Elk Hit And Killed on I-26

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
It was staying around Hendersonville? Only a matter of time before something like this happened.

Got hit right at the main exit to town.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
That's one expensive elk...from buying, tracking and now paying for studying why he was on the highway as well as paying for the flatbed to haul him to the research station.
 
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Frostcat

Twelve Pointer
The NCWRC caught a lot of grief on social media about not tranquilizing the elk and bringing it back. I have been told they have done this with other elk and the elk left again.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
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The NCWRC caught a lot of grief on social media about not tranquilizing the elk and bringing it back. I have been told they have done this with other elk and the elk left again.


yes - they likely did leave again,,,elk dispersion, especially bulls away from areas with cows, is a known and documented event,,,despite what the "social media idiots" would like, full control of wildlife is not possible,,,thus the term "wild"life,,,,

and I know - preaching to the choir here,,,just gets my goat when uninformed idiots yell so loudly,,,
 

alt1001

Old Mossy Horns
The NCWRC caught a lot of grief on social media about not tranquilizing the elk and bringing it back. I have been told they have done this with other elk and the elk left again.

It's only a matter of time before the elk are in the Southern mountain areas anyways. They didn't put these guys in a pen, which is what I think people believe. They dropped them off in the wild, in Haywood County. They are a hop and a skip from the Pisgah National Forest and once they realize the vastness of the area and the food sources in and along the Parkway (i.e. Graveyard Fields) they'll be permanent fixtures in Transylvania and Henderson County before we know it.

I'm not happy that he got hit but we needed to understand his movement a little bit. How he got here, where he was going, etc. This guy came right up Lake Logan, up over the Parkway and was in the Pisgah Ranger District in no time. As someone told me the other day, he is only the first of many that we will see in the coming years down here.
 

alt1001

Old Mossy Horns
editor of that website, and the author, should either get fired or sent to remedial spelling/writing classes,,,,,,,dang pro's

Haha! Larry Freeman is a local good ol' boy and has been working for the hometown station for as long as I can remember. I remember listening to him as a kid. Great guy, very connected into local happenings. He can break a local news story with the best of the them and served as the Mills River Mayor. I can't say he's an English major but he does usually have the scoop.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Wild is wild they gonna go where food/habitat is best and if herd spreads there is no doubt they gonna end up in not so desirable places. Big animal dangerous to hit with vehicle especially low riding cars
 

alt1001

Old Mossy Horns
ok i am no elk expert but wasnt the goal for them to disperse?

IIRC, the goal initially was just to have a wild population on National Park land. However, I know biologists weren't that dense. I think they may have hoped that development would form a natural barrier but as evidenced by this map, that sliver of Hwy 19 in Maggie Valley is all that separates the park from the Nanathala and Pisgah national forest. A few years after they were released in Cataloochee, a herd was formed in Maggie Valley.

Rumor is this particular elk was from the Maggie Valley herd. An outcast of sorts. He was spotted near Lake Logan (orange star) a day or two before he was spotted a mile from Turkey Pen (blue star). I had heard he was spotted near Mt. Pisgah in that time-frame as well so my best guess is that he took the path in black.

As you can see by all the green, that is the GSMNP, the Nantahal NF and the Pisgah NF all touching one another. I was in Panthertown Valley 2 summers ago and found elk scat. It wasn't long after that, that they popped up in Highlands and one even made it down to Pickens, South Carolina. They're already on this side of the tracks. Maybe not in large numbers yet but they're here and/or coming here more often.

elk.png
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Heaven help hunting if they get on DuPont the "friends of Dupont will get the place out of the permit system?
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
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Haha! Larry Freeman is a local good ol' boy and has been working for the hometown station for as long as I can remember. I remember listening to him as a kid. Great guy, very connected into local happenings. He can break a local news story with the best of the them and served as the Mills River Mayor. I can't say he's an English major but he does usually have the scoop.


that's why I mainly was focused on the editor - never edit your own writing, to easy to NOT see the small mistakes

anyhow, minor issue - just a pet peeve of mine with folks who are "pros"
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
ok i am no elk expert but wasnt the goal for them to disperse?

No. The goal was for the elk to stay in the Smokies National Park.

The elk were released by the National Park Service, not the NCWRC

The elk have become popular with some folks so the WRC has been forced to manage them and not just let people shoot them off (like in Virginia).

The WRC did not want any elk in North Carolina and would rather they not have been released in the first place.

And Tennessee is on the verge of allowing deer hunters to shoot any elk that stray to their side of the Smokies.
 
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wturkey01

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Looks like he was headed to Walmart to get some corn........

26 is bad enough with idiot drivers, now I got to look out for elk I suppose.


:sneaky: Yeah, if you drive I-26 (or I-40) anywhere around Asheville/Hendersonville you're eventually gonna hit something........elk, bear, deer, cow, another vehicle or a daily traffic jam backed up for 10 miles!! :mad:
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
First elk ever spotted in Transylvania County was in 2016, young bull

https://www.transylvaniatimes.com/story/2016/09/19/news/elk-spotted/29395.html

At least the population is not growing much. Farmers will like that
In 2001, 52 elk were released in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Now, the population is about 160 animals.
"Right now, the population growth is pretty slow," Mike Carraway of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission told us earlier this month. "It's either growing, or stable."

http://wlos.com/news/local/elk-struck-by-minivan-in-henderson-county-later-put-down

The reintroduced herd has grown but is still relatively small.
“We estimate a total of about 160 and that includes the national park and outside the national park,” he said.

https://www.hendersonvillelightning.com/news/7098-our-elk-died-on-i-26.html
 
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alt1001

Old Mossy Horns
Not my picture.
This was taken on May 23 near the Chimney Tops Trailhead.
View attachment 18646

I read about that last month. Said they tracked them over Clingman's Dome.

One has to wonder, how will their eventual migration into Cades Cove affect that area? I remember as a kid, my dad taking me up to Cataloochee before the elk and all the tourists. We would take KFC up to the old barn and sit in the loft with binoculars watching deer and turkey all over the place. Now? You hardly see a deer or turkey in that area. I can't imagine that happening to Cades Cove.
 

Moose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
A couple of things one isn't it illegal to transport live elk and deer in this state? Secondly the odds of that critter staying put if it was brought back is slim at best. Third we got a surplus of bulls the survival rate as I recall is nearly 50/50. So the loss of one is not that big a deal. It's a wild animal so people should be watching for it when they are driving just like a down tree or a mudslide across the road.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
No. The goal was for the elk to stay in the Smokies National Park.

The elk were released by the National Park Service, not the NCWRC

The elk have become popular with some folks so the WRC has been forced to manage them and not just let people shoot them off (like in Virginia).

The WRC did not want any elk in North Carolina and would rather they not have been released in the first place.

And Tennessee is on the verge of allowing deer hunters to shoot any elk that stray to their side of the Smokies.
Curious where that from they have had elk for years even have a permit hunt
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Just like any other animal trying to survive in wild gonna do what ever they can to find best habitat that suits there needs especially if population grows
 
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