The old brown Chevy is back in action as we hurtle through the darkness on another mission. In the predawn darkness, I am climbing up Lens Creek Mountain, headed to Logan County.
I think about the madness of flying through the curves of this road. I used to be somewhat familiar with it, but now it is more like navigating a mine field, and in the dark on top of that. A couple times I hit crater-like pot holes and think I’ve lost the last of my religion — and maybe a few fillings in my teeth — but I keep the hammer down on the old truck.
No, this isn’t an early morning call for turkeys I may or may not see. I am going to check on the elk again. I’m going up on Elk Mountain.
We have talked before about the elk in West Virginia. In 2015, the formation of the elk reintroduction program paved the way to getting elk and bringing them to the Mountain State. Yes, you read that right, this is actually a reintroduction effort. There were native elk here, and they were eastern elk that were actually a little larger than the western elk that are being transplanted now. Historians think the last eastern elk in West Virginia died in the late 1870s.
(READ MORE: Elk hunt adventures are only for the West of US)