The Northern Yellowstone Elk: Density Dependence and Climatic ...

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120 DENSITY DEPENDENCE IN YELLOWSTONE ELK * Taper and GoganJ. Wildl. Manage. 66(1):2002ported by establishment of the Dome MountainWildlife Management Area by MDFWP and acquisitionof other private lands north ofYNP by sporthuntingorganizations. The MDFWP is responsiblefor establishing harvest quotas during aregular fall hunt and a late winter hunt. Huntersuccess is influenced by a combination of the timingand numbers of elk leaving the park, weather,and MFWP regulations. The MFWP has steadilyincreased the legal harvest of northern range elkin both the regular and late hunts. An average of>1,500 elk were taken each year by huntersbetween winters 1975-1976 and 1996-1997 (Lemkeet al. 1998). During winters 1991-1992 and1996-1997, numbers removed (Lemke et al. 1998)approximated the lower levels of elk removals withinYNP during the 1950s and 1960s during the controlperiod (W. J. Barmore, National Park Service,unpublished report). The extent to which currentremovals mimic prehistoric winter dispersalof elk from the northern range remains unknown.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe data analyzed herein were secured by thehard work and dedication of biologists of theNational Park Service, Montana Department ofFish, Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Forest Service, andthe U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1983, theseefforts have been coordinated through theNorthern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife WorkingGroup. We are particularly grateful to T. W.Lemke, J. A. Mack, and D. Tyers for their collaborativeefforts to gather the recent data. Inpreparation of this manuscript, we benefitedfrom discussions of the topic of density dependencein ungulate populations with D. B. Houston,D. R. McCullough, C. W. Fowler, M. S. Boyce,and B. Dennis. Many of these individuals alsoprovided comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.C. Jerde produced the figures. 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