Gearhart golf course plagued by elk, wants herd reduced

GEARHART, Ore (AP) – A herd of elk has been a headache for managers of a golf course on Oregon’s northwest coast.
 
The Daily Astorian reports (https://is.gd/67SZJY) representatives of Gearhart Golf Links want the herd reduced, perhaps with a trap-and-transfer program that would send elk to a forest.
 
The course recently deployed decoys to remind the elk of their predators. Landscape crews sprinkled coyote urine on eight plastic coyotes strategically placed on the perimeter of the 18-hole course.
 
Elsewhere in Gearhart, an elk cow protecting its calf menaced beachgoers and dogs this month, and later charged a bicyclist. That elk cow and calf were tranquilized and brought to God’s Valley in the Tillamook State Forest.
 
Gearhart Golf Links General Manager Jason Bangild says the herd has doubled or tripled in the past six years, and it’s too big for a small town.