December 2024 - 28

Rockies, involves technicians going to established
areas and counting birds. This program
has a rigorous protocol and sampling design
to better estimate bird densities.
Wildlife managers aren't the only ones contributing
to population and abundance estimates.
The public also plays a role in estimating
this critical information. Every year, a random
sampling of hunting license holders are asked
to fill out a harvest survey. The survey gathers
harvest information and feedback on the
hunting season. Wildlife managers use hunters'
responses when making wildlife management
decisions. These surveys allow Game and Fish
to estimate harvest. For big game species, this is
one of the variables that biologists use in population
models to estimate herd abundance.
Wildlife managers also use information from
the harvest surveys when setting hunt quotas
and season dates.
It can be tricky to get population estimates
for underwater species. In streams and rivers,
fisheries managers utilize electrofishing to estimate
fish populations. The process involves
sending an electrical current into the water
to stun fish. Game and Fish personnel net the
fish as they float to the surface. This method
can be useful to estimate fish abundance in
streams and rivers, and it is a nonlethal way
to sample fish.
In larger bodies of water like lakes, electrofishing
is not as effective. Fish can navigate
around and under the electrical current, so
fish biologists often use nets to capture fish.
Nets can be placed in the same locations over
time, and fish managers can get a good idea of
how the population is trending by comparing
the species and how many fish are caught
over the years.
Physically seeing an animal isn't the only
way wildlife managers can count wildlife.
Some innovative techniques allow biologists
to estimate a population without seeing the
animals. For example, Game and Fish large
carnivore biologists have implemented new
strategies for estimating black bear densities
by collecting hair samples from bears. This
allows for estimating local densities and has
been done in the Big Horn, Sierra Madre,
Laramie and Wyoming Range mountains.
" Noninvasive hair snare sampling allows us
to use the best available science informed by
high-quality data when making management
decisions for black bears, " said Ryan Kindermann,
a Game and Fish large carnivore
biologist who oversees black bear monitoring.
28 | December 2024
A black bear inspects a lure at a hair snare site in the Sierra Madres. (Photo by Ryan Kindermann/WGFD)
Wire snares around a scent lure are set up by wildlife biologists to collect black bear hair samples for the purpose of estimating
populations in certain areas around the state. Wires are placed at a height where bears are forced to crawl under, resulting in
some hair being left behind. (Photo by Ryan Kindermann/WGFD)
Black bear hair is caught on a hair snare set in the Bighorn Mountains. (Photo by Ryan Kindermann/WGFD)

December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2024