By BEN GARRETT
TnHunting.Com Publisher

If you want to know what's going on with Tennessee's elk herd, just find Harvey Hammock.

Hammock volunteers his time for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Steve Bennett, the agency's elk biologist who works out of the Region IV office in Morristown and spends his days monitoring the elk herd, usually isn't easily reached. His time is spent back and forth from his Morristown office in Scott County, Campbell County, Claiborne County, Anderson County and Morgan County — the five counties that make up Tennessee's elk herd's "home range" — roaming over the hills of Royal Blue and Sundquist wildlife management areas.

Hammock, who resides in Pioneer, not far from the elk's core area, took an immediate interest in the animals after they were released in December 2000. He builds his own motion-activated trail cameras to place in areas the elk frequent, and has logged hours stalking to within camera range of the critters. Many's the time when Hammock knows where a particular elk is located or if an elk is sick even before TWRA knows it. It didn't take the agency long to recognize the benefits of having Hammock volunteer his time to the elk program.

When Harvey Hammock starts talking about the elk herd, it's time to listen. He stops by my office on an almost-weekly basis, perhaps less often if there is a hunting season open, to fill me in on the state of the herd.

Throughout the summer months, Hammock monitors cows around Royal Blue to try and determine how many are accompanied by calves. Bennett and personnel from the University of Tennessee carry out similar surveys elsewhere.

In 2005, a total of 37 different calves were surveyed by TWRA personnel and volunteers. While many elk can remain out-of-sight to field staff of the agency, personal sightings can help the agency determine the success of the birthing season.

In 2006, surveyors have so far recorded just 25 different elk sightings, Hammock said. That is down substantially, percentage-wise, from 2005's record number of calves that were sighted. Hammock said that his cameras have captured large groups of cows with only one or two calves en tow, leading him to believe that there were few calves born this spring.

Environmental indications would have pointed towards a better-than-average spring birthing season. Lack of food wasn't an issue last fall or during the winter, and weather conditions favored calf survival during the spring. Hammock said he isn't sure why there were fewer calves born in 2006.

Meanwhile, Hammock said that there are somewhere between 200 and 250 elk roaming the Cumberland Mountains, as best as anyone can guesstimate, and said the important thing for now is making sure that the biggest, healthiest bull elk are able to breed cows this fall and beyond . . . in other words, the state doesn't need an elk hunting season.

Campbell Outdoors Recreation Association (CORA), the group instrumental in persuading TWRA to undertake an elk restoration project, has proposed a hunting season that would allow five tags to be issued. Agency biologists have indicated that they are opposed to the idea, but the wildlife resources commission has not ruled out the possibility of approving a limited elk season for 2007.

Hammock said there are not enough mature bulls to justify removing five of them from the herd.

The fall breeding season is quickly approaching for the elk herd. Hammock said that visitors to Royal Blue and Sundquist can typically begin hearing the bugle of the bull elk in mid-to-late August.

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