Elk Are Bugling At Rocky Mountain National Park

[Mark]

I haven't given this a moments thought until now...

I'm on the fence on this one. I definitely see KC's point and I wonder what the point is. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the idea is to get the elk herd established in Peck Ranch and the herd will always be limited to Peck Ranch. The size of the herd will always be limited somewhere in the 200-300 elk range. When the size of the herd starts to grow beyond the size limits, the hope is that a hunting season will be established to thin the herd. SO realistically, what are we talking about - maybe in a good season, 25 to 50 lucky hunters will get their names picked in a lottery to kill an elk. Sounds like a lot of trouble and expense to go to just so a handful of hunters can kill an elk in MO and the rest of us can say "Oh yeah, we have elk in Missouri".

I wonder now what is the total cost of this project to satisfy a miniscule percentage of hunters? And couldn't that money be put to better use? Just saying ...... but since I don't hunt, I'm sure the majority of hunters have a different opinion.

[Tim Smith]

I haven't given this a moments thought until now...

I'm on the fence on this one. I definitely see KC's point and I wonder what the point is. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the idea is to get the elk herd established in Peck Ranch and the herd will always be limited to Peck Ranch. The size of the herd will always be limited somewhere in the 200-300 elk range. When the size of the herd starts to grow beyond the size limits, the hope is that a hunting season will be established to thin the herd. SO realistically, what are we talking about - maybe in a good season, 25 to 50 lucky hunters will get their names picked in a lottery to kill an elk. Sounds like a lot of trouble and expense to go to just so a handful of hunters can kill an elk in MO and the rest of us can say "Oh yeah, we have elk in Missouri".

I wonder now what is the total cost of this project to satisfy a miniscule percentage of hunters? And couldn't that money be put to better use? Just saying ...... but since I don't hunt, I'm sure the majority of hunters have a different opinion.

I think that balance sheet approach is probably worthwhile, but it does have limitations. It's hard to know what to include and what to exclude when it comes to profit.

With the current herd, the most profit possible from tags is probably well less than 20K. You can throw in revenue towards hotel stays and gas and food and entertainment, but that's not going to be huge. If you get 50K out of that crowd every year I'd be surprised.

But. You're also developing a local strain of elk. You're learning about the ability of elk to survive in the state.

Potentially, that translates to another ranch in the future. And then perhaps another.

Each of those has some income potential of their own.

You can set up observatories for the harems and bulls that could generate tourism as well. RMNP was hopping this weekend and most of the people there were there for the elk.

And what is it worth to be able to say "We have elk in Missouri"? Does that elevate the tourism potential for canoe liveries and camp grounds around the ranches? How much more attractive is a state that has more of it's historical biota intact? I can tell you I'd rather camp where there are elk and bear and mountain lions than were there aren't. I think there are quite a few people who agree with that.

It may all be too artificial and canned to be of any value, I can see that's possible. But I wonder too if there isn't a positive and profitable future possible.

It's an open question to me.

[jdmidwest]

We have mountain lions in MO also, but I doubt there will ever be a season on them.

[KCRIVERRAT]

I haven't given this a moments thought until now...

I'm on the fence on this one. I definitely see KC's point and I wonder what the point is. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the idea is to get the elk herd established in Peck Ranch and the herd will always be limited to Peck Ranch. The size of the herd will always be limited somewhere in the 200-300 elk range. When the size of the herd starts to grow beyond the size limits, the hope is that a hunting season will be established to thin the herd. SO realistically, what are we talking about - maybe in a good season, 25 to 50 lucky hunters will get their names picked in a lottery to kill an elk. Sounds like a lot of trouble and expense to go to just so a handful of hunters can kill an elk in MO and the rest of us can say "Oh yeah, we have elk in Missouri".

I wonder now what is the total cost of this project to satisfy a miniscule percentage of hunters? And couldn't that money be put to better use? Just saying ...... but since I don't hunt, I'm sure the majority of hunters have a different opinion.

I really wasn't making much of a point there Mark. Just was razzing Jerry. Poor guy... hope he knows what a 401k is and what to do with it.