Missouri hunters could soon be going after elk. Wildlife biologist Lonnie Hansen says it all depends on reaching steady growth in the state’s three-year-old elk restoration program. Hansen says hunting can begin after the elk population reaches 200 with a growth rate of 10 percent a year. That could happen as early as the fall of 2016. Hansen says the population is expected to reach 125 this fall.

Missouri began the restoration program in 2010 with elk imported from Kentucky. The restoration area covers parts of three counties in Southeast Missouri.