Elk, Moose, Bighorn Sheep Applications Online

Elk, moose and bighorn sheep applications are available online at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. The deadline for applying is March 27.

A total of 833 elk licenses are available to hunters this fall, an increase of 230 from last year.

Licenses in units E1E, E1W and E3 increased due to a stable to increasing elk population. Licenses in elk units E2, E4 and E6 remain the same as in 2023. 

A total of 242 moose licenses are available, a decrease of 15 from last year. 

Licenses in units M5, M6, M8 and M10 remain the same as the moose population appears to be stable with good hunter success in these units. Licenses in M9 and M11 are reduced slightly to align with the observed population in these units. Moose units M4 and M1C will remain closed due to a low moose population in these units. 

A bighorn sheep hunting season is tentatively scheduled for 2024, depending on the sheep population. The status of the bighorn sheep season will be determined Sept. 1, after summer population surveys are completed. 

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 determined for each unit in late summer, the bighorn lottery will be held and successful applicants contacted to select a hunting unit.

Because the bighorn sheep application fee is not refundable as per state law, if a bighorn season is not held, applicants would not receive a refund.

Elk, moose and bighorn sheep lottery licenses are issued as once-in-a-lifetime licenses in North Dakota. Hunters who have received a license through the lottery in the past are not eligible to apply for that species again.