Alberta Moose populations

Nuck99 · #1 10-24-2023, 07:33 PM

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?

Smokinyotes · #2 10-24-2023, 07:40 PM

Your last question is a very good one. I think it is totally stupid having all these antlerless seasons when numbers aren’t great. Around here you can get a cow tag on a P1. Totally ridiculous. The only justification I can see is the insurance companies have probably lobbied the government to reduce the number of claims from auto accidents.
Bears, wolves and unregulated hunting all contribute to decreased moose numbers

Who Da Fisherman · #3 10-24-2023, 07:48 PM

This, near large centres ther is a lot of traffic and accidents which cause serious insurance costs.. large corps against population growth is a no win situation for them.
WDF

Drewski Canuck · #4 10-24-2023, 07:44 PM

Actually ....

Prairie Parkland Moose did not have any significant numbers in the 1990's. However, they have spread out over the major prairie river valleys where there are no wolves and few non regulated hunters after them.

There are more bears and cougars that can prey on calves though, and these predators actually are popping up all over the place.

Alot of cattle ranchers really hate moose. An average bull busts a 4 wire fence like it is tinsel.

Some years ago south of Consort, a friend had a cow tag. We went to ask permission and mentioned that a group of cows and bulls had just gone through the fences on both sides of the roads, and we asked if it would be OK to give it a try. He did not own that quarter, but gave us permission on ALL his land, and were told to take as many as we could. We only had one tag, and filled it promptly.

Drewsk

South west trappin RG · #5 10-24-2023, 07:45 PM

I see the the same in the south. Too many tags. An why all the cow moose tags my opinion there should be zero cow moose tags. One bull can an will breed allot of cows an they are the only thing that make more moose. You want to kill a cow there is allot of elk they give you two tags when you draw in some south zones.

MountainTi · #6 10-24-2023, 07:50 PM

The prairie zone I regularly hunt (and have a moose tag in this year) has had the moose population decimated. Back when the season opened up 20 tags were given out and there were 60" moose around. There are now 120 antlered tags given out. Gonna be a meat hunt as that's about all that is left if you can find one. No idea why the powers that be have done this

slough shark · #7 10-25-2023, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountainTi

The prairie zone I regularly hunt (and have a moose tag in this year) has had the moose population decimated. Back when the season opened up 20 tags were given out and there were 60" moose around. There are now 120 antlered tags given out. Gonna be a meat hunt as that's about all that is left if you can find one. No idea why the powers that be have done this

Yeah it’s frustrating from a trophy perspective, not sure how to keep moose populations down or at least stable though without a higher harvest. I probably hunt a zone close to you (or possibly the same one) and there have been a lot of hunts where I see as many moose as deer. I still see trophy moose although not as many as there used to be but I end up hunting cow moose usually because my wife loves moose meat and I get tags more often. The powers that be probably are sick of how many people hit moose with their trucks, I know several who live out there that have so the population control trumps trophy quality.

58thecat · #8 10-25-2023, 06:55 AM

501 too.....sad we use to have many moose running around but they are spread out and few and far between...just goes to show you shooting moose in February doesn’t pay off.

Drop a cow, two maybe three die....enough said.

honda610 · #9 10-25-2023, 07:18 AM

The only way to bring back the moose population is to drop the anterless tags.....more like stop the Jan to April harvest of pregnant cows.... my zone has a influx of Jan to April hunters our moose population has taken a massive hit. Also it wouldn't hurt to kill a few bears.
We got 4 bears this fall. And didn't even put a dent in the population. Had fields full of bears as well on the crown.