Wyoming Elk Population Map - When moose hunters begin the shooting season, they hunt animals that the Department of Fisheries and Fisheries believes are 32% higher in their population than most state herds.
Game and Fish Department staff counted or sampled the population in 28 of 35 elk herds in its 2019 post-harvest census, released this spring. They reported 104,700 elk in these 28 herds - a figure that was 32%, or 25,575, above the normal target.
Wyoming Elk Population Map
Biologists made "approximation estimates" for seven additional herds that added 8,200 elk, bringing the total to 112,900 elk in Wyoming. The archery season for elk hunting began on September 1st, and in many places in late September or October.
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The view is good for hunters, said Doug Brimeyer, wildlife management coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "This is the moose decade," Brimeyer told WyoFile. "Moose hunting should be very good for people this year."
Game and Fish predicts 61,048 hunters will take to the field this year, up from nearly 54,000 last year. According to agency projections, they will have to kill 25,469 elk, up from 22,644 last year. (See Season Recap below.)
Hunters may be licensed to kill three moose, although there are restrictions on sex and hunting areas. There are still 500 elk or calf licenses available in an area near Laramie, "and non-residents may find a spot this fall," Brimeyer said.
"If you're a moose hunter, there's nothing better than Wyoming right now," he said.
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Brimeyer said the broad national view is masking some local trends. Local managers work on a cluster scale. Herds range from hundreds to 11,000 elk.
However, only 17% of herds do not meet the criteria, the industry noted in a summary earlier this year. The agency considers stocks to be targets if they fall within 20%, plus or minus, of the population density.
The Game and Fish Department is urging hunters to submit blood samples from the moose they kill to areas being screened for elk brucellosis. (Wyoming Game and Fish Department)
Seven herds are managed by the agency on the basis of "wildlife hunting" in which the agency aims to satisfy 60% of the hunters estimated in the studies. Biologists make "approximate estimates" of the number of these trees, but there is no population level.
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Game and Fish created the 2020 estimate after considering department estimates and moose population estimates after the 2019 hunt. It made these estimates and calculations after calculate hunter success in 2019 or early 2020 when moose enter winter ranges.
Game and Fish expects hunters to spend 431,355 "recreation days" hunting in 2020, up from 413,827 in 2019. The Department says of all elk killed in the 2020, fans will spend 16.9 days to catch the field, compared to 18 in 2020 2019.
General elk licenses for Wyoming residents cost $57. Non-residents pay $692. In 2019, Game and Fish sold 69,969 moose licenses. Of these, 42,036 or 78% had a residence permit and 11,807 or 22% traveled abroad.
Game and Fish is calling on successful hunters in the 2020 state elkbrucellosismonitoring zone to submit a blood sample for testing. The department has distributed 8,000 test kits to local licensees and is encouraging others to obtain kits from local offices.
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Game and Fish is also inviting successful hunters in the 2020 Chronic Wasting Moose Monitoring Areas to test their moose. This can be done free of charge at the gaming control center or regional office.
Fans can also remove a lymph node and send it to Game and Fish. The results will be back in three weeks, the department said. For $30, the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab in Laramie can run the test for 10 days.
" Cut and freeze your pet until you have test results to save on meat processing costs if your pet is healthy," the department wrote in a new statement promoting the tests. Game and Fish also recommends that hunters follow the rules for transporting and releasing CWD.
While the community likes the abundance of wildlife, moose abundance is dangerous, Brimeyer said.
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"When you look at these winter sites all over Wyoming, there are only so many mouths to feed from the pastures out there," he said. Since the range of winter landscapes is the same in many places, "something has to give," he said.
Game and Fish is inviting successful moose hunters at the 2020 CWD checkpoints to test their moose. (Wyoming Game and Fish Department)
He pointed out that in the Rock Springs area, "the public loves moose, [but] moose can affect the number of deer.
"We know how to fight mule deer," said Brimeyer. “We cannot allow the moose population to continue to grow. It affects the range. We want to see the balance there."
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Game and fish face the challenge of private land dominating some hunting areas with limited public access. Outside of Greybull, for example, "land ownership and land restrictions limit cattle harvest to limit population growth," game and fish biologist Sam Stephens wrote this spring for moose in Hunt Area 41.
On the meadows, moose destroy the eggs by industry. The agency is working with landowners to increase hunter access to private lands, Brimeyer said.
In Jackson Hole, home to the second largest herd in the state after the Laramie Peak/Muddy Mountain Herd, moose live in rural areas and other protected areas such as southern Grand Teton National Park . Also known as the city moose, the Snake River moose, or the short rangers, this part of the Jackson Herd is on the rise.
Meanwhile, this summer's elk migration has declined in rural areas. "Of course we'd love to see them come down" from the states, Brimeyer said.
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These challenges have vexed Jackson Herd managers for years. Despite the problems, after the 2019 hunt, the Jackson Herd is 10,985 - in 25 animals of the target of 11,000 elk. That's the number for the current hunting season.
Jackson's number is a "raw number," Game and Fish Jackson biologist Aly Courtemanch said. It does not use modeling or estimation to supplement the observations of land and air groups.
Game and Fish will adjust its hunting seasons and quotas to hunt the city's hogs and allow the wildlife sector to flourish. For example, an ordinance was created in Courtemanch County to protect cattle and moose calves this summer in these rural and wild areas. Courtemanch said hunters can still hunt hornbills among migrating animals, but the rules protect the "breeding part" of the herd.
Another example of this strategy is the decision to close Area 79 northeast of Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park for a unique elk reduction program for a second year. The Grand Teton study found that long-distance migrants used the area heavily, but long-distance migrants did not.
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"That's the main reason we made this decision," said Courtemanch. At the same time, the rules are aimed at hunters to migrate cows and calves for short distances, he said.
When it comes to planning, research and strategy, something as simple as the weather can have a big impact on how the elk hunting season goes.
Game and Fish Pinedale biologist Dean Clause wrote this spring about the effect of weather on game sizes in Sublette County. "As a result of the tropical weather conditions in 2018 and 2019, hunting success and harvest rates for this animal have decreased," his 2020 report said.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is reposted here with permission. WyoFile is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to archives about the people, places and politics of Wyoming.
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