The bison harvest so far this season is well below the number of animals taken by this time last year, but ahead of 2012, says Environment Yukon biologist Tom Jung.

"Every year is different with bison hunting,” Jung said this morning.

"That is what we are learning.”

Since last Sept. 1, 78 bison have been killed by hunters, compared to 117 at this time last year, the senior wildlife biologist pointed out.

Jung said in 2012, on the other hand, there were 66 animals harvested to this point.

With a week and a half left before the end of the season March 31, hunters interested in woodland bison are encouraged to get out – and hunt cows, he said.

Jung emphasized that reducing the number of cows is critical if the goal of bringing down the bison population to 1,000 animals is going to be achieved.

The bison were transplanted from Alberta in the 1980s and early '90s, with the intent of keeping the ceiling at a maximum of 500 animals.

The last overall count in 2011 put the population at 1,230, well above the 1,000-animal ceiling established by the bison technical team in its five-year plan released two years ago.

Jung said harvest levels are affected year-to-year by a variety factors, including weather.

This year's heavy snowfall before Christmas kept the bison from moving around much because they don't like deep snow, and hunters therefore had less opportunity to pick up tracks.

Deep snow, said Jung, is also a deterrent to be the first hunter out to break trail.

Then the warm weather hit during the six-week break in the season from Dec. 31 to Feb. 15.

He said when he was in the field collaring 14 bison two weeks in advance of another full count this July, snow conditions were what you would expect to see at the beginning of April.

And with little snow up high, the bison are moving up high because they don't like snow and once they're up high, they can go anywhere, he said.

Jung expects to see another increase in the herd's overall size this July.

"If we follow the trends we have seen over the last 10 years, we would probably have a little bit of growth, not a lot,” he said, noting the impact the deep snow may have had along with increasing predation by wolves.

"The bison technical team is quite concerned about the growth because we are charged with bringing it down a little bit.

"So we are really encouraging hunters who are interested in bison to get out there. We would like to see an increase in the harvest and we are particularly interested in seeing an increase in the number of cows taken.”

Reducing the herd's reproductive strength is essential to achieving the overall reduction in population, he explained.

Jung said of the 78 animals taken so far this season, 28 have been cows, or 36 per cent.

Of the 162 harvested last season, 74 or 46 per cent were cows.

Jung said he would like the number of cows killed to make up least 50 per cent of the harvest.

The transplant of the bison to the Yukon's southwest from the Elk Island National Park outside Edmonton was part of a program to establish a separate population of woodland bison, which is currently described as a threatened species worldwide.

The initial management strategy was to keep the population at 500, to minimize the impact on indigenous species such as caribou and moose and their habitat, as well as to minimize damage to private property and highway collisions.

With no hunting for several years to begin with, and with no predation by wolves who were still unfamiliar with their new and very big prey, the herd surpassed the 500 mark in the mid-1990s.

The first hunt was held in 1999.