Hunters have taken a record 150 woodland bison in the Yukon this winter.

That was the count to noon today. The season ended Tuesday, but the 72-hour mandatory reporting period doesn't end until tonight.

It's estimated there were 63 cows harvested, and 87 bulls.

March was by far the busiest for hunters, with 73 bison harvested: 31 were taken in February, 20 in January, and 23 in December. Three were shot in October as part of a highway control program.

For the first time in the 11-year history of the bison hunt, the permit draw was eliminated and the hunt was opened to all licensed hunters in an attempt to increase the harvest and reduce the growing bison population.

Big game biologist Tom Jung of the Department of Environment said today he's happy with the 150 animals that were taken, even though the harvest target was 200 animals.

The highest harvest previously was 97. That doesn't include several bison taken that year during a special pre-season animal control effort to reduce a small herd hanging out along the Alaska Highway right-of-way.

In addition to the extreme cold that gripped the territory for much of the early going of the season, which opened Dec. 1, Jung suspects the past winter's record snowfall also cut into the harvest potential.

The bison, he said, were doing some odd things this winter; they were in places like creek valleys where you wouldn't expect to find them normally; and they weren't moving around as they usually do.

Jung said bison are usually always on the move, unlike caribou and moose. With less movement, there was less chance of hunters picking up fresh tracks to follow, he said.

"I think this year they were pretty hard to find."

The bison population was estimated at 1,100 after a comprehensive count in 2007, more than double the ceiling of 500 that wildlife managers want to see.

The animals were transplanted to the Yukon from Alberta in the 1980s and early'90s in an effort to help expand the number and locations of woodland bison, which are on the list of threatened species world-wide.

While the intent was to keep the population at 500, with no natural predators, it surpassed the ceiling by the mid-1990s, forcing the Yukon government in 1998 to begin an annual hunt as a mean of controlling the numbers.

The bison, however, grew weary quickly. Very early in the last decade of winter harvests, the success rate of hunters continued to fall, as the animals learned what the sound of a snowmachine meant.

Jung said the bison technical team will meet next week to review the success of this winter, with an eye on the 2009-10 season.

There will be another comprehensive count this July when the bison tend to congregate up high in the mountains after calving season. The count will also assist the technical team in setting its harvest target for next season, as well as help verify the accuracy of the 2007 count, he said.

Jung said under normal circumstances, the Yukon's bison population grows by about 18 per cent per year.

The technical team set a management goal last year of reducing the bison population to 500 animals in three to five years, with this season being year one.

The ceiling of 500 was established to minimize the impact of bison on the natural moose and caribou populations; and to reduce the incidents of property damage and vehicle collisions.

Jung said there is some evidence that wolves are starting to hunt bison, particularly calves.

There were a couple of confirmed wolf-kills a couple of years ago, and a caribou research team flying in the area during the winter recorded wolves following a group of bison.

Wolves were also seen this past winter killing a bison at the north end of Aishihik Lake, near the village, though it was believed the bison had been wounded previously by hunters, Jung explained.