Monitoring of the Beverly, Qamanirjuaq and Ahiak caribou herds is led by Nunavut.

Beverly herd 

The range used by the Beverly herd extends from the boreal forests of Saskatchewan, across the subarctic taiga of the NWT, to the Arctic tundra of west-central Nunavut. The range overlaps with the Bathurst caribou herd on the west, and Qamanirjuaq and Ahiak caribou herds on the east.

The Beverly herd calves in the Western Queen Maud Gulf area. Historically, it also calved on traditional inland calving areas near Beverly and Garry Lakes in Nunavut.

Monitoring and co-management of the Beverly herd is shared by the governments of Nunavut, NWT and Saskatchewan, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the Wek’èezhìı Renewable Resources Board, and the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board.

The 2023–2032 Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Plan: Caribou is Life guides the monitoring and management of this herd in the NWT.

Qamanirjuaq herd

The range of the Qamanirjuaq herd straddles Manitoba and Nunavut with portions in the southeast NWT and northeast Saskatchewan. The herd calves in the vicinity of Qamanirjuaq Lake in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut. The range overlaps with Beverly and Ahiak herds to the west and north.

Monitoring and co-management of the Qamanirjuaq herd is shared by the governments of Nunavut, NWT, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, and the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board.

The 2023–2032 Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Plan: Caribou is Life guides the monitoring and management of this herd in the NWT.

Ahiak herd

The Ahiak caribou calve in the vicinity of the Adelaide Peninsula (eastern Queen Maud Gulf) east to Pelly Bay, Nunavut. The herd spends most summers in the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary. The fall and spring migration leads them through, and south of, the Thelon Game Sanctuary, which extends their winter range into the NWT. The herd winters on the barrens and in the boreal forest in the area northwest of the Saskatchewan border to the north side of Great Slave Lake.

Monitoring and co-management of the Ahiak herd is shared by the governments of Nunavut and NWT, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, and the Wek’èezhìı Renewable Resources Board. There is no management plan in place for the Ahiak herd.

Population

For the latest population estimates for these caribou herds, visit our page on Population Surveys.

Harvest

Resident, outfitted and commercial harvest of Beverly, Qamanirjuaq and Ahiak caribou in the NWT was suspended in 2010.

In January 2014, the GNWT re-opened a resident harvest in the range of the Beverly, Qamanirjuaq and Ahiak caribou herds (limited season, one tag per year, bull-only).