INSPIRE A KID (Photo by Mark Gocke/WGFD) Classifying critters Have you ever wondered how the Game and Fish Department counts animals? Every winter biologists and game wardens around the state use different methods to gather information about the health of big game herds. Wildlife managers wait until winter because most herd animals, like deer and elk, gather in groups on their winter range. In some parts of the state biologists track elk on their winter range using helicopters. In other areas, game wardens count mule deer from their trucks using spotting scopes. These methods are part of a process called classification. Classification is the process of categorizing different types of the same species into 12 | January 2023 a specific group to get an idea of how the overall population is doing. For example, biologists might count how many does and fawns there are in a herd of mule deer. They conduct many of these counts over multiple weeks in the same herd unit to get an accurate count. This type of classification allows biologists to obtain the doe-fawn ratio, which is key to determining if a population is growing or declining. They also look at male-to-female ratios. These ratios allow biologists to determine if more or less harvest of males is needed. We are going to have you practice your classification skills. Can you count how many bulls and cows there are in this elk herd? The answer is upside down under the picture when you finish. FOR MORE ACTIVITIES AND INFORMATION FOR KIDS AND THE OUTDOORS SCAN THIS QR CODE. Tw0 bulls, 16 cows.https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Get-Involved/Inspire-a-Kid