This month, the National Elk Refuge will open its bison hunting season to control herd sizes.
The bison hunting season will be divided into 12 hunting periods with a week separating each, to prevent the bison from learning which areas of the refuge to avoid.
North Jackson Wildlife Biologist, Doug Brimeyer says that on the refuge, elk season lasts only three months, but bison season lasts for five. When asked about the season length, Brimeyer said, “We maintain hunting pressure for bison later into the winter so that we can achieve additional harvest. But because the population’s so high and we have a limited area to, we can only take so many animals each year.”
Brimeyer also says that 800 are expected to winter in the refuge this year. The refuge would like to reduce that number to 500 by season’s end.
Only people who have already been selected for the 2013 season will be eligible to hunt. The refuge’s elk hunting registration, however, will run until September 25. Elk season begins in mid-October.
