HOLDEN, W.Va. — As West Virginia’s elk herd slowly grows, the number of animals will eventually eclipse what the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources can accurately keep tabs on. As the Elk Project team works up the herd for 2023, there’s starting to be evidence that may already be happening.
“Actually we’ve handled two different young bulls apparently we missed back about 2019 or so,” said Elk Project Leader Randy Kelley in a recent appearance on West Virginia Outdoors.
Kelley admitted it’s possible they missed them and it’s also possible they could have wandered into West Virginia from another location.
“We’ll be able to tell if they did because of a DNA study we’re now doing with WVU. We’ll be able to tell if they are from our stock or from somewhere else,” he explained.
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