Our boots hadn?t even touched the ground outside of the truck when we lost count of how many bulls we could hear. They were coming from a 360-degree arc around us, and one of them had to be inside 100 yards. It?s tough to pull out your gear in total silence when you?re twitching with adrenaline. My companion Claudis had a better excuse than I did, though. He?d never even seen an elk before the previous evening when we?d spotted a small herd.

As elk from Eastern Kentucky migrated into far Southwest Virginia over the past decade, support for having them in the Virginia coalfields has grown. State officials estimate that from 50-100 elk are now in the Virginia coalfield region, with a couple of small groups staying for years in and around specific areas. A few Virginia […]