Moose population near Pink Mountain

[VI Blacktails]

I have heard the moose have taken a huge hit in numbers and the reason is from FRAKING.All the ground water is being polluted by the gases that escape during the procedure.Has anybody heard of this?

[tinhorse]

I worked in fort Nelson for 3 years and I hunted the areas out the Sierra that had heavy Fraking going on and the moose numbers there was excellent. Not sure if that would be the cause or maybe part of the problem>

[Onesock]

Could be the fracking wolves!!!

[Ohwildwon]

Could be the fracking wolves!!!

Ha, good humour! :-)

[bandit]

The problem is not the alleged gases or groundwater pollution. It's the roads and pipelines they build. It makes life very easy for wolves.

[northernhunter]

I work in the Sierra area around Fort Nelson almost daily in areas where all the oil and gas activity is and there are lots of moose. Probably something else, wolves, shit load of roads and hunters.

[604ksmith]

I haven't spent a lot of time near Pink Mountain, but I think a lot of people are overly concerned with declining Moose numbers.

I see what I think to be a very healthy population of Moose all around Central/Northern BC. The amount of sightings and sign indicate there's still Moose around IMO.

Maybe they're just becoming a bit more knocturnal?

[Sitkaspruce]

I have heard the moose have taken a huge hit in numbers and the reason is from FRAKING.All the ground water is being polluted by the gases that escape during the procedure.Has anybody heard of this?

Hahahaha....I needed a good laugh today.....Fracking killing moose.....now what will the greenies come up with next.....hahahaha!!!! Let them keep thinking that.

There is NO EVIDENCE that Fracking is killing anything.......lots of studies being down right now about earthquakes, groundwater contamination and over pressuring, but nothing about killing animals.

The fragmentation of the land is causing bigger problems; all the roads, pipelines and seismic lines are allowing press to travel easily through the bush.

PM is a busy, busy place, but you can find animals, just need to get out and look around. Was up there last week and saw caribou, moose, deer and grouse.

Cheers

SS

[TARCHER]

Hey, I'm not a big fracking fan but I'd bet everything I own that it has nothing to do with declining moose pops

[Liveforthehunt]

Hey, I'm not a big fracking fan but I'd bet everything I own that it has nothing to do with declining moose pops

Hmm well they do use alot.... and I mean alot of bad chemicals . I wouldn't factor it out of being a possibility. I have not noticed a decline In the area .

[Tyler660]

No bull moose up here. They all took off to mount polley ...... heard the cows were easy out there.

[Surrey Boy]

Got harvested by Blueberries.

[panhead]

Have seen the Chilcotin slide downward in moose population ever since roads were built for logging. Just doesn't seem to level out either.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best bumper sticker in a while ... No fricking fracking.

[Skull Hunter]

We saw piles of moose on our Bison hunt this past winter.

[The Hermit]

Could be the fracking wolves!!!

A hahahaha post of the month!!

[recoil]

That's strange, we saw no moose on our bison hunt last fall but loads of elk. I dont believe the moose have died off in the area but rather they are concentrated in pockets and they key is to move around until you find some sign.

[Doublelung]

They are there in small pockets as the wolves have been hard on them. Our party got two, the party down the road only seen 2 moose but they drive around all day on there quads.

[Edge]

ya, I always thought it amazing how many moose I didn't see when on my quad....go into an area..park the quad and glass and move around and voila....moose...my HO

[.264winmag]

Fracking 2-3km under ground affects nothing on surface, water table ends around 500 meters where I'm at so it's impossible to contaminate water when there is no water. 3 strings of casing cemented in the hole prevents that. There are many ponds out in our drilling areas for storing used water etc. just giant holes dug, lined and little strings with flags, owl statues, propane bird bangers etc to keep birds out. Seen many of moose/elk/deer feeding just outside the fences of these ponds on the fresh grass. They don't seem to mind the frac grass as they keep coming back. I'm sure there used to be more animals up here back in the day but so far, in my travels, this area has the highest population of ungulates I've seen in bc...Hudson hope/ft St. John that is...

[CoreShackJack]

Lots of good humour on this thread!

.264winmag hit the nail on the head. Like he's said, hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas happens 1.5km+ BELOW the water table. The three strings of casing that he refers to are: surface casing, intermediate casing, and production casing. The producing oil or gas and their associated chemicals and liquids must penetrate through those casing tubes that are cemented in place in order to directly contaminate the groundwater. When you frack, the induced fractures in the rocks are on the order of meters not hundreds of meters or kilometers....not to mention there are countless impermeable strata above.

Here's a diagram as I understand this can be difficult to visualize if you are not familiar with the operation.

http://www.excoresources.com/images/environment-graphic-6.jpg

[sneg]

not sure about fracking. but moose population is down big time. bio have collared a number of cow moose to see what is reason for mortality. still did not came up with conclusion.

[.330 Dakota]

Its more than likely from over hunting by wolves and other careless users of the resource..

[Moose63]

From my experience PM moose pop are down.....

