After 1983, local rangers performed the summer censuses presented in this study. The method for these censuses involved walking through areas that traditionally contained muskoxen and then counting the animals. Normally around 10 people participated in these censuses (T. Bretten pers. comm.). Given the open landscape, the high visibility and sedentary nature of the species, and the familiarity that the rangers have with muskoxen in the area, it is likely that these minimum counts came close to representing total counts. Recorded age- and place-specific mortality of the muskoxen in DM was collected from rangers, local newspapers and game departments. In total, 265 animals were lost to the population during the study period. Human-caused mortalities dominated (74 were shot, 63 were killed by the train, six died in research immobilization attempts and five were accidentally poisoned), but natural mortalities also occurred (12 died in lightning strikes and 11 died in avalanches or falls). Many animals also dispersed. In total 64 were found more than 10 km from the population’s distribution. Most of these animals died or were shot (included in the above numbers) but a small propagule established another population in Sweden (Laikre et al. 1997).