BISMARCK, ND (trfnews.i234.me) Applications for North Dakota’s big game lottery, including Bighorn Sheep, Moose and Elk are now available.
Applications are here: https://gf.nd.gov/buy-apply
welcome to this week’s edition of outdoors online a weekly webcast produced by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department i’m your host Tom Jensen my guest this week is Jeb Williams Jeff is of course the wildlife division chief here at game of fish you have every year about this time we do our webcast on the big three new silk and bighorn one of the applications going to be available and when is the deadline the application should be available here very soon Tom probably within a within a week for surely probably the online applications within that week for sure and then the dead the deadline for the application process is March twenty second Wednesday March 22nd we’re going to take each individual species separately we’re going to start with elk are we issuing more or fewer licenses this year more licenses issued for help so that’s an exciting thing we’ve had one of the questions over the years has been in the western part of the state anyway as as far as how our how our elk numbers going to do outside of the park especially when they after the park it did the did the population reduction within with within the park and what’s that going to mean for the for the elk on the outside of the park and we know that there have been more and more outfit that don’t necessarily come back to Theodore Roosevelt National Park that they have basically established a home outside of the park boundary and and know that is home and so the good news is over the years that those elk numbers have done quite well outside of the park actually probably better than maybe some landowners would like I think the landowner tolerance button has been pushed a little bit in some areas and so that’s one of the reasons we’re increasing licenses in e3 this year is the is to increase the amount of antlerless licenses out there as we’ve had discussions with some landowners who have requested some additional tags so we think that’s good opportunity for the public and we recognize the landowner tolerance is important especially when you’re dealing with elk large animal and so we think it’s a good sportsman opportunity when we can see an increased number of elk in that part of the state any other changes yeah we have we actually have an additional unit this year for elk in North Dakota which is something the department has been working on over the last couple years we’ve been a lot of discussions with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe about about managing ELQ with in Sioux County there has been a population of alkan in Sioux County for quite some time now and and our most recent numbers survey numbers have indicated about 110 elk in that area and again working with some landowners in that area we knew that this was something the department was going to have to have to move forward on to put some pressure on those animals and again provide some other opportunities so we feel good about that we’ve get a lot of good conversations with Standing Rock Sioux tribe on this and with the landowners in that area all very much big players in this game and so e 6 is going to be an opportunity within Sioux County this year it’s that portion of Sioux County that’s east of Highway 31 so pretty much the majority of Sioux County and 7 licenses will be offered by the game and fish department and then the tribe is also going to be issuing some licenses in that area as well now it’ll be lottery also yeah there it will be determined at a later hynix for them for for tribal licenses but you know we’ve we’ve met on that and we think it’s a good opportunity moving forward um every year job we get calls from people asking if there are ways that they can up their odds and the lottery and actually there is a way there is a way if people we understand that people might want to shoot that bull elk in North Dakota the odds of doing that though are not very good if you’re an individual that that plays those odds you probably realize that if you’re going to shoot a bull elk in North Dakota you’re going to get extremely lucky at some point in time to do that but if you if you put in for a cow license in an antlerless license in in our units do your odds go up quite a bit and so there have been some years when your odds are drawing a cow elk licenses are actually better than drawing your license in some units and so that opportunity exists for those people that want to take advantage of it and it is a it’s a very rewarding experience for somebody that wants to harvest an elk in their in their home state alright we’ve covered the western part of the state as far as Elko is job what about the eastern so typically are traditionally Tom we’ve had elk unit e 1 in the northeast part of the state and over the last number years we’ve been monitoring through a research project and working with a variety of landowners up there providing us information about about an expanding elk population within unit e 1 and so what we know now is that they’re they’re pretty much our to two separate elk herds up there one in the Pembina gorge area and the kind of a traditional area v1 but also in the turtle mountain areas and so about four years ago five years ago we we expanded unity one to the west to include more of Bottineau county in the turtle mountain areas where we had reports of elk being on the landscape there now having some radio collars attached with those animals and learning a little bit more about them we we think it’s time to manage them separately because we feel they are two separate populations and so we are splitting unit e 1 and so it’s going to be e1 east and e one west and so that way it will give us better management capability for managing the turtle mountain heard and then managing the feminine orchard so a person has to be fairly careful then when they fill out their lottery applications where they apply in unity one correct it will they will be two separate units and so it will be listed as such on the application to wear when somebody applies they’re going to be applying for a one east or Iran West just like any other any other unit out there and so but it will be a change that people will notice this year and again just you know a lot a lot of good news there because there’s growing number of elk in the state and that means a growing opportunity for people that like to like ‘don’t elk let’s move on to moose moves yeah we’ve had a lot of discussion about moose over the last number of years there’s been then been a lot of changes in North Dakota North Dakota’s moose population increasing numbers being number one thing I think the lot of folks have talked about is we have had good good news population especially in the western part of the state so moose really have kind of vacated their traditional habitat and northeast part of part of North Dakota and and it’s kind of moved on to the prairie setting the prairie landscape a little bit which which definitely is a more uncommon for moose so that’s been a that’s been a surprising thing and it’s been an interesting opportunity for us to take a look at that through research projects and to see how well moose are