk have been hanging around Dunkley for a good number of years now. There's enough elk in Region 5 that the regional's should be taking a hard look at opening the season on them. Elk are like a bad weed, there's no stopping the spread / growth towards the Chilcotin grasslands.

I have already observed elk south of Mcleese Lake and they're up around Likely / Horsefly (by way of the Quesnel River corridor).




someone told me that these elk were transported from around Banff
is this true?


Not true. It is just a rumour.

[Jagermeister]

Elk or wapiti were the most prolific animal on the continent when the whiteman first arrived. The were everywhere with the exceptions of the arctic, Newfoundland and Labrador and the southeast US (Florida).

Antler bone found in the Churn Creek area was carbon dated to about 300 years ago and then there was a large die off.

The theory is that a massive volcanic eruption in the south east part of Asia placed so much debris into the atmoshpere that it blocked the sun's rays causing cooling to the effect that there were reported to be 2 years without summers. Tree ring analysis in the Chilcotin show that there were 2 years where there was virtually no growth. This would coincide with the massive die off of elk in.

All that were left in the Cariboo/Chilcotin region were the a small herd that were called the Skelton Valley herd. They ranged from the Dragon Mountain area down Skelton Valley and over to the south of Quesnel Lake. The herd supposedly had about 25 to 40 animals and although not hunted, they never seemed to increase in numbers. The regional biologists theory was that they were too inbred. There was a small elk herd that hung around Milburn Mountain too, this group had even less numbers, seven to a dozen animals.

The regional biologist at the time wanted to transplant some elk from the Kootenays to the Gaspard Churn create area. He enlisted the help of the local F&G clubs. There was a letter writing campaign concerning this contentious transplant, there were 143 submissions for and 7 opposed. The opposed were supposedly former Montana/Wyoming ranchers. All the submissions were presented to the MLA of the Day, Alex Fraser, and he took the side of the ranchers and quashed the transplant. However, there were a few elk that were relocated to the Lytton area and it is believed that this here migrated to the other side of the river and moved northward to the Cariboo/Chilcotin. Of course, the ranchers speculated that a herd of elk were dropped off in the middle of the night.

What I thought was unusual was where there were once no elk, now there were copius numbers and this has happened all in the last 15 to 20 years. The Dunkley herd is one. I hunted that area for moose and now you stand a better chance of getting an elk than a moose.

[hunterofthedeer]

thanks for the info Jagermeister. Thats some cool stuff!

[boyd050]

I really enjoyed your post on the elk jagermeister, thanks very interesting read!! that's what I love about this site, I learn something every time I get in here!!!!

[sawmill]

Strange how game moves around.There were never any white tails around Houston/Smithers when I grew up there in the 70`s now there a lots.Apparently there were no moose seen around Hazelton until the first was shot by a white man around 1900 or so.And there were no bison around Pink Mountain till a small herd imported by a rancher busted loose in the 50`s.

[boxhitch]

There's enough elk in Region 5 that the regional's should be taking a hard look at opening the season on them. Elk are like a bad weed, there's no stopping the spread / growth towards the Chilcotin grasslands.

.This is a common practise in MOE it seems. An animal species that could be deemed invasive, cannot be kept in check by using hunting as a tool. Why ? Waiting for larger problems ? More impact on agriculture ? More conflict with native species and competition for forage ? Does MOE have a target population number they want to see, even though they never planned for it ?
Like the elk at Westwold. Only a handful of bulls, but the rancher had a haystack destroyed this year, and is looking for assistance. Easy, GOS any elk. Fixed.
Like elk in 8-23,-24,-25,-26. No target pop., yet no season for the crop-munchers.

We don't need every species everywhere, especially when native species may suffer by incroachment. Open up the hunting.

[BCrams]

An elk season certainly isn't going to make them go away thats for sure.

I am sure they're just waiting for them to hit the ranches along the Fraser, pose additional competition on the winter range with California bighorns / mule deer etc before they get the notion they should open it up.......but wait.........they will want to go LEH for residents and retain the 'quality' / 'trophy' hunts which will benefit the GO's more than resident hunters.

This is a great opportunity for those residents of Region 5 to have an elk season to pursue game for the freezer, considering its hard enough to get a bull moose tag.

I also remember many crying foul and complaining how all the big bulls here in 7a were shot out as a result of opening the season in the first couple years ......... yet this past season's either sex LEH draw had all these dandy bull elk getting shot (especially in the core area of Vanderhoof / Ft St James) .....and resulted in the LEH changing to antlerless this year to get people to focus on harvesting antlerless elk .......which proves the big mature bulls are there and the guys / gals are just are not able to find them during the regular season.

[PGK]

I'm just going to jump in and say that when I was a kid growing up in PG, you bought two tags. A moose tag and a mule deer tag. We never shot any deer, but we had a tag in case. We were moose hunters. Nowadays, if I leave the house without elk and WT deer tags, I can pretty much kick myself in the ass, because they're all over the place now. The times, they went done and changed!

