Deer are infected. Now moose? Love and Peace. lmsp

Can moose get it, too? Those are big losses in a short time frame. I'm glad they cancelled the season for the forseeable future.

I kept wishing that they would say something about the moose population further north, in Canada. I'd really like to know if the moose populations in North Ontario and Manitoba are also declining, or if they're still at normal levels in their habitats north of Minnesota.

I'm strongly inclined to think that it's climate change that's doing our Minnesota moose in.

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One factor that may tie all of the life-threatening conditions together is warmer temperatures for an animal geared to cooler climates. With no sweat glands and a gut that has to ferment the moose’s woody diet of twigs, the animals have a hard time when temperatures reach more than 80 degrees.

<snip>

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/montana-wyoming-trying-to-understand-why-moose-populations-are-plummeting/article_cf1fcb02-9699-56d8-9b34-9b297fd4dc5f.html#ixzz2KD17gq2m

are not killing off enough of the parasites the moose may carry.

Hunters only kill 2% of the population each year, and aren't a factor in the decline. The only reason they've cancelled the season is that it's the only thing they have control over, even though it makes almost no difference in the long run.

It's mostly just an indicator of how bad the collapse of MN moose populations has become, and how we have no idea how to stop it.

More restrictions on snowmobiles and 4-wheel all-terrain vehicles would surely help. Those things are noisy, smelly and highly disruptive to natural habitats.

I too agree we need to restrict snow mobiles more than we do...They are hell on wildlife!

The decline is not due to Chronic Wasting Disease, the Cervid version of prion disease. CWD is not widespread among the deer herd in Minnesota, there has only been one free ranging deer found to test positive for CWD there. The problems that the moose in MN are facing is primarily due to parasitic infestation, although brain worm probably contributes to the overall mortality, as well.

And the damn fools want us to import the filthiest, most environmentally destructive petroleum available, Canadian Tar Sands Oil, pipe it to Texas for refining and then export most of it to the huge energy markets of the Far East. Thank you Koch brothers, you idiots!

only I believe 300 permits are issued a year and it is done by lottery and is considered a 'once in a lifetime permit' in other words you can only get 1 permit in your life

Where did you hear that? They cancelled the hunt because obviously the herd does not need that added stress. I use to be a hunter & most of us hunters are the original environmentalist...If it were not for hunters the herds would be in far worse shape. Just like wolves, hunters are a much needed balance when herds are healthy. If the herds are not healthy then there is no need for hunters so the call to cancel the season makes perfect sense.

and the moose hunt is by lottery only and considered a once in a life time experience and I believe that only 300 permits are issued a year which was I said hunting is not the culprit here

The snowmobilers need to be kept out of wilderness areas, and the four-wheel all terrain vehicles also. Those things are loud, smelly and can devastate wildlife habitats. The moose are most likely too busy fleeing the perceived danger to bother finding a mate or raising their young.

are restricted to designated trails

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ohv/index.html

everything here concerning wilderness areas and forests is very strictly controlled

Fewer available trails, then, would be the way to proceed. It's hard to overestimate the impact of those vehicles on wildlife.

I was talking to someone about this and it was suggested that the resurgent wolf population may be playing a role although not the sole cause

That could be true, especially if the animals are worn-out and highly stressed from being chased by wingnuts on snowmobiles. You may have to choose between placating the off-road enthusiasts and saving your moose. I hope you choose the latter.

I can easily chose the latter because although I've lived most of life in Minnesota I have never been on a snowmobile and I'm not Scandinavian either

Now, now . . . let's not start to pile on the poor "Norwegian bachelor farmers."

Norwegian humor is an oxymoron ?

But you can bet I'm going to use it!

States laws are not enough, as so many states are corrupt to their lobbyists interests.

Some idiots chase wildlife. In winter nothing is worse/more stressfull for domestic or wildlife to run off winter fat reserves, be terrorised.

In summertime, in drought areas people will drive those ATVs and their cars! off the paths and spark fires. Some remote desert areas are so fragile, easy to damage we can still see tracks from wagon wheels.

Lobbyists have chipped away on protections for our public lands. That land and those wildlife belong to all us Americans.

I agree, that should be done.

that hunting helps a species by removing the weak, I wonder when hunters are going to offer their services to the local hospitals to thin out the patient population.

Many (though not all) hunters tend to pick the biggest bulls if they're going for trophies. Not surprisingly, this doesn't particularly help the species, since males in prime reproductive years get culled regularly.

Naturally, other hunters may not care if they're just getting their meat for the winter, but there's that tendency to pick the "biggest and baddest" individuals as targets.

properly managed hunts are conducted. There are countless ways to manage a heard or population of wildlife & there are always wildlife biologist who decide how this should be done. (How many of each sex can be shot & the minimum size of males, etc.,) Herds are managed first & foremost for the health of the overall population but herds can also be managed to produce trophy animals while maintaining the health of the herd.

Plus, shooting the "biggest & baddest" is so much harder than anyone who has never tried to hunt/monitor/photograph wildlife could possibly imagine.

Again, state populations are monitored by wildlife biologists to ensure the health of the herd...This is precisely why the hunt was cancelled. Some hunts require hunters to bring their kill to the on site biologist so they can remove jawbones & do a battery of test on them to monitor for disease, etc.,

If hunts were simply start killing anything you want on this date then there would be no hunting before long because there would be nothing to hunt.

Maybe you should join the local Nazi Party with views like that! DISGUSTING!

how can any sensible person support that?

when a species is on the brink, hunting at previous levels, which previously may not have been harmful, could be devastating to a small population.

because the moose population is so low, in the past though it was one moose per permit I think, and not all 300 issued were going to bag a moose either. From what I've been told it's no easy trick moose prefer boggy swampy areas and they weight a lot, adult males 1500lbs and females 1000lbs once you shoot one you have to get it out, I've been told that requires a heavy duty 4 wheel drive type vehicle with winch or something close to that. All in all it's not as easy as deer hunting

Per the local news reports.

Plus, since they only issue permits for males (and moose don't pair up), removing them likely had no impact on population numbers.

The moose are breeding well; that's been established by reports of numerous calves every spring. The main problem is that the young aren't making it through to adulthood.

Lack of enough range,fencing and cattle guards have a huge effect on- especially the young.

An adult can jump a fence, young get caught up in barbed wire. Or worse, a person I know did pictures of a moose and her 2 babies born in their yard. They watched them for about a week. Then the mother moved on hopped the back fence..babies tried to follow and hop the fence..both got belly impaled on the steel posts.

Seen plenty of pictures of the remains of wildlife that tried to walk across those on the ground cattle guards and they break their legs.

Even our BLM when they round-up wild horses. They use helicoptors to panic and run the horses. They run them right over cattle guards and have their ground crew use chain saws to cut off the legs of horses that get stuck in cattle guards.

Several years ago they started limited moose hunts in Maine and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. If you were lucky enough to get a permit it was not all the difficult to get a moose. There are certain places where you can sit and wait for a moose to come along (like logging roads) and just wait for one to come along. They had never developed any wariness of people and hunters. I have been gone from Maine for quite a few years so I don't know what it is like now. But back then it just didn't seem very sporting.

in declining moose populationsThe warmer winters here have enabled ticks to flourish. I can't remember how many ticks they were finding on moose now, but it was easily in the thousands. Baby moose here are severely weakened and dying literally due to loss of blood to ticks!