2016 Annual Report • Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 17
P I L O T S T U D Y F O R E S T I M A T I N G E L K P O P U L A T I O N S
Wildlife agencies have had difficulty estimating elk and deer populations in
areas of dense canopy cover with traditional aerial surveys, as well as newer
methods such as forward-looking infrared imaging systems. Game and Parks
has encountered similar issues in the Box Elder Elk Management Unit in the
Loess Canyons in southwest Nebraska due to dense eastern red cedar cover.
Non-invasive genetic sampling (NGS) Mark-Recapture techniques have been
successfully applied to cougar fecal samples in Nebraska, and the agency
believed these methods were feasible for elk. Staff surveyed a 10-square-
mile known elk wintering area for five days in March and collected 193 fecal
samples. Of the 193 samples collected, 125 contained valid elk DNA. Fifty-eight
individual elk were identified: 30 females, 23 males and five in which sex could
not be determined. The analyzed data produced a population estimate of 99
individuals. Staff believed this estimate was accurate and reasonable given
landowner reports and what is known about this particular herd. The agency
plans to survey the entire unit during the winter of 2016-2017.
