North Dakota’s elk, moose and bighorn sheep applications are available, and prospective hunters can apply online at the state Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov.
General lottery applications can also be submitted by calling 800-406-6409. Preferential landowner (gratis) applications must be submitted online. Paper applications are not available.
The deadline for applying is March 27.
A total of 478 elk licenses are available to hunters this fall, an increase of 70 from last year and the most since 2011.
Coordination among state Game and Fish, private landowners and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will continue to highlight elk management in hunting Unit E6.
A record 479 moose licenses are available in 2019, an increase of 145 from last year. Most of the increase is antlerless licenses in units M9, M10 and M11, due to an increasing moose population in these units.
Hunting units M1C and M4 will remain closed due to a continued downward trend in moose numbers in the northeastern part of the state.
As stated in the 2019-20 chronic wasting disease proclamation, hunters harvesting an elk in unit E6 or a moose in unit M10 cannot transport the whole carcass including the head and spinal column outside of the unit. More information on CWD is available by visiting the Game and Fish website.
A bighorn sheep hunting season is tentatively scheduled to open in 2019, depending on the sheep population. The status of the bighorn sheep season will be determined Sept. 1, after summer population surveys are completed. The season was closed in 2015 due to a bacterial pneumonia outbreak.
Bighorn sheep applicants must apply for a license at the same time as moose and elk, but not for a specific unit. Once total licenses are
