DeKalb Teen Harvests Elk During Young Sportsman Hunt

A DeKalb County teen harvested an Elk during the 2015 Young Sportsman Hunt October 24-25 at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area.
Jacob Parker, the 15 year old son of Billy and Sabrina Parker, harvested an elk that field dressed at 547 pounds. The elk had five points on one side and six points on the other.
Parker was the only teen in the state selected for the youth hunt. Four other Tennessee residents were selected in a TWRA computer drawing for the adult elk hunt including Trevor Childs (Knoxville), Roy Bivens (Tellico Plains), Andrew Coffey (Crossville), and Forest Landers (Afton). A North Carolina hunter also participated.
This marks the seventh year for the managed elk hunt in Tennessee. It is the fourth year for the Young Sportsman Elk Hunt.
The five persons who took part in the Tennessee Elk Hunt and the youth participant were announced during the August meeting of the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission held in Morristown.
The elk hunt for the five adults was held October 19-23 at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. A total of 9,285 persons applied for this year’s hunt.
The fifth permit was donated to a Non-Governmental Organization which was the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation. The permit was auctioned on eBay. Nicholas Nelson, from Fayetteville, N.C., had the high bid of $11,101, an increase from the 2014 successful bid of $9,788. Fund-raising proceeds raised from the bid are designated for the TWRA Elk Program.
Last year, four of the five participants in the regular hunt had harvests. There have been a total of 27 elk harvested since the annual hunt began in 2009. Tennessee residents have harvested all but one elk.