Cow Moose Draws To Be Cut By 90% In Omineca Area
Monday, June 3, 2013 @ 4:16 AM
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Prince George, B.C. – The number of hunting permits for cow moose has been cut from 1200 permits in 2011 to 120 permits in 2013 as the Ministry of the Environment attempts to find the cause of the decline in the number of calves per cow moose in the Omineca region.
Speaking to a symposium put on by the Spruce City Wildlife Association, Doug Heard BC Wildlife biologist says there is not one smoking gun in the decline of the moose population but the moose population has dropped by more than 50% in the past four or five years which calls for drastic action.
"The number of calves per cows has been declining dramatically over the past five years" says Heard.
He lists several possible reasons for the decline;
1- Ticks; Heard says there is lots of anecdotal evidence but no solid evidence this can be the cause
2- Weather. There have been several years in the past where heavy snowfalls have occurred, with more snow than has fallen in recent years without a problem of the population taking a sharp decline.
3- Forest Harvesting: Between 2005 to 2008 more of the area wood has been harvested "We would think that the population would grow as the new underbrush develops. The loss of mature forests may contribute a bit."
4- Cows permits , "From the cow permits we cannot see a trend , also the number of calves that have been taken has not shown an upward trend . The calf kill has remained about the same during the period in question."
5- Access: difficulty in accessing areas may be of some concern with quads etc being able to reach areas they could not in the past.
6- Predators, wolves , "While I personally think there are more wolves," says Heard ( in photo at right) "we don’t have a handle on their kill . In the old days we had wolf control and now we have a more natural wolf, moose population." There is some support Heard says for the theory that wolves have contributed to the decline in calf populations. Not many wolves are taken by hunters every year .
7-black bears , "The population is fairly high and we don’t know about their take in any large detail. We don’t know what effect that the new regulation introduced in 2004 that you must remove some of the bear meat from any kill has had. There is however no evidence that there are more black bears."
8. Grizzly Bears– "We don’t think the population of Grizzlies is such to be a problem"
Heard says in 2002 the calf population was 40 calves per 100 cows. In 2013 that number has dropped to 25 calves per 100 cows . "The result has been a drop in the moose population from what we believe was around 25,000 in 1998 to 10,000 in 2012 in the Omineca region. If we are producing the same number of calves then it has become a survival issue."
The gathering was told that about 3,000 hunters who draw for moose will be lost as a result of the reduction in cow permits, that would have increased to 3500 hunters had calves also been included . Heard says when the cow harvest is reduced, it will spill over into gewer calves being taken.
80% of the people that hunt the Omineca Region says Heard are from the lower mainland .
Asked about the First Nations impact on the moose population Heard says they have a right to hunt pretty much anytime, and anywhere. "They are, from what we are able to learn, killing fewer and fewer moose as the population gets older . They are not responsible for the sharp decline in the moose population."
The moose population is in better shape in some other areas of the province, such as Tweedmuir Park, where the moose population is stable.
Jim Glaicar of the Spruce City Wildlife Association says hunters should be joining a group such as the one he represents " The guides have their say, the First Nations have their input and if the other hunters want to have a say they are best served by joining a group which is involved in the discussions over hunting in the province."
Comments
How about NO cow or calf season, No carrying of firearms or bows in or on ATV,s. All firearms in trucks must be cased and locked (cuts down on road hunting) ATV,s used only for recovery of kills. Poachers to do serious time on conviction. All the above apply to native hunters also(even on Reserves)….ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS….
Don, you forgot skidoos, but I agree.
As one that attended this symposium, I believe Hurd is taking the right approach. We will see what plays out over the next 5 years. The reason, that I believe populations are decreasing is actually a combination of these negative factors. More predators, loss of mature timber which results in less winter feed areas because moose will only venture so far from cover. Anyway, you get the picture.
there should be no cow or calf season for a few years to see if the balance can be restored. When i took my deer into the butcher in the fall he told me he had 3 calf moose in his butcher shop last fall. usually has 30 or more so thats a huge drop off indeed. The thing that as a hunter upsets me about the whole thing is the fact that this comes out a week after limited entry draws had to be sent in and our govt just pocketed thousands of dollars for draws they had no intention of having available but waited til draws had to be in to announce it sneaky. As for the reason for the decline u can assume what u wish just as this study did but my money is on the wolf population being out of control. i have seen more wolf tracks in last 2 years than i had in previous 20.
If we could just get people out of their vehicles and walking in the bush instead of cruising the bush in their machines it would be a huge plus. The things you see and hear when everything’s quiet can be quite rewarding, and exercise is great.
Was it 1925 that there were no moose in this country and they came in and settled?
