 At Audiology Associates of Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. You'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 Northlake Drive in Prestonsburg. 25 years after the elk restoration program began, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife has opened applications for their annual elk hunt drawing, which began in 2001. Our elk herd is a precious resource that we have been fortunate enough to have back into the Commonwealth of Kentucky. You know, right around the middle 1800s, we've seen these elk leave and in 1997, we've seen the first elk hit the ground back in Kentucky as free-ranging, free-roaming animals. Elk is a native species to Kentucky and has few natural predators, but were wiped out in the 1800s due to overhunting and habitat loss. We were able to, you know, put together a plan in the early 1990s, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife was, and then with other organizations like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, other state agencies from the West, you know, along with the National Wild Turkey Ferrations, a lot of organizations were able to bring those elk back to Kentucky in a re-introduction program. These elk were here flourishing and doing very well. They were wiped out and then they were brought back. In accordance with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife's conservation plan, the elk were reintroduced into a 16-county region in southeastern Kentucky known as the Elk Restoration Zone. Within that zone, you know, we have a carrying capacity just like with any wildlife species. So through conservation management, one big part of that with big game species, of course, is a regulated hunting season. So if folks, you know, choose to, you know, put in for that, it is a tool used for management to make sure, you know, these animals don't overpopulate, make sure they don't get into areas that would be a negative or a nuisance area, you know, where overpopulation would be detrimental. Applications are open until April 30th and there are 594 permits available. For more information or to apply for a hunting permit, visit ky.gov. For Mountain Top News, I'm Brianna Robinson.