 |
Camping & Wilderness |  |
Parks & Conservation |
 |
Wildlife & Biodiversity |
 |
Monitoring the Environment |
 |
Fishing |  |
Hunting & Trapping |
 |
Education & Youth |
 |
Publications, Maps & Data |
Big Game: Caribou
Woodland Herds
Woodland caribou are scattered across the Yukon in 23 separate herds.
he total Yukon population is estimated at roughly 30,000 animals. The size of each herd rises and falls in response to ecological and human-caused factors which are not fully understood. From May to October, woodland caribou inhabit alpine areas where they calve and rut. They move to forested valleys from November to April. It is during these winter months that their ranges distinguish the herds. Four woodland caribou herds are presently not open to licensed hunting due to declining populations.
Barrenground Herds
There are three barrenground caribou herds in the Yukon: the Porcupine, Forymile and Nelchina herds. Long migration routes between summer and winter ranges and core calving areas distinguish a barrenground herd from a woodland herd.
Porcupine Herd
The Pocupine Caribou Herd is shared between the Yukon, Alaska and the Northwest Territories. This herd of barrenground caribou makes extensive migrations between its calving grounds on the Yukon and Alaska north slope and its wintering areas in the Richardson and Ogilvie Mountains in the Yukon and the Brooks Range in Alaska.
Survey results from 2001 show a herd size of 123,000 animals, down from 129,000 in 1998. The decline in herd size that began in 1989 appears to be slowing. Satellite collars have been placed on eight animals, allowing biologists to track the movements and range of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. In the fall, Porcupine caribou can usually be found along the Dempster Highway from the Blackstone River valley north to the NWT border.
Fortymile Herd
In October 2002, some 30,000 caribou from the Fortymile Herd migrated into the Yukon — for the first time in about fifty years! A century before, the herd had numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Overharvesting that began during the Klondike Gold Rush, and later, severe weather and predation resulted in the herd’s reduction to roughly 5,000 animals in 1975. By the early 1990’s, the herd had rebounded to over 20,000 animals, but high calf mortality due to wolf predation continued to limit growth. In 1997, a wolf fertility-control program was implemented and continued for five years. Other ecological conditions such as herd nutritional condition and weather were favourable and the herd increased to about 50,000 caribou. Biologists believe that this number may allow the herd to escape the limiting force of predation and continue to grow to historic levels.