Has anyone successfully hunted Elk in Ontario?

[Northern Shooter]

As someone who has always wanted to hunt Elk out West I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is an Elk Season in Eastern Ontario around the Bancroft area.

It looks like you can party hunt in groups of 4 but the odds of landing a tag aren't great. Apparently there were only 22 tags in 2022 for the 2000+ applicants.

Has anyone here successfully (or unsuccessfully) hunted Ontario elk? What is the area like? is it mostly private land? crown land?

How did your hunt go?

 

[Phil Giordano]

It would be enteresting to know what subspecies of Elk they are

 

[WAB]

It would be enteresting to know what subspecies of Elk they are

Good point. I believe that they were reintroduced from the Canadian west. As far as I am aware, there were no elk east of the Mississippi when the reintroductions started in the US and Canada.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Plain old Rocky Mtn Elk arrived by truck.

"A total of 443 elk were released at four sites across Ontario between 1998 and 2001. This added to an existing population of two herds residing near the Nipissing and French River area – remnants of a past restoration project. In 2002, further transport of elk from Alberta was stopped..."

https://www.ontario.ca/page/elk-management-plan

A very surprising result when you release a herd of Elk. ​

2.6 Human-elk conflict​

Conflicts between humans and elk have occurred in all areas where elk were released and include fence damage, motor vehicle collisions, depredation of agricultural crops and forest products, and conflicts with captive cervid farming operations.

@Northern Shooter find the first landowner that has replaced his fence ten times and had to chase his cattle down or the first landowner that had their crop or haystacks destroyed. You will get permission to hunt.

 

[dobber]

Lots of private land up there in Bancroft area, used to moose hunt in Maynooth and deer hunt in Barrys Bay (even lived in Maynooth for a short spell)
The elk move and can be found miles away from Bancroft, rolling hills, lots of bush and farms thrown in the mix.
Lots of homework finding a spot to hunt if you do get a tag, and am sure there would be "trespass fee's" for landowners letting you on the property.
Some crown land available, but the elk need to be there if you plan on hunting them, did find an elk shed (mainly chewed up) on a bit of a hike around Lake St Peter

 

[Northern Shooter]

Lots of private land up there in Bancroft area, used to moose hunt in Maynooth and deer hunt in Barrys Bay (even lived in Maynooth for a short spell)
The elk move and can be found miles away from Bancroft, rolling hills, lots of bush and farms thrown in the mix.
Lots of homework finding a spot to hunt if you do get a tag, and am sure there would be "trespass fee's" for landowners letting you on the property.
Some crown land available, but the elk need to be there if you plan on hunting them, did find an elk shed (mainly chewed up) on a bit of a hike around Lake St Peter

I've cottaged up just north of Barry's Bay for over a decade and never heard anyone in the area mention seeing or hearing an elk. That's why I was fairly surprised to learn the herd is in that area.

 

[dobber]

That's why I was fairly surprised to learn the herd is in that area.

Yeah, they move all the way from Maynooth down towards Kinmount, know someone that's seen them around Crystal lake

 

[Phil Giordano]

Good point. I believe that they were reintroduced from the Canadian west. As far as I am aware, there were no elk east of the Mississippi when the reintroductions started in the US and Canada.

This is so interesting to me, as I started my career as a hunter, going after Elk in Montana. I've always been fascinating in this majestic deer, a true symbol of the West. As I remember, the east was indeed home of the Eastern Elk, the biggest subspecies of them all, even bigger than the Roosevelt...it should have been a truly fascinating animal.
So happy to know that many Elk (despite they are not the native ones) now roam again across the East.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Sounds like the Elk are trying to find their way back to Alberta.

 

[Hunter4752001]

You mean that even the elk are fleeing Trudeauism

 

[dobber]

Sounds like the Elk are trying to find their way back to Alberta.

There's a decent herd of elk in North Western Ontario as well by a small town of Emo, only a couple of hours from the Manitoba border

 

[Northern Shooter]

There's a decent herd of elk in North Western Ontario as well by a small town of Emo, only a couple of hours from the Manitoba border

From what I understand there are 4 herds in the province, but the one in Eastern ON is the only one that has a season for them.

 

[WAB]

From what I understand there are 4 herds in the province, but the one in Eastern ON is the only one that has a season for them.

With the broken up nature of private land ownership and the range of elk, how in the world can you hunt them there?

 

[dobber]

how in the world can you hunt them there?

Not as bad as hunting the Michigan herd, but likely going that way, outfitters/guides grabbing all the private land and then "offering" their services

 

[WAB]

Yeah, I think I’ll pass.

 

[C.W. Richter]

There are some HUGE B&C (re-established Rocky Mtn) elk in PA (NC, KY), mainly on public land. The draw odds are similar (it used to be 100ish animals/yr, but now it's been reduced significantly. ) 'Not too far of a drive, as I used to have a (hunting & fishing!) GF up in the GTA and we'd ride up to Owen Sound, etc. My ancestors used to hunt the E. Elk (and mtn lion) on our old farms in PA. They wrote some journals about their methods (of meat collection)...sitting in birch bark canoes with a long pine shingle lit at the front of the boat as the "spotlight." They'd paddle and float around the perimeter of the lake, ponds and river along farmland and would bag meat that way after working all day on the farms, at sawmills, and rafting goods down the river. It was commercial hunting/trapping that really put a hurting on animals in the East. I have one of the mtn lion hides collected at the farm by my g. grandfather's family in the 1800s. I've spent some time searching museums, etc. for E. Elk, but always come up nuts, but there are paintings of 'em here and there...this is a 200 y/o E. Elk skull I believe a fisherman hooked into in MI?

 

[Foxi]

I would watch out.
In Europe, there are sometimes strong deer where there never were any.
But hotels that promise a nice stay and a well camouflaged fence

 

[dobber]

think I might start to review options in Alberta, have a friend who will hook me up, now to figure out the tag system and get my WIN card

 

[C.W. Richter]

I would watch out.
In Europe, there are sometimes strong deer where there never were any.
But hotels that promise a nice stay and a well camouflaged fence

View attachment 525793

terrible manners, i know, but people between the E. and W. coast of america would shoot at that when it passed by! lol