Five Area Sportsmen Drawn For Elk Tags

Five area residents have been picked to receive elk-hunting licenses.

At Saturday's Elk Expo in Kersey, the Pa. Game Commission (PGC) drew the names of 40 applicants who will get licenses for Nov. 6-11 hunt, and 10 more who will be able to hunt Sept. 17-22, 2007.

Paul Fallecker Sr. of Mason Hill Road is one of three applicants selected for a cow tag in the upcoming November hunt.

Fallacker, 79, has been an active volunteer in the Sinnemahoning Sportsmen's Assn. for many years. He'll have the option of hunting in any of four elk management areas, one of which surrounds his home near Driftwood.

Bradley Harvey of Ridgway and George Davis of Port Allegany will also be licensed to hunt for a cow in November. Wade N. Coder Jr. of Ridgway will have the chance to hunt for a bull.

Charles Krug, St. Marys, will be licensed to hunt for a cow in the September 2007 hunt.

Almost 19,000 people applied for elk-hunting licenses this year. The names in the lottery at Kersey actually numbered 52,087, since applications remain in the drawing for three years.

Meanwhile, a special hunt held Sept. 18-23 to reduce the population in an area where farmers were losing crops to the animals produced just two elk, both anterless. Ten licensed hunters went afield.

PGC Regional Director Dennis Dusza said the hunt was a wild card, since the agency set the dates and license allotment far in advance.

"We knew this would be a tough hunt because of a number of factors, including the timing of the rut, food conditions and, most of all, the availability, location and movement of the elk," Dusza said. "Most of the hunters heard bugling, which is an obvious indication elk were in the area. Getting an elk close enough is not easy."

The odds of success are higher in the November hunt. Last year, all but five of the 40 licensed hunters killed an elk.