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Gunn, Fournier, and Nishi.
2000. Abundance and Distribution of the Queen Maud Gulf Caribou Herd,
1986-98. 81 pp.
ABSTRACT
It was uncertain as to whether the barren-ground caribou
(Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) wintering around Bathurst Inlet,
Nunavut, in the late 1990s belonged to the Bathurst or another herd,
although the commercial tags were assigned to the Bathurst herd.
To determine the herd identity, we fitted five cows east of
Bathurst Inlet, Nunavut, with satellite collars in April 1996. This report summarizes the seasonal distribution of the five
satellite-collared cows from April 1996 to June 1998. We also report aerial surveys to delimit calving distribution
in 1986 and 1996. The
collared cows calved along the Queen Maud Gulf in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and
spent the summers mostly in the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary. The fall and spring migration of the herd is through and
south of he Thelon Game Sanctuary, and the winter range extends into the
Northwest Territories where the tundra merges with the taiga. In 1986 we estimated that 11 265 caribou were on the calving
grounds, and in 1996 we estimated 83 134 caribou, which extrapolates to
about 200 000 caribou in the herd that is seasonally hunted by people from
Gjoa Haven, Umingmaktok, Cambridge Bay and Lutsel K’e. The Queen Maud Gulf herd’s traditional calving ground
overlaps with the Bathurst herd’s traditional (but not current) calving
grounds, the southern winter ranges overlap with the ranges of the Beverly
and Bathurst herds, and the northern winter ranges overlap with the
Dolphin and Union herd’s mainland winter ranges.
In 1996, the Queen Maud Gulf caribou herd was the fourth largest
herd of barren-ground caribou shared between the Northwest Territories and
Nunavut. |
