From yoursmokies.com/blogspot: This Friday, Nov. 13, bull elk #21 was shot and killed in the Cataloochee section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Maggie Valley, N.C.. A Granville county man has confessed. Bull elk #21 was 13 years old and one of the first elk moved into Cataloochee Valley in an experimental North American Elk reintroduction program that was to last 4 years but ended up concluding 8 years later. The slain elk was born in Elk Island, Canada, and spent some time in Kentucky before he was released along with 24 other elk in the Cataloochee Valley in 2001. Often, bull elk #21 would graze in a pasture right by the rangers station with three other bulls we nicknamed the bachelors. This gave our visitors an up-close view of a full mature bull elk.