Elk in North Carolina to be Hunted in 2027 for the First Time Since 1700s

This morning I woke before the crack of dawn and drove an hour in the pitch-black night, through literal clouds, on cliffside dirt roads, to see if I could find elk in rut in the Cataloochee Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains. The rut is the time of year when the male elk are most active, letting out bugling screams that can be heard from a mile away, fighting, and competing for love.

My journey was a success.

Before Europeans arrived and decimated the elk population with overhunting and deforestation, Eastern elk roamed the southern Appalachians at numbers I am uncertain of, but I assume, were far more than 250. The last of the now extinct Eastern elk seen in North Carolina were gone by 1790.

Around two centuries later, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park set out to reintroduce elk to the area. In 2001, 25 Manitoban elk were brought over from Kentucky, followed by another 27 from Alberta in 2002. That original population of 52 has now grown to an estimated 250 living in and around the park.

In July of this year, the state decided that the reintroduction of elk in North Carolina has been such a smashing success, that, in 2027, they will have their first hunting season of the modern age. Two hunters will win permission to kill one elk each. One through a raffle North Carolina residents will be able to enter for $20 a ticket. The other permit will be issued to the highest bidder.

Now, I eat meat myself in spite of its tragic reality, though I’m not proud of it, and I have heard arguments in favor of hunting I can understand. But, personally, I think the for profit sacrifice of two of these majestic creatures sounds like the hunger games.

Do you have thoughts on the start of hunting these magnificent beasts again in North Carolina or about the idea of taking animals out of their existing habitat to bring back the population somewhere else? If so, let me know in the comments.