The elk have moved in, same for the white tail and the moose have moved on. Yes there are other things that have moved or depleted them. May just be a migration thing. Prohibit harvesting of moose for five years and perhaps we’ll see the population grow again, revenue won’t be there for the province if we leave it as is.
Allow thousands of LEH applications to be bought and paid for then after the submission deadline announce this cutback in tags issued.
Thats so Liberal of you!
Something else not needed is all the tree huggers dictating how hunters hunt! If they choose to be road hunters thats their choice and sometimes handicapped hunters have no other choice!
All fine and dandy for you younger with no ailments to say get off your ass and walk..i have family members that have hunted for 50 plus years and need the roads and quads now. …I have sat on bc wildlife boards and we should have banned calf season long ago. ……along with herbicide spraying. …not to mention the mast clear cutting with little or no replanting. …all you that sit in your armchairs need to get out go for drive in the back country and see the mess out there. …hunting to my family has been a long time ritual. ..my kids grew up respecting guns and nature and they are now teaching their kids the same. ..what would you choose a day in the woods with no electronic stuff or sitting on their I pads. ..mmmmm
I like Grizzly1’s point on this.
What if what we are seeing now is simply the reality of what moose populations SHOULD look like in the Omineca, given all of the other things that are going on? Perhaps the makeup of the forrest now is a more natural balance than what it was in the past couple of decades?
Let’s be perfectly honest here folks, moose populations in the PG area over the past number of decades were incredibly high. So high that I would hazard a guess that they were abnormal when compared to other areas of the continent. From moose being in McDonalds drive thru’s, to showing up in the backyard, to wondering through school fields and to the point where you’d have a 75% chance of seeing one if you drove on Tyner Blvd. at dusk. It’s great for moose hunters and it’s sort of cool in a weird way, but I don’t think it was “normal” when you look at ow moose populations are distributed in other areas. Heck, if it wasn’t the fact that it was a moose, people would probably think they were pests the population was so high.
This research should tell us a great deal, but the question remaining when it’s all said and done will be the same. Will we let nature take its course? Or, will we decide to intervene to try and manipulate the outcome to what we want it to be?
Did you people even look at the LEH synopsis this year? The draws were not revoked after the fact. The 90% decrease has been in place since the first book came out. So nobody got screwed maybe try and know what your talking about before you go off on a rant
1-$50,000.00 truck
1-$30,000.00 camper
1-$5,000.00 trailer
2-$15,000.00 ATVs
Thousands more in guns ammo gas booze etc every year.
Free meat?
Would be cheaper to buy hand massaged Kobe beef flown in from Japan.
Lots of moose in college hts
oops apparently i didnt read the sypnosis that closely. good job pointing that out superdave. With all the massive clearcutting the moose are sitting ducks for all the wolves that can sit there and wait for them and the slaughter begins. alot of these moose seem to be coming into town and it seems like it is a survival instinct because the wolves will not likely follow them
To Dragonmaster–when we put in our LEH cards the odds were clearly listed for the areas, and also the number of draws per cow/calf, mature bulls etc. It was all broken down, and obvious what the number of tags issued would be! So you had the info!!
Prov1, I and a lot of hunters would see absolutely no problem with a handicap sticker for hunters hunting from a quad and I doubt there would be much abuse either. It would take a lot of noise outa the bush, slim down a few hunters and I wouldn’t be hiding every time I heard one. Been shot at, that’s why I go way back on foot. Done some long packs but it’s good exercise.
Not One metion of CN RAIL and the all the animals they kill on the tracks.
Me too superdave. Who reads the number of tags and odds? I was following OMG’s lead.
Each to their own Grizz!
OMG,wolves do kill moose. Are wolves the main reason for the decline in moose population? Highly doubtful. Doneright is on the right track (no pun intended), in all the years I’ve spent in outdoor pursuits by far & away the most moose fatalities I’ve see have been either on the highway or when I was younger & worked for CN, on the rail tracks.
Ive see grizzly kills, irresponsible hunter kills & yes a couple of wolf kills, I’ve even seen one frozen in the middle of a small lake.
If wolves were the main reason for moose deline then it stands to reason that as the moose population declines, so would the wolf population decline. The exact opposite is happening. The wolves are eating something but for the most part it isn’t moose.
omgreally? .. it states right in the leh synopsis how many permits are allowed, so nothing has been pulled over on you if you looked at the odds or the permits allowed in the area you were interested in. I blame quads, jetboats, sidebysides as the major reason for more moose being taken.
Lonesome Sparrow, to most hunters, price isn’t the reason for hunting meat. I prefer a good moose roast or steak over the crap in the stores anyday. Its hard to explain the reasoning to someone who doesn’t understand the philosophy of hunting.
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