Yukon to open fall bison hunt along highways

Wildlife officials in the Yukon are trying out a new bison hunting season along several major highways next month in an effort to control the territory's large wood bison herd and make roads safer for people.

According to the last government count in 2007, there are about 1,100 bison in the Yukon, which is more than double the number of animals biologists want to maintain.

"There is some concern about so many animals being out on the land because we haven't had wood bison out there for too long, only about 20 years," senior wildlife biologist Tom Jung, who chairs the Yukon's bison management committee, told reporters Thursday in Whitehorse.

"We're really not too sure what the impacts may be on other species, like caribou or moose. So, until some of those things are addressed, the wish has been to keep the number of bison to about 500."

As of Sept. 1, registered Yukon hunters with permits can hunt bison along the highway from three hunting corridors:

• Along the Alaska Highway west of Whitehorse.
• Up the North Klondike Highway from Whitehorse to Braeburn.
• On the Aishihik Road from the Alaska Highway to the village of Aishihik, in the heart of bison country.

Jung said the corridors, which are being opened on a trial basis, should not only reduce bison numbers and limit their range but also keep the large animals off Yukon highways, where they pose a hazard to motorists.

"We have seen, for example, some of the issues they've [had]in the Northwest Territories and in British Columbia along the Liard Hot Springs area, with all the bison on the highway," he said.

"So, we're trying everything we can to discourage bison that spend time on the highway, and one of them is to provide hunting opportunities to keep them off the highway."

Biologists say targeting bison cows is considered to be the most effective way to control bison numbers but that huntersshould avoid orphaning calves in the process.

"We are still asking that people take cows where they can," Jung said.

"We're a little nervous about the fall season in terms of the orphaning issue, so we do ask that they don't shoot a cow that appears to have a calf at heel."

Outside the wood bison herd's core area, licensed hunters are also allowed to hunt bison year-round.

The traditional wood bison hunting season remains in effect in the core bison area from December through March.