Elk population counts on Yellowstone's northern range.

The table below (with my additions in red) was taken from http://www.nps.gov/yell/nature/northernrange/appendixb.htm

Ralph Maughan

 

Elk counts, population estimates, and number of animals removed by hunting and/or management reduction programs, 1922-1996. (Data for 1922-1976 is from Houston 1982; data for 1975-1996 from T. Lemke et al., Montana Dept. Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, unpubl. data.) Year Date Actual Count Estimated Population # of Elk Removed Comments 1922-23       82   1923-24       55   1924-25       425   1925-26       168   1926-27       826   1927-28       1,716   1928-29       15   1929-30   8,257   422   1930-31   7,696   318 Considered to be a very poor census. 1931-32   10,624   327   1932-33   11,521   179   1933-34   10,042   147   1934-35   10,112   3,265 Combined ground and aerial counts; other census data are ground counts unless otherwise indicated. 1935-36   10,281   2,844   1936-37   8,794   831   1937-38   10,976   3,823   1938-39       3,278   1939-40       138   1940-41       287   1941-42       2,216   1942-43   8,235   7,230   1943-44       135   1944-45       403   1945-46   8,513   2,167   1946-47       3,145   1947-48   7,815   1,009   1948-49   9,496   2,286   1949-50       874   1950-51       2,083   1951-52       3,800   1952-53       282   1953-54       809   1954-55       1,361   1955-56   6,963   6,535 Helicopter count. 1956-57       1,289   1957-58       586   1958-59   4,884   1,706 Considered to be a very poor census; done by fixed-wing aircraft. 1959-60       859   1960-61   8,150   1,459 Done by helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft. 1961-62   5,725   4,744 Helicopter count. 1962-63       1,820   1963-64       1,151   1964-65   4,865   1,904 Helicopter count. 1965-66       1,270   1966-67   3,842   2,648 Helicopter count. 1967-68   3,172   1,100 Done by fixed-wing aircraft. Elk reductions stopped. 1968-69   4,305   50 Done by fixed-wing aircraft. 1969-70   5,543b   50 Done by fixed-wing aircraft. 1970-71   7,281   45 Helicopter count. 1971-72   8,215   75 Helicopter count. 1972-73   9,981   154 Helicopter count. 1973-74   10,529   210 Helicopter count. 1974-75   12,607   147 Helicopter count. 1975-76 12/17-18/75 12,014 12,354 1,529 Beginning of late-season elk hunts. 1976-77 1/23-24/77 8,980 9,199 219 Survey conditions exceptionally poor resulting in inaccurate count. 1977-78 12/20-21/77 12,680 12,941 1,067   1978-79 12/29-30/78 10,838 11,149 341   1979-80   No count   661   1980-81   No count   376   1981-82 1/6-7/82 16,019 16,473 1,359   1982-83   No count   1,881   1983-84   No count   2,061   1984-85   No count   1,571   1985-86 12/19-20/85 16,286 16,885 1,498   1986-87 12/10/86 17.007 17,901 1,739   1987-88 1/19/88 18,913 19,316 579   1988-89 1/26;2/9/89 10,265 11,148 2,896   1989-90 1/18-19/90 14,829 15,805 1,299 Survey conditions exceptionally poor resulting in inaccurate count. 1990-91 2/6/91 9,456 10,287 1,005   1991-92 12/16/92 12,589 15,587 4,515   1992-93 11/21;12/3/92 17,585 18,066 2,055   1993-94 1/20-24/94 19,045 19,359 527 This was the greatest number of elk ever recorded   1994-95 12/21/94 16,791 17,290 2,538   14 wolves reintroduced in March 1995 1995-96   No count       17 more wolves reintroduced in March 1996 1996-97   No count   Limited aircraft availability and poor flying conditions resulted in no count. This was a very severe winter with elk mortality in the thousands. The lack of a count is very unfortunate.   12/97 13,400   2,365  hunt     12/98 11,742         12/27/99 14,538         1/01 13,400         12/01 11,969         1/03    9,215 > 11,652 718 hunt in Jan 2003 The 9215 count was based on very poor counting conditions. the 11,652 count was done after a snowstorm (it is unofficial, but under good counting conditions)

 

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