[ODFW-News] Stable to increasing elk populations in southwestern Oregon means good news for hunters and wildlife watchers

[Odfw News]

For Immediate Release Thursday, April 28, 2005

Stable to increasing elk populations in southwestern Oregon means good
news for hunters and wildlife watchers
 
ROSEBURG - Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists today
announced the recent completion of annual helicopter surveys, which
indicate the Roosevelt elk population is southwestern Oregon is
generally healthy and increasing.
 
Elk counts, while sometimes subject to visibility issues, provide
biologists with reliable population estimates and herd composition
counts. By having an estimate of the number of cows, calves, and bulls,
biologists can better manage herds for hunter harvest and population
sustainability.
 
Each wildlife management unit, or hunting unit, has an objective ratio
of bulls or calves per 100 cows. Most units in southwestern Oregon have
a bull management objective of 10 bulls per 100 cows to maintain a
reproductively healthy herd. Typically, herds producing 32 to 45 calves
per 100 cows are maintaining or expanding population levels.
 
In the Douglas County area, the Dixon Unit has a good yearling calf to
cow ratio. 
 
"We can expect a good crop of spike bulls for the 2005 hunting season,"
said Tod Lum, Umpqua District wildlife biologist. "The calves we see
during our February counts are the one and a half-year-old spike bulls
for the fall season. They're very efficient at turning the greenery they
eat into protein, and can weigh as much as 345 to 450 pounds by hunting
season." 
 
Lum said the ratio in the Dixon Unit also should produce a good amount
of bull elk for harvest in 2006.
 
The calf ratio has been increasing the last four years in the Umpqua
drainage portion of the Indigo Unit. 
 
"Hunters should be happy that elk numbers have steadily increased in
this unit," Lum said.
 
Elk numbers also are increasing in the coastal area.
 
"The Tioga Unit continue to produce good numbers of elk with bull ratios
that provide hunters a relatively good chance at a successful hunt,"
said Bill Kinyoun, assistant district wildlife biologist in the
Charleston Field Office.
 
According to Kinyoun, the Sixes and Powers units are not as productive
as the Tioga but are becoming known as units that produce large bulls.
Bull ratios in the Chetco Unit are higher than recent years at 15 bulls
per 100 cows.
 
In the Jackson and Josephine county areas, the Rogue Unit produces the
most elk; however, the South Dixon and Evans Creek units are very
productive as well.
 
"We saw good ratios of bulls in all of these units and large proportions
were considered mature bulls," said Mark Vargas, Central Point District
wildlife biologist. "If weather conditions are favorable, hunters should
have a successful season this fall."
 
Below are the elk count results for southwestern Oregon.
 
ELK CENSUS RESULTS FOR SOUTHWESTERN OREGON
 
Unit Number: 20
Subunit Number: 2
Unit Name: South Siuslaw
Bulls: 5
Cows: 36
Calves: 4
Bulls per 100 Cows: 13.9

Unit Number: 21
Subunit Number: 2
Unit Name: S Indigo
Bulls:24
Cows:224
Calves:63
Bulls per 100 Cows: 10.7
 
Unit Number: 22
Subunit Number: 1 
Unit Name: N Dixon
Bulls:9
Cows:54
Calves:20
Bulls per 100 Cows: 16.6
 
Unit Number: 22
Subunit Number: 2
Unit Name: S Dixon
Bulls:51
Cows:248
Calves: 84
Bulls per 100 cows: 20.5
 
Unit Number: 24
Subunit Number: 3 
Unit Name: E Tioga
Bulls:26
Cows:154
Calves:70
Bulls per 100 Cows: 16.8
 
Unit Number: 24
Subunit Number: 4 
Unit Name: W Tioga
Bulls:45
Cows:225
Calves: 73
Bulls per 100 Cows: 20
 
Unit Number: 25
Subunit Number: 
Unit Name: N Sixes
Bulls:15
Cows:130
Calves:36
Bulls per 100 Cows: 11.5
 
Unit Number: 26
Subunit Number: 3 
Unit Name: E Powers
Bulls:5
Cows:39
Calves:12
Bulls per 100 Cows: 12.8
 
Unit Number: 26
Subunit Number: 4
Unit Name: W Powers
Bulls:9
Cows:59
Calves:10
Bulls per 100 Cows: 15.3
 
Unit Number: 27
Subunit Number: 4 
Unit Name: Chetco
Bulls:24
Cows:163
Calves:51
Bulls per 100 Cows: 15 
 
Unit Number: 28
Subunit Number: 
Unit Name: Applegate
Bulls:0
Cows:24
Calves:7
Bulls per 100 Cows: 0
 
Unit Number: 29
Subunit Number: 1 
Unit Name: N. Evans Creek
Bulls:4
Cows:21
Calves:8
Bulls per 100 Cows: 19
 
Unit Number: 29
Subunit Number: 2
Unit Name: Evans Creek
Bulls:29
Cows:127
Calves:34
Bulls per 100 Cows: 23
 
Unit Number: 30
Subunit Number: 
Unit Name: Rogue
Bulls:67
Cows:460
Calves:131
Bulls per 100 Cows: 15

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