Yukon announces 1st elk hunt
Yukon hunters will be offered permits to shoot elk this fall in the first formal hunt of the territory's two elk herds.
The Environment Department will issue a limited number of permits to hunt the Takhini and Braeburn elk herds within their core habitat areas in September and October.
The department is accepting names until Aug. 14 for a draw to be held for 40 permits. Additional permits will also be set aside for First Nations hunters.
In addition to the core habitat hunt, a six-month unlimited hunt will be allowed outside the core areas. Any Yukon hunter can obtain a permit for that hunt, which is being allowed in order to restrict the numbers of the elk so that they stay in their current habitats and are not pushed out to other areas because of a lack of space .
"The elk have sort of habitually lived in these core ranges, so we have some pretty strong expectation that this is where the habitats are that are appropriate for the elk or that support the elk," Rob Florkiewicz, the department's manager of species programs, told reporters in Whitehorse on Wednesday.
"What we've seen now is that as those numbers have grown, they've moved out into, say, some of the buffer zones."
The hunt was approved last year following a consultation process to set up a management plan for the territory's elk herds, which were originally transplanted to the Yukon in the 1950s for hunting purposes.
Government biologist Rick Ward said the elk herds did not grow large enough to allow a hunt until just a couple of years ago, partly as a result of the government's effort to stem an outbreak of winter elk ticks.
To curb the tick infestation, elk were held in pens during the spring for the past few years. Ward said the penning coincided with the elks' calving period, and far more calves are surviving as a result.
"So to achieve that objective and the other ones, such as elk-agriculture conflicts, it's time to implement the hunt," Ward said.
Given an anticipated high interest in the hunting permits, wildlife officials say they'll keep a close eye on the elk herds. If necessary, emergency hunting closures can be put into the place.
"There's going to be a lot of interest in this hunt [both] by people that apply for the permit draw and other people that want permits outside the permit hunt area," said Carol Domes, a wildlife harvest specialist with the Environment Department.
Officials note, however, that it's likely the number of available elk hunting permits will drop substantially within a few years, as the size of the herds is expected to decline.
Ward said the number of permits could eventually end up to be around six per year.