{"id":220533,"date":"2025-10-21T16:45:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/?p=220533"},"modified":"2025-10-27T13:59:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T17:59:50","slug":"in-central-appalachia-fields-once-cleared-for-coal-mining-now-host-herds-of-elk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/in-central-appalachia-fields-once-cleared-for-coal-mining-now-host-herds-of-elk","title":{"rendered":"In Central Appalachia, Fields Once Cleared for Coal Mining Now Host Herds of Elk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThere is nothing quite like hearing the eerie, wild sound of elk bugling at sunrise in the mountains of Virginia,\u201d says Brad Kreps, director of the Nature Conservancy\u2019s Clinch Valley Program<\/a> in the southwestern corner of the state. It’s a sound that had long disappeared from Appalachia, but thanks to decades of conservation work across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, it\u2019s back\u2014and opportunities to see elk abound. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Historically, a subspecies of elk known as eastern elk roamed all over the eastern United States, from southern Canada down to Georgia and from the Carolinas across to the Mississippi River. But early settlers hunted them so aggressively\u2014and developed their habitat so extensively\u2014that by the mid 1850s, their population was decimated. In 1880 the government declared the herbivores extinct across their range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be more than a century before they returned. In 1997, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources launched a reintroduction effort, capturing elk from six western states with the intent to release them over the next five years. In total, 1,541 animals arrived, kicking off one of the most successful conservation stories in the country and catalyzing other Southern states to follow. Today, some 13,000 elk live across sixteen counties in Kentucky. Around 250 and 450 call Virginia and Tennessee home, respectively, and West Virginia, the most recent state to join the effort, harbors around 130.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: courtesy of the nature conservancy<\/div>
A group of elk in the Appalachian Highlands.<\/div><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That this part of the country was once central to the natural gas and coal industries has been a boon for the introduction of elk. \u201cHistorically these coalfield counties were mostly forested mountains, but because of the last century of coal mining, some of those forested mountain areas were transformed into flatter grasslands,\u201d Kreps explains. \u201cIt’s created this new habitat where the elk are thriving.\u201d Through its Cumberland Forest Project<\/a>, the Nature Conservancy has protected 253,000 acres across Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, giving the elk, and many other species, space to roam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as the coal and gas industries have declined, a rising trend of elk tourism\u2014buoyed by local conservation teams\u2014has helped revive communities in the region. \u201cWe often refer to ourselves as the Elk Army,\u201d says Thomas Hampton, land and resources manager for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). He’s joined by Leon Boyd, a Buchanan County landowner who originally petitioned for the return of elk to Virginia, and Jackie Rosenberger, the DWR elk project leader who monitors and studies the herd. Issuing six coveted hunting tags a year brings in financial support, too; this year alone, nearly 20,000 people paid to enter the lottery. <\/p>

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During the fall comes the rut, or mating season, and the best time for viewing. As a harem species, where a dominant male defends a group of females against other males and secures reproductive rights, the fall sees bulls particularly active, bugling and clashing as they jostle for females. \u201cWhen you visit, you really feel how excited and proud the local community is about their elk,\u201d Kreps says. \u201cAnd in the fall, to see the elk so active is spectacular.\u201d Below, find five places across Central Appalachia to view the animals. And if a trip isn’t in the cards, try to spot them on Virginia\u2019s elk cam<\/a>. 

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Breaks Interstate Park<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kentucky and Virginia border<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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