Bison Roundup
Looking ahead on our schedule of photo assignments, this looked interested and I requested it a week in advance. It turned out to be a case of expectations being higher than what would actually turn out to be impossible. I saw “bison roundup at the Tallgrass Prairie” and naively thought that might actually mean getting [...]
Elk-vehicle accidents
STONEY FORK, Ky. — “No one ever warned us to watch out for elk,” reads a Middlesboro Daily News article reporting Melissa Jones’ 2009 elk-vehicle accident. That’s the feeling of residents in Stoney Fork and other small communities along Highway 221 in Eastern Kentucky, just one of several hotspots in the state for elk-vehicle accidents [...]
Elk Update
SALEM, Mo. — Another grueling day…left at about 5:30 a.m. for the drive down to Peck Ranch to tour the temporary holding pens for the elk scheduled to arrive next week. Did a few more interviews, and got lots of new footage. Also met with a cattle farmer who had some very strong criticisms of [...]
Waiting game
EMINENCE, Mo. — I’m back working on my photo story on elk relocation to Missouri. The herd of Kentucky elk is scheduled to be moved to Peck Ranch Conservation Area in southern Missouri at the end of April. I went down to the ranch and surrounding towns this week to get a pulse on what [...]
Tony Johnson, Taxidermist
CAMPTON, Ky. — Today we met with Tony Johnson, an award-winning taxidermist, or as his business card reads, wildlife artist, in his workshop. He was actually finishing up work on a deer he started sculpting last night. Johnson says business is down this year compared to last because of the economy. Thirty sets of antlers [...]
Elk and Coal
PINEVILLE, Ky. — Coal and Elk. Who would have known? As I’ve been told by nearly everyone here, without coal mines, there would be no elk. We all hear so much about the negative effects of strip mining — the complete destruction of ecosystems and terrain from the literal blasting off of mountaintops. No doubt [...]
Elk in Kentucky
HAZARD, Ky. — I’m in heart of Appalachia with Missourian reporter Brian Nordli for a few days to start work on an in-depth story on a huge elk population and its affect on tourism and business in Eastern Kentucky. Way more details to come, these are just some of my first images.