Half a Decade of Hunting Virginia’s Restored Elk Herd
By Jackie Rosenberger/DWR
Elk Camp in Buchanan County is the most exciting event in Virginia’s elk program. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) staff, volunteers, and landowners look forward to it each year, and the fifth annual elk hunt did not disappoint.
I am fortunate to have a job that enables me to be a part of such an amazing experience. Some of the volunteers and landowners save up their annual vacation for the elk hunt each year. It is difficult to articulate what the elk hunt means to those who have never attended it. But what I hope to help folks understand is that it is so much more than the harvesting of bull elk. It is a time when Appalachian hospitality is at its finest and the dwindling check station and hunting camp culture is revived for a few days in one small coal mining town.
After the hunt is over each year, many hunters express to me that the experience exceeded their expectations. They are usually referring to the camaraderie, fellowship, and selfless efforts of the locals in helping them to experience the hunt of a lifetime. Not even the rain and wind caused by Hurricane Isaias on the first weekend of the hunt this year was a match for the dedication of our volunteers (and hunters!).
Elk Camp and the hunt went on as planned. Volunteers from Southwest Virginia Sportsmen provided a ton of food every day. They kept the campfire burning. The volunteer guides put in time and effort before, during, and after the hunt—not only to provide a successful hunt experience for the hunters, but also a personal one. And an army of volunteers stood ready to help each and every hunter retrieve their bull and transport it back to the check station.
Volunteers gathered around a hunter to help load and transport his bull back to the check station.
Five Virginia residents (from Timberville, Vinton, Salem, Grundy, and Nokesville) and one Maryland resident (Easton) all left with harvested bulls, amazing memories, and new friendships. We all enjoyed getting to know the new hunters and those they brought with them. All of them hunted with the local, volunteer guides. And thanks to private landowners, once again, more than 17,000 acres were available for elk hunting.
Bulls ranged in live weights from 609 to 800 pounds and included one 7×6, three 6x6s, one 6×5, and one 5×5. The 6×5 scored the highest, with an unofficial Boone & Crockett typical gross score of 370 6/8 inches and unofficial Boone & Crockett typical final score of 348 7/8 inches. All of the bulls were a minimum of 3.5 years old based on tooth replacement; further determination of age will be via cementum annuli in the coming months. Information on weights, scores, ages, etc. for all harvested bulls in the Elk Management Zone is available on the DWR website.
The 2026 elk hunt marked a first since the Virginia Elk Management Zone hunt started—a hunter harvested a bull with a long bow. (Any weapon legal for deer hunting can be used with the exception of air rifles and sling bows.) He is only the third hunter overall to attempt to harvest an elk with archery equipment and is the first to be successful. What an accomplishment!
The first hunter to harvest an elk in Virginia’s Elk Management Zone with archery equipment used a long bow. He is pictured center here with his two volunteer guides on the left and right.
The hunter from Nokesville won the 2026 Elk Conservation License Program raffle conducted by Southwest Virginia Sportsmen. Net proceeds totaled slightly more than $89,000, which will be used for critical work for the elk program, such as habitat and infrastructure work related to recreational access. We are grateful to be able to offer this program to help fund important work that helps sustain the elk population and recreation, including the hunt itself.
To sum up the Virginia elk hunt experience, the following is a quote from one of our hunters: “There are some world class bulls in that herd, and we saw a few of them, but there are world class people who also make the event so special. That is the part my family keeps talking about, the people. From DWR, the landowners, and all the volunteers, getting to visit with the people is what will bring us back next fall. The elk is the icing on the cake.”
The highest scoring bull of the 2026 hunt was a 6×5 that had an unofficial Boone & Crockett typical gross score of 370 6/8 inches and unofficial Boone & Crockett typical final score of 348 7/8 inches. The hunter is pictured here with his family and two volunteer guides.
I’d like to personally thank Southwest Virginia Sportsmen, Breaks Interstate Park, and DWR staff for an amazing 2026 Elk Camp experience. Eight hunters from past elk hunts returned to this year’s Elk Camp with their families to visit with everyone and help the new hunters. The Virginia Elk Camp keeps growing, and we all can’t wait for the next hunt in 2027.
If you want to throw your hat in the ring for the sixth annual elk hunt, which will take place October 9-15, 2027, keep an eye out for the opening of the elk hunt lottery application period in February 2027. The winners don’t just win a license to hunt elk—they win an entire experience you can’t find anywhere else.
Jackie Rosenberger is DWR’s Elk Project Leader.
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