Harvest statistics provided by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGFD) show 65 percent of hunters filled their tag during the 2021 hunting season. In total, NDGFD issued 532 elk licenses in 2021. Of that amount, 462 hunters harvested 301 elk including 158 bulls and 143 cows/calves. Success rates varied from 83 percent in E1W to 50 percent in E6.
NDGFD also issued four bighorn sheep licenses and auctioned one. Four of the five hunters harvested a bighorn ram. It also issued 470 moose licenses last year. Of that total, 448 hunters harvested 405 animals – 163 bulls and 242 cows/calves. The success rate for bighorn sheep hunters was 80 percent while the moose hunter success rate was 90 percent.
2022 Elk, moose and bighorn sheep hunt
Elk, moose and bighorn sheep applications for the 2022 hunt are online with a March 23 deadline. NDGFD allotted 563 license for this fall, an increase of 40 from last year.
Elk, moose and bighorn sheep lottery licenses are issued as once-in-a-lifetime licenses in North Dakota. Hunters who received a license through the lottery in the past are not eligible to apply for that species again.
(Photo credit: North Dakota Game and Fish Department )