A large bull elk sits in the snow by the side of the Alaska Highway near Whitehorse, Yukon, Sunday March 4, 2007. The province is targeting more elk in southeastern Alberta with the hope of reducing a growing herd that has been damaging crops around a military base. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chuck Stoody

SUFFIELD, Alta. - Alberta is targeting more elk in the southeastern part of the province in hopes of reducing a growing herd that has been damaging crops around a military base.

Alberta Environment and the Department of National Defence have agreed to let hunters kill up to 500 additional female elk at Canadian Forces Base Suffield in February.

Earlier this year, Alberta issued tags to allow hunters to kill as many as 660 female elk on the base this fall.

"We really need to get the numbers of those animals down to a more manageable level," Duncan MacDonnell, a spokesman for the provincial government, said Thursday.

About 200 elk were brought to the base in the 1990s to introduce grazing animals to the region, but the herd has since swollen to between 6,500 and 8,000 animals. The elk live on the base but jump fences to dine on and trample crops.

Ranchers have been lobbying the provincial and federal governments to hold a roundup to reduce the herd.

Along with crop damage, some ranchers are worried the elk could spread diseases such as tuberculosis and brucellosis to cattle.

Last summer, a group including ranchers and community leaders pitched a plan to humanely capture more than 1,500 elk each year, move the animals to an elk farm and slaughter them over time at a provincially approved abattoir. The meat would be donated to food banks.

The province said no to the idea in October, citing concerns about costs, federal jurisdiction and the environment.

MacDonnell said the government still believes that hunting is the best way to go.

"The female elk are the ones that reproduce, so if we reduce their numbers, we reduce the number of offspring and that helps to bring the total number of elk down to a more manageable level."

Rancher Jeff Lewandoski is thankful the province is doing something about the herd, but said hunting alone won't do the job.

He said it comes down to basic math. To actually reduce the size of the herd, hunters would have to kill more elk than are born each year on the sprawling 2,700-square-kilometre base north of Medicine Hat. The area includes undisturbed grasslands and the Suffield National Wildlife Area.

So far the government's projections don't add up, he said.

"They are trying, but it is still not enough," Lewandoski said. "We could do this for 10 years and we will never catch up."

Lewandoski said he hopes the two governments will take a hard look at the elk numbers in the spring and assess whether the hunting approach is working.

If it isn't, he suggested they should reconsider the roundup idea before the herd grows even larger.

"It keeps snowballing every year."

MacDonnell said the government may increase the hunting quota on female elk to an even higher number next year. If that doesn't work, the province will consider another strategy including, maybe, a roundup.

"We will look at the numbers after the hunt and then all options are on the table as far as a revised management plan going forward."

— By John Cotter in Edmonton

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014