Are you seeing less moose out there this year?

[alcesgigantes]

If you want what you're seeing out there to be used by wildlife managers I highly recommend you use the BC Moose Tracker app.

Moose hunter observations are key to gathering solid info on bull:cow ratios and calf:cow ratios through the BC Moose Tracker app. If you haven't used it or heard about it you can find more info here: www.gov.bc.ca/wildlifehealth/moosetracker (http://www.gov.bc.ca/wildlifehealth/moosetracker)

While aerial surveys are the best way to get data on population trends it's not possible for surveys to happen every year (or even every 5 years or more in many cases). The almost 40,000 moose hunters out there in BC can be a huge source of info to help understand what's happening.

The app only collects data at the MU level, so you don't have to worry about government knowing about your secret spots.

[MRP]

Moose are a threatened in BC as far as I’m concerned.

30 years ago or more and I said the moose were Going down hill, when I joined this website I stated that and was shot down saying that the moose harvest every year was the ruffly same numbers. I said but there’s more hunters and access to farther into the back country and more quads, again I was shot down.

I’ve always said the cow calf harvest was a stupid idea, you can’t build your herd by killing off your calves. I even heard one biologist say the reason why we hunt caves is because most of them don’t make the winter anyhow??? After joining this website I argue that fact that calves should not be harvested, again I was shot down.

So I’ll say it here now; it’s not going be much longer and Moose will be classed as a threatened species. I do realize that there are some isolated groups with some decent populations. But as a whole from what I’ve seen in areas that used to be loaded with moose, now there is almost 0 moose.
No tracks
No no sine of feeding
No winter feeding
No rubs
No poop
No bones from winter kills
No gut piles from hunting

But I hope the biologist can get it together before that happens! But I doubt it.

[Drillbit]

I spend lots of time in the bush, and the low numbers of moose I've seen and the lack of calves over the past few years is pretty sad.

Our best wolf hunting valley doesn't even hold wolves any more due to no moose there anymore. Completely bleak, no tracks all winter now.

Used to be normal to see 25 moose in the main big meadow in winter.

[Arctic Lake]

Well all I can say is moose better bloody well not end up in a situation that has been described above . How come the Scandinavian countries can do so well ! We better get our act together and right the ship .
Arctic Lake

[RackStar]

Good thing there’s still cow draws and open season on calves in bc

[Buck]

Saw 5 bulls and twice as many cows in 6 days region 5 oct 1

[HappyJack]

Been seeing lots of moose this hunting season, and lots of mule deer, it appears there are less wolves in these areas as didn't hear them howling or see too many wolf tracks.

People need to quit pointing fingers at hunters, there are less hunters now~not more than in years past, they need to realize more moose are killed by trains than by hunters every year. The moose populations have taken a kicking from predators, most notable huge packs of wolves every where you look, they are also starving in some places because some idiots won't stop spraying poison on their prime habitat.

[BCHUNTER21]

in my area theres no shortage of moose at all.

[moosinaround]

Called out lots of moose this year, last year too! Haven’t seen many driving around though! I would have cancelled 4 LEH tags in 3 different MU’s if I could get one! I was out walking around cow calling. I think the cancellation of calf season in most of 7, with the concentration of hunting practices on predators, has produced the most spike-fork moose killed I’ve ever seen!! I’ve actually had the same cow moose on my trail cam for the last 5-6 yrs, calf every year, and twice with twins!! Now we just gotta get rid of the broadcast application Of herbicide, and the moose should do ok! Moosin

[todbartell]

I've been using the moose tracker app for years now. I'm at 0.25 moose per hour in the field, averaging the last 3 years in 7A

Bull to cow ratio 22:100

calf to cow ratio 32:100

[dak0ta]

Saw 1 calf, 1 cow, and 1 bull this year.

[bcsteve]

Saw 7 bulls this year, no cows or calves.

[blaine]

Our group saw lots of Moose this year, Bulls, Cows and Calves. hard to get an animal into a game cutter because their full of Moose.

[HarryToolips]

I've been seeing lots of moose this year and last in my locale, but we don't have pred problem to the same extent as other areas of the province....I hope the province conducts some serious pred reduction, and as mentioned they need to stop using herbicides...

[Bigdoggdon]

I only saw 8 moose on my recent 12 Day LEH hunt, 2 on the road on the way in, the bull my sister shot, the bull I shot plus 3 cows and one calf.

[Just]

Searching for a buck but have seen nothing but moose! They’re rutting hard in my area and seem to be around every corner! Last time I was out I seen 1 cow being chased around by an immy and a bigger bull. And the last 3 weekends have come across a bull and cow while. Nov 1 is coming soon!

[chris]

Around my place the moose numbers have dropped big time. 10-15 years ago we used to see lots. My neighbors and I were talking hunting last weekend and all agreed that we have seen way more this year than we have in the last several. I have no explanation but I do know a couple of ranchers got together last year and hired a trapper who took out 25 wolves! Coincidence or not I don't know.

