By Natalie Morales
Enquirer staff writer

An 11-year-old Butler girl was one of three Northern Kentucky residents chosen to get state elk hunting permits for this fall.

Stephanie Gavin is the youngest of the 37 people the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources drew from the 8,625 applicants for the permit.

"In the hunting community, getting drawn for an elk tag, it's like winning the lottery, because you know it won't happen twice," said Jonathan Day, the department's big-game coordinator.

The department brought the elk to the eastern part of the state in 1998, but this is only the fourth year the state has issued permits to hunt the 800-pound animals.

The state now is home to about 4,500 elk, but Day said the ideal population would be 8,500. He said as the elk population increases, so will the number of people allowed to hunt them.

"It's important to begin hunting them as soon as we can so people begin to understand more about elk hunting as opposed to deer hunting," Day said.

Stephanie, who hunted for the first time last year, said she really likes hunting and is excited about the chance to hunt elk.

"I went with my dad since I was 8, and I really like wildlife and stuff like that," she said. "I got a book (about elk) at the library not too long ago and I'm starting to read it."

John Mefford of Union, also was drawn for an elk permit. He has hunted for 30 years

"I have very fond and vivid memories of going hunting with my father both when I could and could not even carry a gun," Mefford said. "It was a great experience, and I'm trying to pass it along to my children now."

To help control the elk population, the department established hunting zones and specified what sex of elk each hunter could harvest. Hunters with at-large permits can hunt anywhere within a 16-county zone in Eastern Kentucky set by the department.

Other types of permits are restricted to smaller, more controlled areas.

Stephanie was drawn for a permit to hunt a bull in one of the department's restricted areas, and Mefford was drawn to hunt a cow in the at-large area.

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E-mail nmorales@enquirer.com