BISMARCK – The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has increased the number of elk licenses available this fall, but will offer fewer moose licenses, the Department said Thursday.
In a news release, the Department said it will offer 603 elk licenses this fall, an increase of 40 from last year. A total of 257 moose licenses are available, a decrease of 147 from last year.
Elk, moose and bighorn sheep applications are available on the Game and Fish website at gf.nd.gov. The application deadline for the “Big Three” once-in-a-lifetime licenses is March 29.
Game and Fish increased the number of elk licenses in units E1E and E1W in response to a stable to increasing elk population. Licenses in elk units E2, E3, E4 and E6 remain the same as in 2022, the Department said.
The decrease in moose tags results from an observed decline in moose numbers in units M9, M10 and M11 during winter aerial surveys, a decrease in hunter success last fall and a winter tick outbreak the previous spring that impacted the population in those areas, the Department said. Licenses in units M6 and M8 remain the same, as the moose population appears to be stable with good hunter success in those units. Licenses in M5 increased slightly due to a stable population and several consecutive years with all hunters successful in the unit. Moose units M4 and M1C will remain closed because of a continued downward population trend in the northeastern part of the state.
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A bighorn sheep hunting season is tentatively scheduled for 2023, depending on the sheep population. The status of the bighorn sheep season will be determined Sept. 1, after summer population surveys are completed.
Bighorn sheep applicants must apply for a license at the same time as moose and elk, but not for a specific unit. Once total licenses are determined for each unit in late summer, the bighorn lottery will be held and successful applicants contacted to select a hunting unit.
Because the bighorn sheep application fee is not refundable as per state law, if a bighorn season is not held, applicants would not receive a refund.
Elk, moose and bighorn sheep lottery licenses are issued as once-in-a-lifetime licenses in North Dakota. Hunters who have received a license through the lottery in the past are not eligible to apply for that species again.
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