On October 19, 2009, Tennessee’s first elk hunt in 150 years, a five-day affair in the North Cumberland WMA 40 miles northwest of Knoxville, will signal the successful culmination of a 10-year restoration project in East Tennessee.

“We started looking at this back in the early 1990s and then in 1996 we visited all the states in the East that had elk herd to see what their programs were like,” Greg Wathen, chief of wildlife for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, told the Tennessean newspaper. “We basically came to the conclusion that Tennessee could support elk.”

Only five permits were issued for the initial hunt. Four were awarded through a public quota random computer drawing and one would go to a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization, so that it could be raffled off or sold at auction.

“This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some very lucky hunters,” said Wathen, who estimated that about 15,000 hunters would apply for the drawing.

A $10 non-refundable application fee was required to enter the drawing. Tennessee residents would be required to purchase a $27 elk permit. The permit for out-of-state residents is $300.

The last documentation of an elk being shot in The Volunteer State was in 1865 in Obion County.