By Bill Miller
SEQUIM — A controversial special hunt has culled about one-third of the Sequim-Dungeness elk herd — and wildlife officials are mulling their next step.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife and others will hold a forum on Tuesday aimed at reaching consensus on the optimal herd size.
Should it be 100 elk? 75? 35?
Tuesday’s forum will open with information booths staffed from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. by Dungeness Elk Working Team volunteers.
It will be followed by public meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on plans to manage the herd during the 2004-05 hunting season and beyond.
The booths and meeting will be in Guy Cole Convention Center at Carrie Blake Park, 201 N. Blake Ave.
Responding to complaints about property damage and worries about highway safety, Fish and Wildlife adopted liberalized rules for the 2003-04 hunting season that resulted in about 50 of the free-roaming elk killed by rifle and bow-and-arrow hunters.
The herd now has 71-to-76 animals, down from an estimated 125 last fall.
Several of the elk killed were wearing radio collars that trigger lights that warn traffic to slow down and watch for elk crossing U.S. Highway 101.
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The rest of this story appears in Monday’s Peninsula Daily News.