Elk’s Travels Unraveled

Sun., Feb. 12, 1995

Charlie Powell

Hunting

Spokane’s Doug Morgan, 56, isn’t the only elk hunter to have ever returned a radio telemetry collar after a legal, successful hunt. But he does have the distinction of having killed the oldest bull from among 72 collared animals under study in the Touchet River drainage.

According to a letter Morgan received two weeks ago from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, old number 8060 was fitted with the device on Feb. 28, 1990. He was a five-by-five then and estimated to be 2.5 years old.

Over the years, the bull was located by radio 80 times, all within the Wolf Fork and South Fork of the Touchet River and Newby Mountain area.

Interestingly, he spent 80 percent of his time on private land, as do more than 60 percent of all the collared elk in the study.

Only 24 of the 72 animals collared continue to emit signals. The collar on 8060’s neck had failed before Morgan took the huge six-by-seven on Oct. 26, 1994,with three, 375-yard shots from his .300 Winchester magnum.

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