High moose deaths mean fewer numbers for hunters

By Matt Bewley | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, March 31, 2007

A mysteriously high death rate in the Minnesota moose population has caused the Department of Natural Resources to restrict hunting of all but antlered bulls for the 2007 season.

The northwest moose population occupies a narrow strip between Thief River Falls and the Canadian border. Numbering around 4,000 in the mid-1980s, it was down to 253 in 2003, a more than 90 percent decline. Since 2003, two-thirds of the northwest population has died. Just 84 animals remain.

In the northeast, wildlife researchers estimate there are 6,500 moose left from last year’s count of 8,400, representing a one-year decline of nearly a quarter of the population.

A study of radio-collared moose has identified non-hunting moose mortality that ranged from 9 to 34 percent, the highest being recorded this year. The non-hunting mortality rate for moose is generally between 8 and 12 percent elsewhere in North America.

During the past five years of the study, 80 of the 116 moose that were radio-collared have died. A few have been killed by hunters, wolves, or in collisions with motor vehicles, but the majority appears to have been killed by some unknown diseases or parasites, the DNR said.

“We’ve tested for all of the diseases and parasites known to kill moose yet the cause of death in most cases, remains unclear,” DNR wildlife researcher Mark Lenarz said. “It’s still too soon to predict the long-term trend for the northeast moose population. We continue to work with scientists from around the world to determine what might be causing mortality in these moose.

In the northwest, results of a recent study suggest climate change, in combination with pathogens and malnutrition caused the decline of the moose population, Lenarz said.

Until more answers can be found, the DNR is implementing the hunting restriction as a safety measure to protect the remaining population.

“While hunter harvest is only a minor part of overall moose mortality,” DNR big game program coordinator Lou Cornicelli said, “DNR biologists feel that restricting cow harvest is a prudent measure, given the unexplained moose mortality in northeastern Minnesota.”

In 2006, state-licensed hunters killed 133 bulls and 28 cows. Whether the restrictions will be continued in 2008 is at present unknown.