The first herd of elk was shipped by truck and trailer convoy on a non stop 48hour road trip from Edmonton, Alberta to a holding compound 25km southeast of the Town of Bancroft. The compound was designed to hold the animals for a period of rest and acclimatization to their new home. The only problem was that no one told the elk. Upon release from the trailer, the first group of 6 adults ran promptly across the one-acre enclosure and cleared the eight foot high fence with a single bound. Factors such as our open winter of 2000 and the prime physical condition of the animals contributed to their early escape to the wilds of North Hastings. After trying a couple of release techniques to keep the balance of the elk in the compound, it was clear that the best case scenario was to have a 'hard release' and free all the animals right away.

This thrust the monitoring process forward 6 weeks. The local implementation committee (LIC) began immediately tracking the 70 radio collared elk across the hinterland of North Hastings. The winter monitoring went well. The location of each animal was recorded at least once a week. By early spring the animals were located biweekly.

On January 13, 2001, the Bancroft/North Hastings Elk Restoration Project officially entered Phase 2 upon the safe arrival of 50 elk that were delivered from Elk Island National Park, Alberta. The release of the second herd of elk in Bancroft took place under a blanket of darkness only 40km east of town.

A combination of bad weather conditions and treacherous roads resulted in a dramatic end to the 60 hour narathon. When it was realized that the team of divers was not going to arrive until after dark, members of the LIC and the Provincial Elk Restoration Advisory Committee (PERAC) as well as animal care specialists (including a local veterinarian), were forced to discuss alternatives. A conclusion was quickly reached. Given that the elk had been contained for two and a half days, it was determined that the best-case scenario would be to release the elk into the compound as soon as possible. Preparations began immediately to provide auxiliary lighting at the entrance to the compound and additional surface cover of hay where the animals exited the trailers was laid down to provide safe grounding.

It was approximately 7:00pm by the time the first trailer was suitably positioned at the release site entrance. After some gentle coaxing, the first elk leaped from the transport and disappeared into the darkness of the 1 acre enclosure. The remaining 12 elk followed with a quick lap around the compound and then returned back to the trailer only to find themselves facing volunteers positioned at the entrance gate. It was then that the committee realized that the lighting was best directed on the volunteers rather than on the elk. The animals could see the people and not the people see them. This action proved successful and the elk quickly established their own 'safe zones'. A decline in the number of elk returning to the gate was evident as the procedure of releasing the animals continued. By the end of the release, the last group simply trotted out of the back and joined their resting cohorts in the hemlock grove at the top of the hill. The silence was almost deafening in the compound after all the elk settled. Members of the LIC and PERAC had to sneak to the back of the enclosure to satisfy their own curiosity that there hadn't been a miraculous escape from the 12-foot high fencing! Much to their delight, the observers found the group milling about the large hay bales placed for food and resting comfortably after their long ordeal.