doing in these areas and again they’re doing very well so what we’re looking at in the northwest part of the state is adding back unit m11 a number of years ago we had unit m11 in there but after the flood year of 2011 we weren’t really sure where those moose if they were going to stick around that area if they are going to be pushed out by the high high water so we got rid of it but we’re bringing it back now because we really need we really need a concentrated harvest in some of those areas we have a very good moose population in northwest part of the state and again we’re hearing some from some folks that would would appreciate some increased harvest of moose in that area and and we think that’s merited as well I mean we instead of somebody hitting a moose along the highway and you know that critter a lot of times going to waste and somebody potentially getting injured we would just soon have that being a sportsman opportunity associated with that instead so there’s going to be additional moose licenses and in that area combined again a split a split area compared to what it has been before so unit m10 m11 now instead of just m10 and then we’re also adding some licenses and m9 as well that where we significantly increase those licenses a couple years ago but we’re still seeing pretty good numbers in that area so lots of good news on the moose front again as far as overall numbers go and increase upon her opportunity there was some talk at one time Jeb that moose were on the decline there was even talk that they may be added to an endangered or threatened list of some kind correct yeah and that’s that’s an ongoing process with the US Fish and Wildlife Service they they were petitioned for that for for listing and so there is ongoing discussions about that and we’ve it’s been indicated to us by the Fish and Wildlife Service that that decision is not going to be reached until approximately 20 20 20 and so they’re they’re looking at all the information available the states are providing information to US Fish and Wildlife Service on that matter and you know in North Dakota are we don’t have a large moose population but we have increasing news population and we certainly don’t believe we have a threatened or endangered news population in North Dakota does the same goal when it comes to applying for cows with moose as it does for elk very much so yeah people can increase their odds a fair amount by applying by applying for for a cow Moos tag versus versus an antler tag let’s move on to probably the state’s most majestic animal the bighorn sheep several years ago Jeb we had a devastating die-off in the Big Horn heard due to an outbreak of viral pneumonia that precipitated a delay i guess and even announcing if we were going to have a season last year now this year we are going to have a season but you’re going to delay like you did last year how many how many licenses that we give out of work great that’s correct yeah we were just going to going to duplicate what we did last year we think we thought that it that worked out well for a lot of different reasons and the reason we did it last year was course related to the disease event that we did have for the in North Dakota but you know that’s still on a radar it’s still a concern every year that we were that we go past that however I mean it’s good news and that you know we know that that doesn’t completely work out of a herd for for quite some time but every year you kind of get past that event it certainly increases your odds that that that your herd is going to be doing better and better and so we feel pretty good about where hurt is that right now overall it doesn’t look like I heard was was hit as hard with the pneumonia as other outbreaks have been across the country so we feel a bit fortunate the bid on the lucky side on that on that aspect but a lot of things worked out well about how we did it last year we’re able to provide up-to-date up-to-the-minute information as far as how how that sheep herd is doing and what I mean by that is we’re able to do all of our summer surveys complete those and then determine that number and so by doing that last year we were actually able to give additional opportunity to the sportsman in North Dakota for sheep opportunities by providing 8 licenses if we would have had to set that number back in in in February in March like you know like right now we’re going to be a little conservative generally so that was something that we felt good about and I think that the people were very patient and sportsmen and men and women that we’re applying for those we’re very patient and understanding about the process and I think it worked out well and so we’re going to we’re going to keep that process in mind again for this year with the ongoing concerns about viral pneumonia and things is this something that we could do in the long run yeah I think it is I mean I think it I think like we talked about I think for a lot of reasons that the way we’re doing things now they essentially there’s kind of the delayed process that we’re seeing it’s probably something that we’re going to adapt into the future you know maybe with or without pneumonia on the landscape it just gives us the best possible information before we determine those numbers and I think that you know we’re certainly supportive of that and i think that the sporting public is always supportive of that a question that we hear quite often Jeb is why don’t we use the point system for the big three and there’s a very good answer for that yeah I think in the past that’s been discussed a lot and it’s very fair question you know traditionally there have been so few licenses available when it comes to elk moose and sheep and we have such a high application rate for that as you would have so many people that would be carrying the same amount of points that’s just statistically it wouldn’t it wouldn’t give you that much of an advantage over somebody else the biggest disadvantage would be is that those individuals carrying those points would be the ones over time 30 maybe 35 years down the road that would get those licenses but what it would do then is it would pretty much statistically seal your odds if you were a newcomer coming into the into the lottery process that you would not have a very good chance at all of drawing a license and so it’s been discussed and I you know I think the data and surrounding it has been looked at and I think everybody feels pretty comfortable and with it just being a true lottery absolutely a lot of anticipation coming up fill out your lottery applications and keep your fingers crossed absolutely should be a fun year all right you can apply online for the moose elk and bighorn lottery log on to the game and fish website at gf’s out NV dot gov and follow the links to the application site fill out the application and pay the non-refundable fee by credit card you can also apply by filling out the paper application which is available at most sporting goods stores and licensed vendors non-residents can participate in the bighorn sheep lottery but they can only apply online for Jeff Williams and the rest of the staff here at North Dakota Game and Fish thanks for joining us for outdoors online see you again next week
Now Accepting Applications for ND Big Game Lottery
