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Should moose permits be increased?

Submitted by Susan Young on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 21:24.

From reader Vaughn Anthony: The latest Maine moose assessment says that the animal's population has doubled in the past decade while the moose browse has declined by 25 percent to 75 percent and parasites are now killing moose in significant numbers. The
scientists say the herd should never be greater than 60 percent of its carrying capacity, which it now may be. The current permit system allows a removal rate of only 5 percent
of the population, while 20 percent is required to merely stabilize the abundance. Would you favor increasing the moose permits to 20 percent, at least in some areas, to stabilize
the abundance?

Should moose permits be increased?

Submitted by John G on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 21:59.

Sounds like another cockamamie idea from the outdoors extremists. More moose are dying so their answer is to kill more moose. Their self-professed primary goal is to kill more and more of Maine's wildlife. It's typical standard operating procedure for these fanatics. They invent "facts" based on nothing, then they preach them as if they were gospel. What "moose assessment"? Who developed it? What science, if any, is behind it? If the outdoors extremists really cared about the moose population, they'd demand that IFW develop a real moose management program using some of the millions of dollars that they've taken in from moose hunters. Moose are dying and moose numbers are dropping across the southern portions of their range from Minnesota to Nova Scotia, likely due to warmer and shorter winters. The solution isn't to kill more moose. Perhaps the only thing that we can do is to decrease the number of moose killed by hunters to try to offset the growing number of moose killed by disease and parasites. Maine's moose don't belong to hunters. They belong to all of us.

moose permits

Submitted by janice on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 16:00.

I don't know where Mr. Anthony is getting his figures on moose numbers but according to MDIF&W the state does not know the number of moose in Maine. This has been one of the major problems with moose management in the state in that we do not know population numbers for the herd. The only accounting of moose is to ask deer hunters to send the state a form listing the numbers of moose that they saw while hunting deer. Definitely not a very scientific approach.

One factor is known is that winter ticks are negatively effecting young moose and causing significant deaths. This is not caused by population density since winter ticks are more prevalent in southern Maine where there are fewer moose. One of the factors causing winter ticks to increase is the increase in temperatures in the fall.

Until a scientific census can be held and a more accurate accounting of the population is known and the science behind the long term effects of winter ticks is known, I believe that the moose hunt permits should be decreased and that it would be irresponsible to increase the number of permits.