DNR draws names to participate in Wisconsin’s first-ever elk hunt

If you didn’t get the call yet, you didn’t win the first-ever Wisconsin elk hunting season lottery.

The DNR picked just four names out of a hat to take part in the state’s first managed elk hunt.

More than 38,000 applied for the hunt, which will be very limited and doesn’t guarantee those four selected will successfully bag an elk. The herds are in dense forests, and they’ll be hunting just the bull elk.

“They contribute, actually, very little to the overall population growth based on their social structure and that kind of thing,” DNR deer and elk ecologist Kevin Wallenfang said of the bull elk.”The cows that will be dropping calves in the future will be protected.”

The DNR didn’t release the hunters’ names. The hunt will be limited to the Clam Lake herd, in Sawyer, Bayfield, Ashland and Price counties.

An additional license will be awarded through a raffle conducted by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

The hunt comes after 22 years of efforts to reintroduce the elk to Wisconsin. That original herd of 25 has grown to the point now, where this very limited hunt can take place.  Elk there have surpassed 200.

The hunt will run Oct. 13-Nov. 11 and Dec. 13-21. Annual hunts are expected in the future. Hunters can only take part in the hunt once during their lives.

An additional license will be awarded through a raffle conducted by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased through the foundation’s website. The winner be drawn Aug. 11.