Elk Hunt Opportunity?
The Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota is
looking for a few volunteers to help with elk herd reduction efforts.
In fact, they're looking for up to 20 volunteers per week for twelve weeks
starting November 1 and running through January 21, 2011.
The goal is to cull up to 250 cow elk from the approximately 950 animals
that
make the south unit area of the park their home. Volunteers may
receive meat from up to one elk, depending on their particular week's
harvest success rate.
And the opportunity is one that might seem almost too-good to be true. NO
hunting license or tags will be required, and no fee for participation.
Apply, get selected, get there (on your own dime) and you're elk
hunting.
Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor says there's been "strong interest in
volunteering for the program for some time" adding that the process has
been automated and streamlined as much as possible to speed the process and
"make the selection of volunteers as fair as possible."
So streamlined and automated is the process that only online applications
are being accepted. Instructions, forms, and FAQs can be found on the parks
website at:
http://www.nps.gov/thro/naturescien...gement.htm
If
you've never done much rough-country hunting, don't expect the park
service to train you to hunt elk. Requirements include the ability to
demonstrate a "high-level of shooting proficiency using lead-free
ammunition" and be able to stay for the entire five day volunteer period.
No shoot-and-scoot here.
If you're selected, you will also be expected to help with field dressing,
collection of biological samples and certified fit enough to perform all of
the duties required.
You also have to be able to legally possess a firearm- and willing to sign
a formal volunteer agreement when you arrive there.
Volunteers will also include those who are not shooters, but packers. They
will collect the meat and transport it via pack horses/mules to a
cold-storage facility located inside the park. Depending on the particular
week's harvest success rate, volunteers may receive meat from up to one
elk.
If you have three friends and want to try and go
as a group, that's OK as
well. Up to four people can volunteer together. It might be the hunting
opportunity of a lifetime if your group did get chosen.
The selection process is pretty simple: complete an online application and
submit it.
When it goes into the database, it's assigned a unique identification
number. At the close of the application period (August 9, 2010) a random
selection process will choose the applicants. You should have notification
of your selection "2 to 4 weeks after the close of the application
period."
There are a couple of
downsides to the deal.
You have to get to North Dakota on your own, and you should be prepared
and equipped to hunt in North Dakota in December or January. The average
temperature
then is eighteen degrees. Remember, average means it might be
warmer - or colder.
The closest town - Medora (pop.100) has 1 hotel and 2 motels. Twenty
additional visitors might have an impact on the availability of
accommodations, so anyone selected might want to either get a reservation
made - fast- or consider alternative accommodations.
Questions about the program - or opportunities for paid elk-packer
positions should be directed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park Chief of
Resource Management Bill Whitworth at (701) 623-4466.