I received an email yesterday stating that Wisconsin recently released 31 new elk into the Flambeau River State Forest. This should help keep our ever growing wolf population fed for another year or two.

Isn't the clam lake herd doing pretty good?

Here is the last update:
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/ElkUpdate_CLEHJuly2017.pdf

Maybe they won't like elk since they're so used MN venison.

What is KY getting in return for the elk?

Money? Cheese? Privilege of helping the great state of Wisconsin?

They originally got ruffed grouse. Unsure this time around.

I had heard this before, but never any details. I'd love to know where they got the grouse if it's true.

I'm not sure trading grouse for wolf food is a good thing.

I know its hard for sportsmen to come to grips with, but state wildlife agencies don't always "trade" for translocations or augmentation of species. It just isn't necessary. Each state agency benefits from a transfer of wildlife; the state providing the wildlife ensures genetic diversity, an opportunity for the species to flourish in new environments, and of course, you never know when your state may have a need that could be filled with the offspring of the wildlife that your state provided to a sister state.

It used to bug the heck out of me when I heard our state "gave away" desert bighorn sheep to some of the surrounding states -- and got "nothing in return." Then many of our sheep developed pneumonia and other related diseases. In some cases, the only alternative was to remove all of the infected sheep, and replace them with healthy/disease free sheep. Guess where those sheep came from? The other states that had previously been provided sheep from our state.

The idea of always "trading something" for wildlife also raises the potential for one state to exact a higher "price" on the wildlife sought by a state that may be in dire need of certain species. And then there is the idea that every sportsmen has his or her own values or ranks certain wildlife greater than others. I sat next to a fellow in a wildlife meeting long ago and muttered under my breath about our state "giving away" sheep for some "stupid turkeys." Little did I know this fellow had a passion for turkeys and was an expert on them. In fact, it was his suggestion to the state game agency that turkeys in a certain area needed to be augmented or we would lose an entire population. He wasn't a biologist, but he was so well thought of that the state wildlife agency acted on his suggestion. It turned out, he was correct and an entire population of turkeys was preserved due to the augmentation he recommended. Every sportsmen has a different idea of what is the most valuable animal in the food chain. Yes, a big bull elk or a trophy desert ram are no doubt exceptional animals, but think of the number of sportsmen who were introduced to hunting because of a turkey or a whitetail. Who am I to say turkeys or whitetails aren't as "valuable" as a big bull elk?

Anyway, I don't know if importing elk into any given areas is a good or bad idea, but the notion that one state has to "get something" in exchange for providing a certain species of wildlife is probably not the healthiest idea for the resource in the long run.

180 to 190 elk , less than 1/4 of an elk per wolf !


22 years in the process , maybe in another 22 there might be 400 and they will give out 10 tags .

I read that we didn't get any Grouse. That we were getting help from there biologist on Grouse restoration.

That's correct for this batch. In the original reintroduction in 1995 you got some grouse. They then determined that habitat improvement would be better and WI will help with that.

Some really good info in there Lazarus. Never really thought about the trading and the challenges about determining value. Great example of those who try to give the most end of receiving the most.

I was going to make the joke that WI would probably trade away a few wolves and ask nothing in return if you had interest, but...

Many Jackson County elk are misbehavors. Like 1 guy told me...out west elk will run at the mere scent of a human, but around here it's a different story. They nocked over 1 guys LP tank. 1 walked into someone's barn. Others enjoy bird feeders. They've tried some sort of pyrotechnics/noise makers to scare them out of 1 area, but that didn't seem to work. 1 elk took off and last we heard, it was in Barron County. They've learned how to escape the wolves and find good food, but some don't like them in farm country. They tried frozen paintballs but that didn't work. Now they are going to try drones. Many of the cranberry growers got fencing to keep them out of the beds, but there currently is no good plan to keep them out of ag fields. They've been crossing DNR's invisible boundaries, including the Black River, the County line, and I94. It seems like plans to create an observation area in the Black River State Forest are on hold. Many elk left the state forest. A lot of people still like the elk, but many of the elk have behaved oddly at times. Maybe things will settle down as they become acclimated. It may largely be a result of the elk's attempt to get away from wolves. It's not all bad, I'm just saying there's been issues. I like the project, as do a lot of people, so am holding out hope it all works out.

A 22 year old project so far , I'm out .

About the same results as the 30 year old Marten study.

I don't know how scared they really are out west of human scent. I've heard plenty of stories from people hunting eastern Washington about being in the middle of a herd of elk once the fog would lift.

The Elk in the Appalachians....are they native or were they reintroduced?

Elk go to Wisconsin to feed the wolves. Grouse go to Kentucky to feed the turkeys! A double win for the varmits.

I see the Wisconsin elk went viral...well, a video of them did.

http://www.waow.com/story/36350103/elk-fight-caught-on-camera-in-northwest-wisconsin