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41 °F 5 Day Forecast Thursday, December 4, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 2, 2003 From Tom Sorensen�s deck, he can watch the elk herd move through the areas around Foothill and Vilas roads. Sorensen and his neighbors welcome the elk and are upset that hunting is allowed in the area. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Urban ‘Foothill’ elk: Fair game? By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune On most evenings this fall, when Bonnie McElrath and her 8-year-old daughter, Kylie, fed their horses boarded in a Coker Butte pasture, they were visited by 50 of the biggest and most majestic creatures Oregon’s woods have to offer. McElrath’s horses shared the pasture with a herd of Roosevelt elk that has graced rural ranches and pear orchards along Medford city limits for the past 20 years. Protected and coddled by landowners between Highway 62 and Foothill Road, the normally wary elk paid little mind to the McElraths as they sat spellbound, soaking in the elk’s grunts and smells, something most Oregonians never experience. Advertisement "We’d sit there and it was just incredible how the elk would mill round us, and there’s no way I’d do anything to bother them," McElrath says. "There’s an unwritten rule among everyone here that you leave that herd alone." But there are no written rules that the herd is off-limits to sport hunting. And when two of the elk, including a large six-point bull that was their leader, were shot legally by two hunters during the recent elk season, the incident incensed people such as McElrath who view those elk more like neighbors than wild animals. "That herd, basically, belongs to everyone in this valley," McElrath says. "I think it’s disgusting. I can’t even tell my daughter what happened. It would devastate her." As cities continue to creep toward Oregon’s wildlands, big-game hunting within the shadows of urban areas is becoming a hot issue along both ends of Interstate 5. Shooting guns within city limits is illegal in Oregon, but cases like Medford’s elk and a similar incident involving a black-tailed deer near Portland have created a call for extending the no-hunting zones out to cities’ urban growth boundaries. Even elk hunters like Bruce Killen, a Medford wildlife sculptor who is something of a godfather to the so-called "Foothill herd," want these urban elk protected from hunting before all the bulls — the lifeblood of the herd — are gone. "Here you have one of nature’s greatest animals living among us with respect from the ranchers and the hunters," Killen says. "Then you shoot all the bulls, somebody has some elk meat in their freezer and the rest of the community has nothing. "I’m no Bambi-lover, I’m an elk hunter," he says. "But hunting these elk just isn’t right." The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, which sets hunting and animal policies for Oregon, will discuss the issue at its Friday meeting in Salem. There are no current plans to alter city-side hunting borders, but the commissioners will discuss the incidents and perhaps decide to continue a dialogue or study potential options for change. Chairman John Esler of Portland is skeptical that commissioners would want the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to micro-manage big-game herds with biology taking a back-seat to passions. "As a rule of thumb, we set borders based on impact to the species, not based on a couple of animals some people want to see," Esler says. "Are we going to list the ‘1,001 Places in Oregon Where People Prefer You Don’t Hunt?’" If the ODFW did, then the Foothill elk could top the list. The herd began when a small group of elk wandered away from a Dead Indian Plateau herd and set up residence among the oak savannas, pear orchards and small ranches along Medford’s northeast border. Elk often migrate to and from deep forests in the High Cascades. In recent years, herds of elk have taken to the agricultural areas fringing the valley, often causing damage to orchards and triggering some targeted hunting on them to reduce loss, says ODFW biologist Mark Vargas. The Foothill herd found comfort in their new niche, feeding on rich commercial pear crops and taking refuge among the accommodating landowners who follow their regular meandering from the flat lands around Highway 62 to the peaks east of Foothill Road. "There are a lot of little sanctuaries, refuges for them scattered all over the area," Vargas says. One of those is the ranch of Tom Sorensen, who turns hunters away and welcomes the elk. They feed and lounge in his pasture, occasionally bedding down at night in a savanna just outside his home. "They wander up and down my driveway, they drink out of my trough," Sorensen says. "I like having them here. I’d hate to see them go." But those views are not universal. On the afternoon of Oct. 20, a landowner and her friend shot two bull elk as they crossed her property along Vilas Road just near the Butler Kia car lot. The elk were shot during the general bull-elk season — the vast majority of hunting is done in the Cascades above Prospect and Butte Falls. Oregon State Police Trooper Jeff Allison investigated and found that the hunters had legal licenses and tags, and that the shots were not deemed unsafe to others. "They were in their field shooting west toward a hillside," Allison says. "It was kind of sad. They’re like the neighborhood pets." Word of the incident spread quickly, enraging area residents like boatbuilder Willie Illingworth. "I drive by them on Foothill going to work every day, and I tell you those elk are half-domesticated," Illingworth says. "I elk hunt, but in vast areas in Eastern Oregon, not in a backyard. "I call it the Foothill Massacre," he says. Reached by telephone for response to the complaints, John Stanfield, an Eagle Point man who shot one of the elk, said: "I don’t care." Word of the dead elk saddens resident Dee Coffman, who welcomes the herd in her pasture. "I’m going to protect them on my land as best I can," Coffman says. "But I can’t help them if they jump these fences." The general elk season for the area ended Oct. 24, but the elk will be open to hunting in four separate antlerless-elk seasons stretched into March. Also, special tags could be issued to landowners suffering crop or fence damage. Killen fears the pressures placed on these elk may mean they’re better off elsewhere. The herd, which once numbered 150 animals, appears to be down to around 50, almost all females, he says. "I’ve been tracking these elk since they’ve gotten here," Killen says. "We’ve built enough and pushed on these elk enough and shot at them enough that they’re running out of places to go. "They could be done for." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Roosevelt elk named after 26th president Roosevelt elk ( Cervus elaphus roosevelti ) were called Wapiti, or white rump, by American Indians when Lewis and Clark reached the end of the Oregon Trail. The elk, which roamed the thick rainforests of western Oregon and Washington, were a major food and hide source for the expedition during the winter of 1805. It was not until 1897 that these elk, which are the largest of North America’s big-game animals, were named after President Teddy Roosevelt in honor of his conservation efforts in the West. The Roosevelt elk have grayish-brown bodies with a chestnut mane and round vanilla rumps and can be difficult to distinguish from Rocky Mountain elk, which roam eastern Oregon. The Roosevelt bull elk’s large antlers are shorter but thicker than those of the Rocky Mountain elk. The animals tend to band into herds led by a large mature bull, which collects its own harem of cows for mating in late summer. Mature males can stand 5 feet tall and weigh up to 1,000 pounds. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates Jackson County’s elk population at about 5,000 animals. —Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times