Eastern elk hunt?

[Lionhound1975]

All,
My teenage son and I are going to try and hunt elk down in SW Virginia right on the KY line. There are several counties that border KY but only one allows elk hunting. Virginia allows you to hunt elk outside of those 3 counties on the same regs and license as a deer tag. From what I have read up on there are not a lot of elk but they do cross the ridge with KY enough to upset local farmers. Part of the ridge is Forest Service land. I am also trying to contact any land owners or mining companies to see if they would allow a trespass fee.

My question is to any of you that have hunted elk in KY or PA do they act like western elk and would the same strategies used in the West work like calling? I know there are the same species (Rocky Mountain elk) but am interested to see if anyone has noticed different behavior because of the environment. The country is mostly steep forest-covered ridges with not many open areas to glass. From imagery I can see a few open areas, looks mostly like cutover land from mining.

I likely wont have time to visit the different areas beforehand to look for sign so I want to try and pick a decent area with a plan on mind. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Buckshot1822]

Elk here in PA love overgrown strip mines. They are typically overgrown with pines, locusts, autumn olive etc. They respond to calls very well here for the most part.

 

[RT-MCPO]

please post after your hunt. Interested on how it went.

 

[Gman12]

So is the plan to hope that one of the Kentucky elk crosses the border into Virginia? Not exactly sure how this works but, with the reintroduction of elk in Virginia, I wish that it would be illegal to hunt elk in the whole state until our herd establishes itself.

 

[rayporter]

there was a time when it was legal to shootem if they crossed the state border.

i dont know where that stands now.

 

[hutty]

Elk hunting is currently prohibited in Buchanan, Dickenson, and Wise Counties. Elk hunting in the rest of Virginia is permitted as follows:

Elk Hunting

Elk hunting in Buchanan, Dickenson, and Wise counties is available through an elk hunt lottery which costs between $15-$20 to apply.

dwr.virginia.gov

 

[LanceS4803]

there was a time when it was legal to shootem if they crossed the state border.

i dont know where that stands now.

TN has elk conservation zones that were established before the reintroduction. This was done to appease farmers. Now, if elk move out of the zone, they are legal to kill.
Not the best situation with only having half a dozen permits a year, but it was part of the original agreement.