In addition to the legal elk seasons in Kentucky, there are now legal elk hunting seasons in Tennessee and Pennsylvania (PA's had some legal elk hunting off & on for over a century).
Besides KY (largest elk population east of the Rocky Mountain states), PA and TN, there are also wild herds in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan (over a century), Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Florida (one small free herd 50+ years in NE FL), South Dakota, North Dakota (I don't think SD ever lost all of their elk - not sure about ND).
Turns out they're in 31 states now with that set to increase as there are currently 2-3 more states studying restoration efforts. There's been a lot of restoration of elk the last 25 years, and also some restored elk populations have crossed state lines and established breeding populations (KY to VA & WV); an individual KY elk in OH; 1 or 2 individual NC elk documented so far in SC).
elk don't live in eastern kentucky. perhaps you mean deer.
Oh really? Well that will come as an enormous surprise to the hundreds of hunters who each harvest an elk every year in eastern Kentucky.
In addition to the legal elk seasons in Kentucky, there are now legal elk hunting seasons in Tennessee and Pennsylvania (PA's had some legal elk hunting off & on for over a century).
Besides KY (largest elk population east of the Rocky Mountain states), PA and TN, there are also wild herds in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan (over a century), Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Florida (one small free herd 50+ years in NE FL), South Dakota, North Dakota (I don't think SD ever lost all of their elk - not sure about ND).
Turns out they're in 31 states now with that set to increase as there are currently 2-3 more states studying restoration efforts. There's been a lot of restoration of elk the last 25 years, and also some restored elk populations have crossed state lines and established breeding populations (KY to VA & WV); an individual KY elk in OH; 1 or 2 individual NC elk documented so far in SC).