Understanding the drivers influencing ungulate population dynamics is crucial for developing conservation and management strategies to support wildlife health. Trace and macro elements are vital for ungulate growth, reproduction and survival. Thus, the trajectory of wildlife populations may be associated with element imbalances. Element concentrations can be measured in hair, an increasingly recognised bio-monitoring tool. However, a better understanding of the relevance for wild ungulate population dynamics is needed. This study aimed to assess if element profiles in hair reflected the population trajectory of a keystone Arctic ungulate, muskox