Here’s some good news about moose calves
By V. Paul Reynolds
This fall it will have been four years since Maine wildlife managers introduced the so-called Adaptive Unit moose hunt in Wildlife Management District 4. This was an experimental hunt, using moose hunting permits to deliberately reduce moose densities, and, in so doing, try to reduce winter tick populations that were decimating moose calves.
At that time, Outdoors in Maine wrote:
Today, in certain areas of Maine’s wilderness, there are too many moose sharing the same space. And the winter tick is taking its toll, particularly on moose calf survival and reproduction. According to Maine moose research leader, Lee Kantar, “…the number of calves born each year has dropped significantly since the 1990s, as well as the number of twin calves produced. The prevalence of the winter tick has increased dramatically causing moderate to high mortality in calves trying to make it to their 1st birthday.”
Controlling the winter tick is the challenge. The Maine wildlife biologist points out that research shows that lower density moose populations are healthier populations that produce more calves and have less parasites, including winter ticks.
To this end, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is proposing a test, starting next fall, to determine if lowering moose densities in the western half of Wildlife Management District 4 will result in the decrease of winter ticks. This will be done by significantly increasing the number of cow hunting permits in this test area of WMD 4. Kantar says that the increase in cow permits is likely to be in the hundreds.
Well, guess what?
Today, according to Kantar, Maine’s moose calf mortality in the test area, WMD 4, was at 8 percent for the spring of 2024. In the worst year, calf mortality due to tick infestations in the spring of 2022 was 87 percent of collared calves. This new welcome number of only 8 percent mortality is derived from data obtained this spring from 71 collared overwintering calves in WMD 4.
Says Kantar, “ Previous year it was 28%. [So] 8% is phenomenal, given the last decade of impacts from winter tick and some very poor survival during some years. This should equate to some positive population growth across the moose core range. It also demonstrates that when winter tick numbers are low, survival can be very high. It is also likely that given a lackluster winter with very little snow especially January thru March – that energetic drain was minimal for moose helping keep winter mortality low overall.”
To some folks, who may not pay much attention to the nuances of managing wildlife, all of this may seem counter intuitive: How can you save moose by culling populations?
Calf recruitment or survival is the name of the game. You cannot for long have a healthy, sustaining moose population if the survival rate of yearlings is low, or when you are losing 50 percent of spring calves.
To his credit, as a scientific wildlife biologist Kantar knows it might be presumptuous or premature to take a victory lap. He hedges his bets, and acknowledges that part of this good news may be attributable to simply natural occurrences, an easy season for overwintering moose. But, dagnabit, you know that in his heart of hearts, he must be smiling about this good news.
The truth, as it so often does, no doubt lies somewhere in the middle. The marked improvement in moose calf survival numbers is probably a combination of both weather and the Adaptive Unit hunt strategy.
We’ll know more in the spring of 2025.
The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network. He has authored three books. Online purchase information is available at www.sportingjournal.com, Outdoor Books.