In recent years, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has cut the number of moose hunting permits. It proposes to drop the number again in several regions this year as the department works to grow the state’s moose population. The department also wants to ensure there are enough bull moose to be seen by wildlife watchers.
This year’s proposal, which affects only five of the state’s 29 wildlife management districts, highlights the value of Maine’s increasingly sophisticated wildlife monitoring. The state has several projects underway to assess the size and health of Maine’s moose herd. It bases proposed hunting levels on this data with a goal of maintaining a stable moose population.
DIF&W has been tracking moose through the use of radio collars in a large management district west of Moosehead Lake for three years. It has added another district in far northern Maine to this tracking study, and Maine biologists are sharing data with their peers from New Hampshire to assess the herd in western Maine. Data from these different geographic areas give DIF&W a good sense of moose numbers and health in a variety of habitats.
In addition, DIF&W has increased its use of aerial surveys of moose, gathering additional data on their numbers and age and gender breakdown. Hunters also are required to bring ovaries to a registration station from the female moose they kill in November. Research on the ovaries has shown that cow moose are having fewer calves than in the past, which is a cause for concern.
This is an important finding. Lower reproduction rates do not bode well for a stable moose population in future years.
But the problems aren’t confined to reproduction. Winter ticks continue to weaken moose, especially calves in their first winter, and raise mortality rates.
When a collared moose dies, Lee Kantar, the state’s moose biologist, receives a text and an email. A team tracks down the moose within 24 hours, and biologists perform a complete necropsy so they can learn how and why the moose died. Kantar’s team recently spent five days in a row collecting dead moose.
Much of DIF&W’s decision-making is based on maintaining a healthy moose population for hunters, but wildlife viewing and traffic safety also are part of the consideration. The department, for example, may issue more permits in certain areas to reduce moose-vehicle collisions. The department also recognizes that wildlife viewing is increasing in popularity.
In Maine, wildlife watchers outnumber sportsmen. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 838,000 people watched wildlife in Maine in 2011; they spent nearly $800 million in the state. Sportsmen numbered 522,000 and spent nearly $575 million in 2011.
Sales of annual Maine resident and nonresident hunting licenses have declined in recent years, though the number of lifetime license holders increases each year.
Interest in moose hunting in Maine also is declining. The number of Maine residents applying for moose permits dropped by about half between 1994 and 2015. Nonresident permit applications dropped from a peak of about 24,000 in 2002 to just under 15,000 in 2015.
Still, the proposal to reduce the number of permits by a quarter met with strong criticism from many hunting guides, who rely on the state’s hunting seasons to make a living. They are seeing plenty of moose, they say.
Less than two years ago, when a question to ban bear baiting, hounding and trapping was on the ballot, “trust our biologists” was the mantra of the sportsmen, guides and lawmakers who opposed the referendum.
That logic should apply to moose as well. DIF&W’s investment in moose research is paying off as biologists are making decisions based on more and better-quality data to ensure the long-term health of Maine’s moose herd.