[browningboy]

I’ve seen more moose than usual this year, in fact seen more moose than deer? Weird

[Arctic Lake]

The topic about Herbicides is a good one . I also don’t like seeing those replants where the trees grow up and a rabbit can’t even make it through there . No browse grown there !
Arctic Lake

[Stillhunting]

Tons of moose sightings in regions 3 and 8 this year. We were up in 3-40 last year for the spike-fork hunt and barely saw any. Seems like they're doing very well in some areas but suffering in others.

[snakeplain]

The farmers in the prairies use a lot of herbicide and there are moose, deer, ducks and geese everywhere. The smaller animals such as gophers, rabbits, foxes and coyotes are doing good as well. The main predators such as wolves and bears are the problem when you find the valley shows no sign of any wildlife during the winter survey. Another issue is the feed. There is no end to a good source of feed in the management zones thru out bc. For the ungulates. For instance, the deer populations are doing really well in Victoria and Cranbrook. The feed is good and there are no predators. Anyhow, killing the cows and calves of any of the ungulates is really stupid. The talk of wanting to improve the Cariboo population is always a wonder for government. When a person has difficulty in figuring out the reasons for the Cariboo decline in those severe mountain areas, there is little hope for improvement anywhere else.

[alcesgigantes]

Seeing all the responses on here reinforces the value of what we as hunters see on the land. putting all that info in one spot through the app takes isolated observations and combines them into a powerful source of info for what's happening with our moose populations.

[Codes44]

I've seen more moose and have got pictures of more moose on my trail cam (including a lot of bulls) than ever before. Truth is, completely depends on region...healthy in some with numbers increasing, vice versa in others. Fire, logging, hunting pressure and disease etc will all vary region to region.

[kitnayakwa77]

The farmers in the prairies use a lot of herbicide and there are moose, deer, ducks and geese everywhere. The smaller animals such as gophers, rabbits, foxes and coyotes are doing good as well. The main predators such as wolves and bears are the problem when you find the valley shows no sign of any wildlife during the winter survey. Another issue is the feed. There is no end to a good source of feed in the management zones thru out bc. For the ungulates. For instance, the deer populations are doing really well in Victoria and Cranbrook. The feed is good and there are no predators. Anyhow, killing the cows and calves of any of the ungulates is really stupid. The talk of wanting to improve the Cariboo population is always a wonder for government. When a person has difficulty in figuring out the reasons for the Cariboo decline in those severe mountain areas, there is little hope for improvement anywhere else.


I think the difference between the prairies and their herbicide use and here in mountainous BC is agricultural feed availability, as well as where the herbicide is applied (regenerating blocks here vs agricultural plots in the prairies). With herbicide use in BC, winter browse is killed off and cannot be off-set to the same degree by other food sources, such as agricultural feed. This happens at a time when moose are most stressed by food availiability, predators, climate etc. At least that is my understanding of it after speaking with a biologist. Road density, escape habitat, and predators (four and two legged) exacerbate the situation. Death of a thousand cuts, both figuratively and in actual fact. That said, it seems moose are doing better in some areas and not as well in others (Central Interior plateau).

[mike31154]

Been spotting moose fairly regularly at one particular alpine lake I visit often, Region 8. A few weeks ago I bumped a big bull a little closer to home while hunting deer. A place I'd never spotted one before & didn't really expect, although the habitat is good with plenty of water & browse. Have the Moose Tracker App & dutifully enter my sightings. Do wonder how useful that info really is to the bios, as I have no idea whether my sightings at the lake are the same animals I spotted before. Plus, and this is unlikely, but what's to prevent some yahoo from corrupting the data with false sightings?

[Neckshot]

I did a fly in hunt 2 weeks ago in Tweedsmuir park. Saw only 1 cow moose the entire time we were hunting (just my son and I so not a large group of hunters). The weather was certainly a factor as it did nothing but blow with rain and snow for most of our trip. The lake we were on had very little in the way of sign and was rather disappointed by the experience. However the guys that flew into a lake not far from us on the same day shot a moose their first morning hunting so not sure what to make of that. So for me I saw a lot less moose than I had hoped in a remote lake while the guys 5 miles over from us got lucky the first day. Take from that what you will.....

[Bugle M In]

My trip to EK was appr 3 weeks later than normal this year.
Had a moose tag and crossbow along.
I didn't see a single Moose this season and last season we saw 3 separate decently large bulls.
(and we have been seeing Moose, mainly bulls for a # of years consecutively til this season in the past)
Also noticeable was the lack of sign!
There are places i always see Moose tracks, and i would say it was a tenth of what it should be.

Now, was it going later than I usually do????
Possibly!
Only my experience this past trip, not a scientific outlook.
Might have been the difference between being in the rut this season and being pre rut all the other years and them having
a different area this time around???