Wisconsin wildlife officials are launching the state's first elk hunt.
The Department of Natural Resources announced on its website Tuesday that hunters will be allowed to kill 10 bull elk across Sawyer, Bayfield, Ashland and Price counties from mid-October to mid-November and over eight days in mid-December.
Four tags will go to Wisconsin residents through a DNR drawing. One tag will be awarded to a Wisconsin resident through a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation raffle. The rest will go to Wisconsin's six Chippewa tribes. Applications will become available May 1.
The DNR has been importing Kentucky elk for the last three years to bolster a northern Wisconsin herd and establish a second herd in Jackson County. The agency expects the northern herd to grow to more than 200 elk this year.