[Cordillera]

If fracing was a cause then declines would be seen across all the areas where fracing takes place. The populations are down around pink mountain but doing fine in the rest of the northeast so there does not appear to be a linkage. Same goes for roads etc. There could be something else going that is local. There are some me ideas that bears are a bigger issue predator than some think.

[M.Dean]

Got harvested by Blueberries. I've been up there about 6 or 8 times, could count the BB Band members I seen hunting on one hand. Out of the hundreds of other hunters I had the pleasure to talk with, 85 percent of them came from the Lower Mainland. Lots and lots of guys from VI, and most were dam nice people to talk with. We even had the Chief of the Blueberry Band stop by for a chat one morning! I was sitting around the fire cleaning mud off everything I owned, when this pickup came screaming to a halt about 30 feet from our trailer, this Native guy comes running up and say's to me " You got a Elk tag"? Dam right I answered, "There's a huge 6 point Bull crossing the river just around the bend from your camp, I just seen him he whispered to me"! I dam near fell in the fire grabbing my rifle and started running low down towards the river bank, he was right behind me when he started laughing like a SOB!!! Man, you can move real fast he said as he stuck out his hand for a shake!!! We went back to the fire had a coffee and a good laugh, well he laughed and I unloaded my rifle! Great guy to talk with, I asked about the amount of hunters coming up each year, and if many were getting bulls, and like he said, If only 5 percent of hunters get there bull, that doesn't leave many for the Band members. So, between you and me, I don't think we can blame the BB Band for shooting all the moose around Pink Mountain!

[35 Whelen]

working in that area right now and have been all winter, the wolves are numerous and the ticks infesting the moose had to have taken a toll.

[Liveforthehunt]

working in that area right now and have been all winter, the wolves are numerous and the ticks infesting the moose had to have taken a toll.

Ticks 2 winters ago did a decent number ... still lots of animals though

[greybark]

Minnesota`s moose population has declined 60% in the past decade . Studies have indicated warm weather is bad for moose and good for parasitics and ticks lead the way . Climate change is responsible according to Gov biological studies .
The artical was on the Huffingtonpost web site and can be searched ..
Cheers

[Roadkill]

Well I go up the highway every year,I'm an early August GOS guy and had good success every year just gotta beat the heat, I do recall 3 years ago counted 60 moose in 10 days, a banner year for moose head count,but last year got jammed up on wolves.been hunting moose the same hole up thAt neck of the woods since dad gave me a gun and never been a lack of critters

[Sofa King]

Could be the fracking wolves!!!

very good:)

[cas-has-cars]

Was up there in Jan 2015 for Bison and every fresh Bison, Moose or Deer track had a fresh Dog track right on its heals. Wolves are definitely a problem and they had the Bison all separated for easy picking. Seen lots of Elk up high but only seen one large Bull Moose 50 km past the Ranch. Surely not a Fracking problem in my onion. A good old fashioned Wolf kill would solve a few problems, the numbers need to be knocked back.

[Backwoods]

The moose population is down for sure, between all the road kill along the Alaska hwy, the wolves/ bears, the huges groups of hunters that come up and camp for a month just slay, I won't be surprised to see changes in the regs soon.

[Ry151]

Pink mountain looks like a fantastic place to hunt until the season starts. There are so many hunters up there that its pointless imo but People still get there animals. One nice thing is you have no problem meeting new poeple when your up there lol

[Backwoods]

Pink mountain looks like a fantastic place to hunt until the season starts. There are so many hunters up there that its pointless imo but People still get there animals. One nice thing is you have no problem meeting new poeple when your up there lol
Very true!!! It's a zoo of hunters up there, I've spent the last two years hunting up there, put a lot of km,!met a lot of great guys but I don't think I'll continue going up there with all the oil and gas construction and zoo of hunters. Time to put more km on and get off the Beaton path els where!

[moosinaround]

Very true!!! It's a zoo of hunters up there, I've spent the last two years hunting up there, put a lot of km,!met a lot of great guys but I don't think I'll continue going up there with all the oil and gas construction and zoo of hunters. Time to put more km on and get off the Beaton path els where!

or the Beatton path, get it, Beatton River, Beatton path, that actually is a good area to unt moose in the any bull season, up the Jedney, Tommy Lakes, Fontas areas. Hint Hint;) Moosin

[.264winmag]

Lots of good humour on this thread!

.264winmag hit the nail on the head. Like he's said, hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas happens 1.5km+ BELOW the water table. The three strings of casing that he refers to are: surface casing, intermediate casing, and production casing. The producing oil or gas and their associated chemicals and liquids must penetrate through those casing tubes that are cemented in place in order to directly contaminate the groundwater. When you frack, the induced fractures in the rocks are on the order of meters not hundreds of meters or kilometers....not to mention there are countless impermeable strata above.


Here's a diagram as I understand this can be difficult to visualize if you are not familiar with the operation.

http://www.excoresources.com/images/environment-graphic-6.jpg

Pretty much the idea coreshack
we do increase the amount of activity in said area's for a period of time. No more than logging however, never hear much bad about loggers cause we'll slap you lol...

