Take a cow in the fall and remove in the first year 2-3 animals by harvesting one.  And by removing that first cow that 2-3 could as much as double with no additional harvest the next year and so on over the next years as that one cows offspring will not reproduce either.
Take one bull and you have only ever removed on animal from the heard!

Agree. Hunts in parks for number control reasons, should be limited to cows, as that is the only way to reduce numbers. Suffield was only cow elk draws.

Well I guess no more than any other moose in the wild is wolf bait Dave..

Not really sure if you are taking a jab at me, but what ever.....

The fact that wolves eat moose (and I'm pretty sure we all understand that, but thanks for pointing it out anyway) was only a very small part of my point.  The bottom line is, it doesn't matter whether you transplant them, or go in and cull them, either way the moose are dead.  Why spend a pile of money just to feed the wolves?  And never mind the wolves, chances are the natives would be picking them off one by one as they jump out of the stock trailer.

Not really sure if you are taking a jab at me, but what ever.....

The fact that wolves eat moose (and I'm pretty sure we all understand that, but thanks for pointing it out anyway) was only a very small part of my point.  The bottom line is, it doesn't matter whether you transplant them, or go in and cull them, either way the moose are dead.  Why spend a pile of money just to feed the wolves?  And never mind the wolves, chances are the natives would be picking them off one by one as they jump out of the stock trailer.

No jab intended at all,, just making conversation..

This isn't the zoo,, no need to be so edgy lol..

Too much game in EINP.  Nothing a good pair of wire cutters wouldn't fix.     A couple of well placed holes in that page wire fence for a couple of weeks, problem fixed.  Better hunting in 248 and 252 next year.

On a serious note, there was some concern a while back about moose in the park being infected with a certain parasite.  Giant Liver Flukes.  There was a request out from SRD to take livers from moose harvested in the area to the lab for testing.  I hope this wouldn't be a problem if transplanting animals was to take place, spreading the paracite to non-infected herds.

http://srd.alberta.ca/fishwildlife/WildlifeDiseases/documents/Giant_liver.pdf

Good catch, Darcy.  I didn't get time to completely read it.

Why transplant the elk? Wolves and natives like them just as well!! Why waste that money!

No need to be a smart-ass.  There, I'm done being edgy.

Aren't transplants normally done with the intent of strengthening a weak population where needed, or reestablishing nonexistent population where one once existed?  I've never heard of a transplant program where the sole intent was to lower the population in an area where it was high.  Now before anyone goes off half cocked and says "Well of course they take them from areas where the population is high" remember, I said "intent".  I just think there's better, and cheaper, methods than transplanting if the sole intent of a program is to lower numbers in an overpopulated area.

National parks were made to keep the landscape and wildlife as natural as possible. Let mother nature take her course.

That's always an option except the problems associated with over population will generally over spill to surrounding herds, there is always that risk.. If these animals are in a cage they should be treated as such, in a fence controlled herds. Nothing more than easy meat,, throw the romance out of it. Clean a few out of there,, problem over.

Elk Island park is too small to operate as a natural "closed system".  There is not a population of large carnivores to control the large ungulate population.  Letting "nature take its course" there would not be natural at all and would not be beneficial to the park.

First the ungulate overpopulation will have a big impact on the vegetation in the park and change it in a big way.  Then there would be a big die off of elk, moose and probably deer as well, from disease and malnutrition.  This would go against the "mission" of a national park.
Having a healthy habitat and a healthy wildlife population is part of the idea of a national park.  Controlling the elk population has been going on for some time with warden shooting and trapping and relocating.  In the past wardens have shot moose.  As far as I know they have not done any capture/relocation of moose there.  Not sure why but I would think it would be expensive and difficult compared to elk projects.

We have some controlled hunting allowed in some wildlife sanctuaries and provincial parks.  I don't see why we could not overcome the hurtles and have a limited hunt in Elk Island.


If it isn't broke don't fix it.  If it is broke then fix it.

Jasper National Park has been doing culls for years  the Wardens doing it to transplants.. they have a Risk Accessment Plan .. and when the numbers get to high they move them one way or another .. last fall i watch the Warden herd a bull with cows off the town streets and if a bull get to aggressive he will lose his antlers

In The USA at Rocky Mountain National Park here is what they are doing and the cost to the ecoligy from the damage of over population of a few spieces

enjoy
David
Posted: 12/11/2007 11:28:26 AM MST
Updated: 12/11/2007 05:05:11 PM MST
By Steve Lipsher
The Denver Post

The cow elk at left wears a radio collar in 2002 as part of a birth-control study of the growing elk population at Rocky Mountain National Park. (Post / John Epperson)
 Sharpshooters using silencers will kill as many 200 elk a year in Rocky Mountain National Park as part of a new population-management program unveiled today.
 The lethal reductions, along with fencing and "aversive techniques" such as moving herds with dogs and blank ammunition, are part of a $6 million, 20-year plan to bring down the unnaturally high number of elk in the park and restore native plants.
 
"In the absence of the natural predators here, we have to replicate what they would do for us," said Superintendent Vaughn Baker. "We are mandated to maintain natural process here in Rocky, and under current conditions, we're not doing that. And we need to step in, I guess, and help make that happen."
 
Hunting was never allowed




Elk Plan
 •Discuss the plan to cull the Rocky Mountain N ational Park elk herd via sharpshooters with silencers and other methods.
in the park, which was established in 1915. In 1929, Congress prohibited hunting within the park boundary. Culling, by agency staff, took place in the park from 1945 to 1968.
 The highly visible elk population, estimated to reach more than 3,100 animals at times, is one of the park's main attractions for tourists, but the herds tend to remain in winter range throughout the year and take a heavy toll on the native willows and forbs.
 
The final plan, four years in the works, is intended to level the population at 1,600 to 2,100 animals, said biologist Therese Johnson, and culling typically will be performed early in the morning in the winter.
 
"One of our goals in the plan is to maintain the 'viewability' of the elk," she said. "We expect there will be some behavior changes in the elk, but we still expect high numbers."
 
Hunters sanctioned by the National Park Service will perform the culling, and the meat will be distributed to Indian tribes and nonprofit organizations after it has been tested for chronic-wasting disease.



Read more: Elk to be shot in RMNP - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_7692285#ixzz2LTO5AHgE
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