FILE- This Dec. 18, 1997 file photo shows four cow elk and a bull calf as they make their way up a hill after being released on a reclaimed strip mine near Hazard, Ky. Elk disappeared from Kentucky around the time of the Civil War, mainly because of overhunting. They returned in 1997, when wildlife managers started the restoration by bringing in elk from several Western states in what was heralded as an important ecology and tourism program. The startup herds have grown to about 10,000 as the elk have flourished in southeastern Kentucky. (AP Photo/Rhonda Simpson, FILE)