Well, it was a long, hard fight. But Tennessee conservation officials finally released more elk onto the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area last weekend.

You may remember that Tennessee tried to add more elk to its herd last year. But the project was scrapped when the state couldn’t get the necessary permits to bring the enormous creatures in from a captive facility in Canada. There were concerns about numerous diseases, including chronic wasting disease.

This year, they brought the elk in from the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. They released 18 adult males, eight adult females, four male calves, and four female calves.

They joined the existing herd of an estimated 250 elk that already call the Royal Blue WMA home.

A big crowd of onlookers was there for the snowy release - and I would have loved to have been there myself. But I just couldn’t justify a 12-hour round-trip drive for a release that took only a few minutes.

I hope the elk are doing well in their new surroundings.