[RiverOtter]

Hopefully the Moose/Elk don't start rampantly inter-breeding, like the Whitey's/Mulie's.

I shudder to think of you telling us about fields full of Melk's........:-P:lol:

[Jelvis]

Elk are grazers like cattle and wildabeast and buffalo. Before they used to roam the plains and grasslands but when people moved into the prairies of Canada, yippee yi yay, they scared the elk into the high mountains. Ok.
Now you know why the elk like the lower plains and flat land between Queznel and George.
Some awesome elk history for yah.
Jelly - wapiti means white butt on the plains -

[RiverOtter]

Wouldn't say the settlers scared the elk into the mountains, more like they just shot out all the prairie elk, leaving the mountain elk to carry on the species.

[Jelvis]

RiverOtter --- that's what I really wanted to say you know about they shot the crap out of them, but I just could'nt say it, I mean why, why would they shoot all those elk on the valley plains in the first place? Then the survivors ran to the hills and escaped into the mountains for cover.
They have to come down when the snow is deep tho still
JellyStonePark

[willyqbc]

The ministry here does have a "number" in mind to open the elk up to hunting. In fact there was an attempted count done last year to see if we could open it up. From what I understand we fell short...not because the elk aren't here, but because they were not where they were expected to be (farmland) when the count was being done. There may even be some folks on here that were involved in the count that could comment. I do believe we have a huntable population here. From what I understand the original transplanted herds out on the Hydraulic and out on the Blackwater have increased in size enough to split into several herds, at least one group has moved over the river to the Paradise road area. There are herds on both sides of the highway north of Quesnel and there are elk that have moved over from McBride and can be found anywhere out on the east side of the highway, we have found elk sign out by stony lake and Narrow lake, so I would imagine anywhere out there will hold elk if you can find them. In the south we are getting reports of elk showing up in Kersely so I would imagine the ranches on the Fraser will be filling up soon. I am sure region 5 will be opening a 6 point bull season in the next few years, its pretty much inevitable at this point.

Just my opinion
Chris

[sfire436]

It is interesting how Hunters and Non Hunters do see and view Elk as only "High country" and "Mountain" animals when in fact like it was previously posted they are more comfortable as grazers on the flat lands.

[BCrams]

I do believe we have a huntable population here. From what I understand the original transplanted herds out on the Hydraulic and out on the Blackwater have increased in size enough to split into several herds, at least one group has moved over the river to the Paradise road area.


What elk 'transplants'? I have never heard of any transplants.

[willyqbc]

I could be wrong, but it seems to me the original blackwater herd and Hydraulic herd were transplanted there back in the '80's. They were definately very isolated to those two locations at that time which would certainly indicate a transplant rather than a natural migration. I have also heard rumblings (nothing substantial) that there have been other transplants in and around Quesnel that were done very quietly, including a gentleman who claims to have seen a cattle truck unloading elk in the dark one night......campfire stories??? maybe...I don't know. I do know there are getting to be more and more elk around this area.

Chris

[jml11]

I could be wrong, but it seems to me the original blackwater herd and Hydraulic herd were transplanted there back in the '80's. They were definately very isolated to those two locations at that time which would certainly indicate a transplant rather than a natural migration. I have also heard rumblings (nothing substantial) that there have been other transplants in and around Quesnel that were done very quietly, including a gentleman who claims to have seen a cattle truck unloading elk in the dark one night......campfire stories??? maybe...I don't know. I do know there are getting to be more and more elk around this area.

Chris


I'm not sure that it is possible to transplant a herd of Elk quietly, someone will know about and it will become public knowledge. I have asked ministry reps about these claims and they say they are not in the business of transplanting elk up here, they don't need to, they are doing a fine job of it on their own. There is guy up here in Salmon Valley who writes into the paper alomst every year saying he has documented ministry people unloading trailers full of elk onto his property in the middle of night, but has no photos or video to substantiate his claims. MoE folks just laugh at his claims. He complains because the elk are destroying his crops...but does he allow hunters access to harvest some elk...absolutely not!

No surprise if elk numbers start to rise in the Quesnel, Williams lake area as it is only a hop, skip and a jump from the Robson Valley into the Quesnel Lake watershed!

[PGK]

I've been out in the Likely area / Beaver Valley for work and it sure seems like great elk habitat to me. Reminds me a lot of Chetwynd!

[Bowtime]

Towards Smithers/Houston 6-8/6-9 the elk population has grown significantly in the past two years. I know of some locals that proposed an open season bow hunt for 6 points and that idea was shot down fast because there was no population estimate yet. They needed to perform a flight which they could not get funds for. I saw over 100 elk last fall along the highway and up in the hills where I hunt deer. Do you guys think thats enough elk to open a 6 point archery hunt??