Alberta Moose populations
I'm a landowner living NW of Calgary in WMU 212 (Calgary Bowzone).
I'm also a hunter, and I pay attention to wildlife populations.
Our Moose population is extremely low compared to what it was 6-8 years ago.
My observations leads me to believe that road kill and the issuance of too many tags in the WMU to the north of the bowzone has destroyed the moose population. When I talk other landowners of significant size I get the same story. They are not seeing many moose. When I talk with the local Biologist each year he tells me they do aerial surveys and I'm incorrect on my numbers. Year after year I tell him they have over subscribed the allotted tags for moose north of WMU 212. Finally last year he admits they did issue too many tags but some things you can't change.
Unfortunately my voice is small and very few people know that the Biologists determine the annual harvest of a species.
It would be nice to know if other people are seeing declining populations in the Prairie and Foothills regions. Is the Alberta moose populations going the way of the Dodo bird? Is the decline of this species a result of attempting to create more opportunity for hunters and less vehicular accidents?
My last question is why would the GOA allow the harvest of antlerless moose when the population is plummeting?
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