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The only thing she didn't know was exactly how big her prize would be.

On the second morning of the season, she found out. Bolda killed a massive 6 x 7 bull elk that tipped the scales at an amazing 750 pounds.

"I'm just overwhelmed by it all," said Bolda, who had applied unsuccessfully for years for an elk tag.

Bolda is one of about 400 Michigan hunters who have, or will have, an opportunity to hunt elk in Michigan this season, the 25th consecutive year of elk hunting. Since elk hunting resumed for good in 1984, more than a million applications have been submitted. Through last year, some 5,310 licenses had been issued and hunters have taken 4,520 elk.

So far this year elk hunting has been very good. In August and September, hunters brought in 80 animals, including 37 bulls. In December, hunters killed 191 elk, including 84 bulls. And another 40 hunters will have an opportunity for the Jan. 14-18 season. Not bad, considering elk were completely eliminated from the state more than a century ago.

Indigenous to the Lower Peninsula, elk disappeared by 1877. Conservation officials made several unsuccessful attempts to reestablish elk in the state until 1918, when seven Rocky Mountain elk released near Wolverine in Cheboygan County flourished.

By the early 1960s, the herd had expanded to an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 animals. Despite the fact that a tourism industry had grown up around the herd, the elk caused heartburn for some folks, mostly farmers, foresters and some deer hunters. As a result, the Legislature authorized the Conservation Department to hold elk hunts during 1964 and 1965.

In 1964, 23,000 hunters applied for 300 licenses for the Dec. 5-13 elk hunt. Hunting conditions were ideal with good tracking snow and the 298 hunters enjoyed a 90% success rate, killing 269 legal elk. The following year, some 35,000 hunters applied for 300 licenses for the Dec. 8-16 hunt. Mild weather (and almost no snow) dropped the success rate to 61% with 183 elk killed.

But by then, elk habitat was in decline and the hunts coincided with a period of significant real estate development in elk country. Reproduction suffered and the increased human activity, including poaching, took a toll on the herd. The population dropped to an estimated 200 elk in the winter of 1975.

In the late 1970s, however, more public attention was focused on the elk herd, in part because of the controversy surrounding oil and gas development in the Pigeon River Country State Forest. As the DNR worked to improve habitat, and reduce poaching, the herd responded. By 1984, it was estimated at 850 animals, around the current-day management goal for the herd.

That year, the DNR held the first of what is now 25 consecutive elk seasons. In 1984, 45,908 hunters applied for 50 licenses for the six-day, Dec. 11-16 elk hunt. The following year, a record 52,658 applicants applied for 120 licenses.

Elk seasons continued to run for six days until 1988, when the season was expanded to eight days; then it was adjusted annually, set for either six or eight days. For the most part, the hunts were held in December, though there were some experimental October hunts some years. The number of licenses bounced around from a low of 80 (1989) to a high of 155 (1991).

But the elk herd continued to expand, both in size and range, and caused increasing conflicts with humans. In 1992, the DNR began holding hunts in September (in addition to what has now become known as the "traditional" December hunt) in an attempt to take some of the elk that had dispersed from the desired home range on state forest land and were causing conflicts with landowners. It also offered an opportunity to take advantage of elk bugling, the calling that bulls do during the breeding season.

By 1997, the DNR issued 355 elk licenses. In 2000, when elk numbers were very high, a record 410 licenses were available.

Also in 2000, the DNR began to experiment with an even earlier elk season, a hunt beginning in August when the animals are most widely dispersed and are most likely to be causing problems on private land. Hunters who drew tags for the early hunt period also had an opportunity to hunt during September, during bugling. The Natural Resources Commission set a week long contingency season for January in the event the harvest was considered unsatisfactory for management purposes.

This year, the DNR issued 330 elk licenses during its 25th consecutive elk hunting season, and plans to issue another 40 during January, this time with the hunting area restricted to outside the desired home range of the elk to help reduce the number of outliers. In addition, the Tribes, because of the 2007 Consent Decree on inland hunting and fishing rights, can issue up to 10% of the number the DNR issues.

However, because of newly developed new census techniques, wildlife managers estimated the elk population to number approximately 1,200 going into the fall seasons.

So the elk population likely will be still higher than the established goal (a post-season population of 800 to 900 elk) after all three hunts are completed.

Source: Michigan DNR