Natural Resources Board approves new Wisconsin elk management plan for 2024-34

Elk are the latest wildlife species in Wisconsin to receive a management plan based on "adaptive" principles.

The Natural Resources Board on Aug. 15 approved the 2024-34 Wisconsin Elk Management Plan and associated administrative rule package.

The plan is intended to "guide elk management at a statewide level to ensure a healthy, robust and sustainable elk population that provides ecological, social, economic and cultural benefits while minimizing elk-human conflicts in Wisconsin," according to the Department of Natural Resources.

It follows the state's original elk management plan, approved in 2001, and a 2012 amendment.

The 2024-34 plan is based on adaptive management principles similar to those in the state's black bear and gray wolf plans.

It was produced by the DNR and the Wisconsin Elk Advisory Committee. The committee includes representatives of the DNR, tribes, external agencies, conservation organizations, farmer groups and other private landowners.

The new plan will give more flexibility to state wildlife staff in managing the state's growing elk population.

It renames the two herds as Northern and Central and expands the boundaries of the elk management zones.

It also creates a system of 15 elk hunting zones to help focus hunting pressure and harvest as needed on areas experiencing elk conflicts with agricultural producers or others.

It also establishes one continuous elk hunting season in the state. Previous rules had a closed portion in the middle of the season.

The board unanimously passed the plan and its associated rule package.

Elk were native to Wisconsin but wiped out by unregulated hunting and habitat loss in the 1800s. In 1995 the state embarked on an elk reintroduction with the transfer of 25 animals from Michigan. The elk were released into the Chequamegon-Nicolet State Forest near Clam Lake.

The elk reintroduction project was initially run by UW-Stevens Point researchers and transferred to the DNR in 1999.

To further increase the herd size and its genetic diversity, 141 additional elk were transferred from Kentucky to Wisconsin between 2015-19 . Some of those transfers created the central herd in and around the Black River State Forest in Jackson County.

Growth in both herds over the years pushed Wisconsin's wild elk past a milestone in 2023. After last year's calving season, the DNR estimated the state had 515 elk, a modern-era population record and the first time it exceeded 500.

The 2023 population estimate represented a 10% year-over-year increase. When seen in historical perspective, it was likely the most wild elk roaming Wisconsin since the Civil War period.

The DNR started a limited hunting season for bull elk in 2018 in the northern herd. This year the NRB approved an expansion of the hunt to include the central herd.

Funds raised from the sale of elk hunting applications and licenses are used to support elk management efforts.

Elk in Wisconsin primarily reside in the northern herd in Ashland, Bayfield, Sawyer, Rusk and Price counties and in the central herd in Jackson County.

The DNR intends to continue to maintain GPS tracking collars annually on a portion of both herds annually. It is also in the middle of a study on survival rates and causes of mortality on elk calves in the state.

To view the Elk Management Plan 2024-2034 or learn more about elk in Wisconsin, visit the DNR’s Elk Management webpage .

2024 Wisconsin hook-and-line fishing season

The 2024 Wisconsin hook-and-line fishing season for lake sturgeon will be held Sept. 7 to 30 on certain waters.

All anglers looking to harvest a lake sturgeon must have their general 2024 fishing license and a valid lake sturgeon tag. Licenses and tags may be purchased online through Go Wild or from one of our license vendors . All license requirements and regulations apply .

One one sturgeon with a minimum length measurement of 60 inches may be harvested during the season. Anglers who have harvested a lake sturgeon must validate their tag immediately upon harvesting and before moving it.

All harvested sturgeon must be registered at a designated registration station .

A hook-and-line sturgeon tag is not required if an angler plans to release the sturgeon they catch in the open season. It is illegal to fish for sturgeon by snagging, foul hooking and attempting to hook fish other than in the mouth.

Please leave the tag attached to the fish if you release it.

Wisconsin waters open for the hook-and-line sturgeon season include Yellow Lake in Burnett County and the Chippewa, Flambeau, Menominee and Wisconsin rivers. For complete details refer to the 2024-25 Wisconsin fishing regulations pamphlet.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Natural Resources Board approves new Wisconsin elk management plan for 2024-34