[CoreShackJack]

Pretty much the idea coreshack
we do increase the amount of activity in said area's for a period of time. No more than logging however, never hear much bad about loggers cause we'll slap you lol...

haha maybe back in the day when people were tying themselves around old growth; now it seems 'dem hippie folk have got us oil chasers in their sights.

[M.Dean]

If you can find a half decent area, set up camp, then get on your quad and look for sign, your chances are pretty good you'll find a animal. I did that lots, get back off the "Beaton" path, park the quad and start hiking around, and really watch which way the quad is! Once you get in the valley bottoms and start hiking the sizemic trails, after a few right turns and some lefts, it's hard to remember which bloody one you left your quad on! I found out the hard way the best way to park your quad is in the middle of the trail, that way you can find it if your 4 clicks away from it! You might run into another hunter in there, but I could count the ones I met well hiking around the low lands, there all road hunting and drink'in beer! And, as a last note, if you find the guys that love putting there wall tent up in the middle of the trail that go's for miles and miles along the river up there, run over there coolers, kick there lawn chairs out of the way and run over the corner of there tent as you sneak your quad past them just before daylight, they love it!!! They must be real friendly folks, I could hear them yell'in at me to stop, I'm think'in they was going to Invite me for breakfast??? Mind you, not one of them waved at me when I drove back through there camp 4 or 5 hours latter, but they did had a path cleared so's I didn't have to run over noth'in coming out!!!

[skills]

Myself and a few of my friends have been hunting near Pink mountain for the past ten years and each year I've seen the degrigation of our hunting areas expand and accelerate. Beautifull woodlands and meadows have turned into major access roads,huge clear cuts and hundreds of well sites and such. We hunt from about the Gundy road turn off to the 138 on the south side of the AK hwy. The development up there has been Staggering and much of our hunting area is now un recognizable. The mamoth lights that burn 24/7 at the new pumping station on Gundy Rd. combined with the deafening noise this new facility produces,makes our camp over on the 131 feel more like we'd pitched our tent in an industrial park. But what we believe is the greater cause for dwindling moose population throughout this area is predation.
Every year for the past decade we are seeing and hearing more wolves. This year was outrageous for wolves,they were everywhere we went and we covered allot of ground on the quads trying to find an outlying place or distant valley where the moose hadn't been run raged by wolves. Wolves were right in our camp at night,there tracks fresh in the morning snow,and a group of them stared me down from about 150 yards from our camp fire on our fifth day there. We shot one on the day we arrived yet they weren't at all compelled to leave -- or even shut up,they howled day and night for the first three days we were there.
My hopes are that the animals will adjust to the new landscape once the industrial activities diminish and the clearcuts re generate,but I'm really concerned about what will be left of the moose population to actually recover if they can't get any peace from the relentless predation of the exploding wolf population. The combined number of days our group hunted there this season is about fourty days. We saw only two moose calves. Where do YOU think they're all going?

[44inchStone]

Until we stop FN bands from killing unlimited moose yearly, numbers will slowly decrease.
Most moose near ANY rez are hard to find. Continue killing cows, calves and bulls 365 days a year is not very good wildlife management.

[two-feet]

The industrial activity, and yes even the hunters, are pounding great trails through the snow for the wolves.

[Backwoods]

I work in the Sierra area around Fort Nelson almost daily in areas where all the oil and gas activity is and there are lots of moose. Probably something else, wolves, shit load of roads and hunters. I can't agree anymore, the amount of hunters esspecially with the early season any bull sure does it's numbers on the moose, and then yes the wolves arnt helping, I hunted and worked the last 4 years from fort Saint John to fort Nelson and I have seen moose decline quite substantially. There are moose left but I see a lot less just over a few years. I'm curious if for 2016 they well close any bull season???

[Ltbullken]

Could be the fracking wolves!!!

This is the frackign reason I believe...

[Ltbullken]

Maybe ICBC complains to F&W about the number of moose collisions so pushes for more liberal moose seasons, reducing moose numbers and ICBC settelments. I've 'heard' ICBC pushes for these arrangements. Heck, they pay for roadside counterattack so why not this too?

Also, heard it on good confidence that prov biologists believe a rising prov black bear population is hitting the moose calving areas hard and they are taking large numbers of new calf moose. So, make sure you do your part and take some bears every year!

[1899]

or the Beatton path, get it, Beatton River, Beatton path, that actually is a good area to unt moose in the any bull season, up the Jedney, Tommy Lakes, Fontas areas. Hint Hint;) Moosin

Except the activity there has skyrocketed too. Both industrial and (from two weeks ago):

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/1899/tracks_zpshcco3zmi.jpg

[skills]

Days ago I posted a comment agreeing with you 44,it seems to have been removed by ---someone. Is there someone with the authority to wipe my comments from this site if my words are too polarizing (I mean Honest)? Did I post something too truthful that it had the potential to offend one or more of the guilty parties who are at fault for poor wildlife management, laws or practices? If someone runs away from the facts or spends any energy hiding the truth they are no better than a white poacher! OUCH hu?