Freeranging Elk in Texas?

[Joshua Flournoy]

There definitely are some herds of free-ranging elk in FAR west Texas. Not sure if they wandered over from New Mexico or what.

[HubCityThumper]

There are occasional elk in the Panhandle, as Humper said. A few counties up there used to have a season for them back in the '80s. It was mainly to keep them from being shot year-round if they did happen to wander in from New Mexico, I think. We had a bull on one of our farms near Kress back then. The game wardens came out and darted it. It didn't go down, so they darted it again. They really chousted it around getting it in the trailer, and by the time the darts kicked in, he died.

About 3 years ago, a farmer near Nazereth was cutting milo and a large 6x6 bull and a few cows got up in the middle of his field. He didn't know what they were. He called the game warden and told him that some HUGE brown deer were in his field. The GW told him they were elk and that they were not considered to be game animals anymore and that he could shoot them if he wanted to. The farmer said that he didn't have a gun, so the GW drove out with his rifle. He offered his rifle to the farmer (probably hoping that the farmer would tell the GW to just shoot one). The farmer took his rifle and downd the bull. I saw a picture of it, and it probably scored over 300.

There were elk on the Plains back in the day as well as in the mountains of far West Texas.

Lubbock paper had this story a few years ago. Great read.

[cosmiccowboy]

A friend of mines family had 25K acres about 8 miles north of Marathon (Glass Mountains) back when TPW still protected the elk and issued landowner permits to shoot them (occasionally) and it was not unusual to see a couple dozen elk in a weekend. I have seen several different 300+ bulls there over the years...I haven't been there in 10 years or so as is very common the ranch didn't survive the generational change...

[Take Dead Aim]

Worked for Tommy Lee Jones in college mainly on his ranch in San Saba but on occasion on his ranch out West. One day riding trough the pasture horseback we look over and see what we thought was a cow(bovine) but upon inspection we realized it was an elk. My buddy and I were amazed. First elk I had ever seen in person and would have never believed if I hadn't seen it in person.

[Mike17L]

I believe that most of the elk seen on the WMAs out west are shot on site. TPWD considers them an exotic and treats them as such on WMAs.

[Humper]

I believe that most of the elk seen on the WMAs out west are shot on site. TPWD considers them an exotic and treats them as such on WMAs.

That is the main problem. Hopefully through good management by west texas ranchers and strong support from the RMEF, TPWD will reclassify the animal to a game animal.

[Devin]

I had no idea......

Tulia farmer bags large elk in field

By BETSY BLANEY
Associated Press

Tulia farmer Brad Sharp got a big surprise this week while harvesting his milo: A 900-pound bull elk raised its head above the crops in a nearby wheat field, calmly watching Sharp approach on his combine.

"He was just standing out in the wheat grazing," said Sharp, who later shot the elk. "He was a big one."

Elk are rare in the Pan handle. Game officials think the elk that Sharp shot could have come from a small herd near Channing or from New Mexico, possibly fleeing be cause of wildfires there earlier this year.

"That's just speculation," Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Audie Hamm said. "It's possible."

Sharp was about 400 yards away when he first saw the animal, which Hamm estimates was at least 6 feet tall at its back, but lost sight of it and figured it was lying down in the wheat.

Sharp called Hamm to ask him what to do with the elk. A few hours later, the two men located the elk in the wheat field and Sharp shot it after learning from Hamm that elk are nonseason animals, meaning they can be hunted year-round like coyotes.

The animal, which Hamm estimated to be about 5 years old, could have been in Sharp's field for weeks, Hamm said.

"He had an excellent food source, water nearby, a hiding place and probably could have stayed several more weeks if Brad hadn't been out there and found him," he said.

Sharp used a front-end loader to take the elk out of the field.

"There's no way I could have gotten it into a pickup," he said. "It was too heavy."

Sharp is having the elk butchered and will get about 400 pounds of meat. He's also planning to have a taxidermist mount the elk's head and shoulders.

A handful of large animals have been spotted recently in the Panhandle.

About a month ago, Hamm began getting reports about the large elk, and there have been spottings of two more elk over the past year in Swisher, Briscoe, Floyd and Castro counties.

About a month ago, a dead cinnamon-colored bear was found dead between Amarillo and Conway. Another was found alive near Friona, tranquilized with a dart gun and taken to a suitable habitat west of Texas, Hamm said.

Evidently the farmer caught flack for it and here was a response from a one Doug Johnson (is that you Mudslinger)?

Shooting Of Elk Defended


Re: The front-page article "Tulia farmer bags large elk in field" (A-J, 11-23).

This is in response to several letters from readers who condemned a farmer from Tulia for shooting an elk on his property. Back down! This person was well within his rights and privilege to harvest this animal.

Considering that he contacted the game warden in that area to make sure that no game laws would be violated and the fact that he had the meat processed for his family's consumption and the animal mounted, I am pretty sure that this was not done for the fun of it.

It does cost money for the meat processing and taxidermy work, and meat will keep for extended periods in the freezer if packaged right. Yes, this animal was once a plains game animal, but due to our intrusion into its native habitat, the elk, along with others, had to adapt to the mountains.

I commend this farmer for having the meat processed and the animal mounted. There are people (not hunters!) out there who would have shot this animal, left the meat and just cut the horns off to show their buddies.

I commend the farmer for doing what I would have done if I were in his place. I don't think people should criticize someone if that person has done nothing wrong or illegal, even if you have that right. Congratulations to the farmer in Tulia! I hope he and his family enjoy many wonderful and healthy meals from the meat and he enjoys seeing the mounted animal above his mantel.

A fellow hunter.

DOUG JOHNSON/Lubbock
Via e-mail

[Jethro]

We had one shot here in Collingsworth County last year, no idea where it came from. I have lived here all my life and never seen one, or heard of one here except in high fence. And we don't have very much of that. So who knows?

[W-L-F]

west texas free ranging elk--have about 50 0f them on our lease

[SanAngeloBowman]

There was one taken here last year in San Angelo under a deer feeder and I've talked to some guys that have seen them swimming across the Concho River that got off a high fenced ELK ranch south of town. I'd like to see them flourish for years before people start shooting them though.

[stan]

There has been a small herd of elk roaming the breaks and fields in Dallam and Hartley Counties for years, but a game warden in that area had them declared protected several years ago. I know you were looking for elk to hunt, but always thought it was interesting we had elk in that part of Texas. (This would be the same herd mentioned earlier in the "Channing" area.

[nanny_slammer]

i lived and hunted in west texas...fort stockton and the ranch i was on we had free ranging elk, they would **** me off because they would just tear up the fences like no other and you guys know what happens next, yep i had to fix it, so other than them being pretty cool to watch and eat it is nice to have them on the ranch but they can be destructive.

[AtTheWall]

[flufster]

i heard of a guy putting some in near brady but didnt realize they could swim? guess those are free ranging somewhere if they havent been shot

[donpablo]

Not So

I believe that most of the elk seen on the WMAs out west are shot on site. TPWD considers them an exotic and treats them as such on WMAs.

Not true. They allow hunters who draw out (for mule deer or javelina) to take "one elk" if they have the opportunity. Very few hunters actually do.