CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s restored elk are beginning to roam farther from the southern coalfields where they were reintroduced, even as the state prepares to welcome visitors for another season of guided elk-viewing tours.
The W.Va. Division of Natural Resources announced Sunday that tickets are available for its 2026 Elk Management Tours, which begin Sept. 13 and run on weekends through Oct. 24. The four-hour excursions take visitors into elk country in Logan County, where the animals have become an increasingly visible part of a landscape from which they disappeared more than a century ago.
Nearly a decade after West Virginia began restoring the species, tracking shows some animals are exploring territory beyond their customary range around the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area.
Randy Kelley, the division’s elk project leader, said in July that wildlife officials are seeing more roaming as the herd grows. He described one young cow that traveled north into Lincoln County near Harts Creek, where she spent time on a ridge and in a pasture on private farmland before eventually returning to Tomblin.
“We’re starting to observe more roaming by the elk as their numbers grow,” Kelley told MetroNews.
Most of the animals still consider the Tomblin area their home range, Kelley said, and the movement does not mean established herds are spreading across southern West Virginia. But the excursions show that individual animals are beginning to explore more of the territory wildlife managers envisioned for elk when they developed the restoration program.
Elk country extends beyond Logan County
West Virginia’s designated Elk Management Area encompasses approximately 2,845 square miles of the southern coalfields. It includes all of Logan, Mingo, McDowell, and Wyoming counties and portions of Boone, Lincoln, and Wayne counties.
The state’s management plan calls for wildlife officials to monitor changes in elk use and travel near the management area’s boundaries and to consider boundary adjustments if movements eventually warrant them.
Southwestern West Virginia was not selected for elk restoration by accident. Studies the division began in 2005 identified the coalfields as particularly suitable because large-scale mining created open habitat that could support elk, while relatively little agricultural land reduced the potential for conflicts with farming.
At first, the state adopted a passive strategy of protecting elk that wandered across the border from Kentucky. Active restoration followed years later, and in December 2016 the division released 24 elk obtained from the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in western Kentucky.
Since 2018, another 95 elk — 53 from Kentucky and 42 from Arizona — have been introduced at Tomblin. Biologists reported that the herd reached about 130 animals after additional releases in 2024 and said at least 60 calves have been born in West Virginia since restoration began. The agency has not announced a current 2026 population estimate.
Released elk wear GPS telemetry collars, and biologists also capture and collar previously unmarked animals. The equipment allows wildlife managers to track individual animals and study how the herd uses the landscape, including movements such as the recent excursion into Lincoln County.
West Virginia’s restoration is part of a broader return of elk to the central Appalachians, where neighboring Kentucky and Virginia also support restored populations. For West Virginia, the movement of animals beyond Tomblin carries some historical symmetry. Before the state began releasing elk of its own, wandering animals from Kentucky were already occasionally finding their way into the Mountain State.
Fall tours return to West Virginia elk country
The expanding restoration effort provides the backdrop for the state’s annual fall elk tours, which start and end at Chief Logan Lodge at Chief Logan State Park.
Morning excursions depart at 5:30 a.m., and evening tours depart at 4:30 p.m. According to division officials, participants may walk two to three miles. Park staff leads each tour, discussing elk behavior, history, and conservation. Wildlife sightings are not guaranteed.
Brett McMillion, director of the division, said when announcing the 2026 season that the elk reintroduction program has been one of the Mountain State’s most successful programs.
“Restoring elk to West Virginia has been one of our state’s greatest conservation success stories, and these guided tours offer the public a front-row seat to that achievement,” McMillion said.
Visitors can also observe wildlife from the elk-viewing platform and education center at Tomblin Wildlife Management Area, which opened in 2025. A level viewing area is available for visitors with limited mobility.
Chief Logan Lodge offers overnight accommodations. Guests who purchase an elk-tour ticket can receive a special rate on selected rooms using the promotional code ELK26. For tour availability, booking details, and more information, visit WVDNR.gov/elk.