Pronghorn population, licenses decrease

DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) — The number of pronghorn gun hunting licenses available in North Dakota this year is down, mirroring a 7 percent drop in the state’s population of the animals.

The state Game and Fish Department will issue 4,631 licenses this fall, down 2,284 from a record number given to hunters a year ago.

North Dakota’s pronghorn population is estimated at about 14,000, down from 15,000 a year ago, said Randy Kreil, chief of the agency’s wildlife division.

Wildlife officials said the state’s pronghorn population last year was the highest in more than a century and above management goals.

“We had an aggressive harvest on the female segment of the population to decrease the population,” said Bruce Stillings, a state Game and Fish biologist

Three-quarters of the state’s pronghorn herd was killed or driven off during the winter of 1996-97, wildlife officials said. A 1998 census tallied just 4,000 animals.

Only about 100 pronghorn existed in the state in the early 1900s, and their numbers dwindled to about 50 in the early 1940s, wildlife officials say.

This year’s gun season is Oct. 3-19, and archery season runs from Aug. 29 through Oct. 5.

The gun season is open only to North Dakota residents.

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