Post by corman on May 1, 2008 21:28:57 GMT -5
Last Friday I went to a cnservation dinner in Bellevile. It ws to raise $$ to monitor the existing elk heard in the Bancroft and surrounding area. It was a good night with some good $$$ raised. Elk was served at the dinner and was it good.
After dinner they gave an over view of what has been happening with the efforts in the past winter. It was very interesting. Just a quick not for those who might not know. Elk roamed much of Ontario many moons ago but where hunted to near extinction in the early 1900's . Restoration efforts had been made in the past but failed as MNR officials felt that elk were transmiting disease to deer. This proved to be wrong but was discovered too late and many of the elk were shot off once again.
In 1997 a plan was aproved by the mnr to allow re-introduction of elk to 4 parts of Ontario. Between 1998-2001 460 elk were re-introduced to Ontario comming from Elk Island National park in Alberta. 90% of the elk were radio collard for monitoring purposes. between 98-04 mortality was around 40%. Wolves, stress and illegal shooting being the causes. Mortality was down each year however and calving seemed to be increasing each year.
In 04 the scar of CWD hit hard and further elk release was suspended. RMEF Canada who held funraisers and banquits throughout On. folded shortly after leaving the elk, and those who looked out for them with no $$$ for monitoring purposes. So Doug Howel and a few other dedicated volunters came up with the plan of holding fundraisers and banquits on there own.
Thousands of $$$ have been raised but thousands more are needed each year to continue. THe elk seem to be adapting well and are winning the battle. In the winter of 08 MNR worker Rick Rosatte went up in a helicopter rented by funds raised by the group. At 1100 bucks an hr its not cheap. HEre are some of his observations. 68cows 21bulls 24 calves spoted. Due to $$$ and time only core ranges were flown over. They know there are many more elk in areas not observed on the 2 day flight. But based on numbers they figure there are 240 elk in the Fraser lake area to Queensborough, about a 2000 sq km range. THat is a 20% increase over 06 observation. Calf survival is about 34%. Small heads were observed in Madoc. Other confirmed areas of elk activity include Kemptville, Ottawa Valley, Bobcageon, Cobourg and york region. A rough estimate of 300 elk are believed to be in the southern Ont range. Lack of funding however restricts monitoring.
So all in all the elk are winning the battle. In talking with Rick myself I made the comment that if only we were able to continue our restoration efforts i believed we would have a season on elk today. He shocked me by saying this. "Corey if it were up to me, we would have a season for a limited number of bulls right now" his reasoning was this. We only need a 10% of the POP. to be bulls in any given heard to be a succesfull bread. We have over 20% now. When this occurs the bulls spen more time fighting one another and defending there herim. Thus either injuring one another or missing a cows heat resulting in a higher percentage of cows not being breed.
The colars used 5 years ago were 5 grand a piece and last about 3 years. They have internal gps's in them but to get the info the elk has to be darted and info can then be downloaded. New colars out for this year are gps equiped and can be sent right to a computer and read instantly. Great was to monitor movemnet and activity. And they are only 3 grand a piece.
I have much more info on this and i could go on all day but I have typed long enough. Anyody wanting more info I'd be happy to provide it. Any questions feal free to ask.
After dinner they gave an over view of what has been happening with the efforts in the past winter. It was very interesting. Just a quick not for those who might not know. Elk roamed much of Ontario many moons ago but where hunted to near extinction in the early 1900's . Restoration efforts had been made in the past but failed as MNR officials felt that elk were transmiting disease to deer. This proved to be wrong but was discovered too late and many of the elk were shot off once again.
In 1997 a plan was aproved by the mnr to allow re-introduction of elk to 4 parts of Ontario. Between 1998-2001 460 elk were re-introduced to Ontario comming from Elk Island National park in Alberta. 90% of the elk were radio collard for monitoring purposes. between 98-04 mortality was around 40%. Wolves, stress and illegal shooting being the causes. Mortality was down each year however and calving seemed to be increasing each year.
In 04 the scar of CWD hit hard and further elk release was suspended. RMEF Canada who held funraisers and banquits throughout On. folded shortly after leaving the elk, and those who looked out for them with no $$$ for monitoring purposes. So Doug Howel and a few other dedicated volunters came up with the plan of holding fundraisers and banquits on there own.
Thousands of $$$ have been raised but thousands more are needed each year to continue. THe elk seem to be adapting well and are winning the battle. In the winter of 08 MNR worker Rick Rosatte went up in a helicopter rented by funds raised by the group. At 1100 bucks an hr its not cheap. HEre are some of his observations. 68cows 21bulls 24 calves spoted. Due to $$$ and time only core ranges were flown over. They know there are many more elk in areas not observed on the 2 day flight. But based on numbers they figure there are 240 elk in the Fraser lake area to Queensborough, about a 2000 sq km range. THat is a 20% increase over 06 observation. Calf survival is about 34%. Small heads were observed in Madoc. Other confirmed areas of elk activity include Kemptville, Ottawa Valley, Bobcageon, Cobourg and york region. A rough estimate of 300 elk are believed to be in the southern Ont range. Lack of funding however restricts monitoring.
So all in all the elk are winning the battle. In talking with Rick myself I made the comment that if only we were able to continue our restoration efforts i believed we would have a season on elk today. He shocked me by saying this. "Corey if it were up to me, we would have a season for a limited number of bulls right now" his reasoning was this. We only need a 10% of the POP. to be bulls in any given heard to be a succesfull bread. We have over 20% now. When this occurs the bulls spen more time fighting one another and defending there herim. Thus either injuring one another or missing a cows heat resulting in a higher percentage of cows not being breed.
The colars used 5 years ago were 5 grand a piece and last about 3 years. They have internal gps's in them but to get the info the elk has to be darted and info can then be downloaded. New colars out for this year are gps equiped and can be sent right to a computer and read instantly. Great was to monitor movemnet and activity. And they are only 3 grand a piece.
I have much more info on this and i could go on all day but I have typed long enough. Anyody wanting more info I'd be happy to provide it. Any questions feal free to ask.