Wyoming elk numbers are at least 12.3 percent above Game and Fish objectives, totaling 93,383 in the most recent census, an annual report says.

State wildlife managers counted 25 of 35 Wyoming herds during the winter to come up with what’s known as the post-2008 hunt population estimate for the Game and Fish Commission. The commission used those figures in a recent meeting during which it set hunting seasons for 2009.

The state has a goal of 83,140 animals in its 35 herds, according to the report.

Not counted were 10 herds that are difficult to tally because of their low numbers, dispersed wintering patterns or other factors. If those 10 uncounted herds are at the agency’s goal of 12,065 animals, the state total would be 105,448 animals, 26.8 percent above objective.

The report, 2009 Big Game Hunting Season Recommendation Summary, says 18 of the 25 counted herds were above population objectives and seven of them at the objectives. Managers consider a population at objective when its numbers are within 10 percent, plus or minus, of the state’s goals.

None of the herds was below objectives, the report stated. The agency’s census average for 1999-2008 is 96,734, or 3.5 percent higher than this year’s count.

Last year hunters killed 20,866 elk in Wyoming, down 3.9 percent from the 10-year average, according to the report by Rebecca Schilowsky of the agency’s biological services. A total of 56,316 hunters sought elk last year, an increase of 3.8 percent over the 10-year average.

The report says 37.1 percent of elk hunters in Wyoming were successful in the 2008 season, down from the 10-year average of 40.2 percent. Elk hunting provided 386,254 recreation days in the state last year, down 3.1 percent from the 10-year average.

It took a hunter an average of 18.5 days to kill an elk in 2008, up slightly from the 10-year average of 18.4 days.

Despite the sound overall numbers, wildlife managers still face some challenges as they craft hunting seasons to provide stable, diverse populations, said Bill Rudd, assistant division chief for the agency’s wildlife division.

“I’d say we still have individual herds that provide us with problems getting to objective,” Rudd said in a telephone interview from Cheyenne.

One of those is the Fall Creek Herd south of Wilson, where the agency has offered more and more licenses and extended the hunting seasons in an effort to bring the population of 5,950 in line with the objective of 4,400.

“It takes a long time to harvest an animal there,” Jackson regional supervisor Tim Fuchs said. “The reproductive rate has been stronger than in other areas. Motorized access is more difficult there.

“It just is harder to attain these harvest objectives,” Fuchs said. On the other hand, “we are seeing the quality of bulls in that population that we have not seen in a long time.”

As a result of the census, Game and Fish will issue 150 more antlerless elk permits in the area than last year, when 300 were authorized.

Also, the season for that hunting will extend 15 days longer than last year, until Nov. 30.

If bulls are plentiful in the Fall Creek Herd, they are somewhat scarce in the Gros Ventre Range. Elk there are a subpopulation of the Jackson Elk Herd, but the number of bulls there dwindled until 2006.

That year biologists counted three spike elk per 100 cows, a warning sign that recruitment of bulls into the population was falling off. Managers instituted a “spikes excluded” regulation to reverse that trend.

Managers also trimmed a week off the end of the season, Fuchs said.

“Bulls are vulnerable at the end of the season,” he said.

The strategy appears to have worked. In 2007, biologists counted eight spikes per 100 cows.

The latest count, done from the air because feeding was not taking place at three state feedgrounds in the drainage, was six spikes per 100 cows. The ratio could be higher because of the difficulty of seeing spike elk from aircraft.

“It is working on getting animals into the population,” Fuchs said of the hunting season strategies.

Overall, the Jackson Herd is at 12,935 animals, 17.59 percent above the objective of 11,000.

During the last decade, the herd has averaged 13,947 animals. The herd includes animals that venture to southern Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and the Gros Ventre.

Another ratio biologists scrutinize is the number of calves per 100 cows. The statewide average of 27 “isn’t too bad,” Rudd said.

Among some of the herd sub-units, biologists fret over calf ratios. An example would be the Clarks Fork Herd, adjacent to Yellowstone, where biologists counted 23 calves per 100 cows last winter, Rudd said.

The western segment of the herd is subject to predation, while the eastern segment enjoys living on private irrigated land where grass is plentiful and hunters are few.

Although the herd includes almost 2,500 animals more than the objective of 3,000, the low ratio still is of concern, Rudd said.

“Eventually it would reduce the number of bulls available for hunters,” Rudd said. “Certainly that lower reproduction is having an influence on hunters and their ability to participate in the sport there.”

While Game and Fish might be seeking to reduce overall numbers in the Clarks Fork Herd, it also seeks to maintain a balance of age classes and sexes, Fuchs said. That’s why the agency remains concerned about cow-calf ratios even when herds are above population objectives, he said.