View Full Version : Where are the moose?
taurus
10-19-2009, 10:08 AM
Hunted 7-16 and 7-23 for a week. My buddy shot an immature before we even set up camp and we were all pumped think we had a week to fill the rest of our tags, there were four of us. With all of us covering different areas one cow and calf were seen. Wasnt only our bad luck we talked to several camps with multiple hunters in each who had either had not harvested anything at all. Talked to a guide in the area who said that the Outfitters were also having limited success. His theory is that in the past few years the Govt has been handing outbout 4 times the LEHS they used to as well as extending cow calf season by ten days. Their reasoning, get ready for this and Have heard this theory several times now is that if they significantly reduce the moose population in the area the wolves will move out of the area leaving the CARIBOO alone. Ive lived in PG for 14 years and have never seen a cariboo. Im thinking maybe they are already too far gone but the govt in their infinite wisdom thinks the right thing to do is to wipe out the moose so the Cariboo can recover. What are your thoughts and how are you guys in other areas doing?
lip_ripper00
10-19-2009, 10:15 AM
PGK set me straight on this issue a few weeks back, woods cariboo are native to the area, moose is not. I have also been told about thinning the moose out so the wolves will leave, to bring back the cariboo.
That is the idea. And it's working. There are less moose. And if anyone that hunts in 7-16 or 7-23 ever got off the quad or out of the truck, they would probably see moose. Caribou live at high elevations most of the summer and early fall. It's highly unlikely to see them in that area anyway, as their numbers are quite low. I was up the Missinka last week collecting wolf scat as part of the project to help see what the different packs have been feeding on, and which ones use the Missinka valley the most, as there is no one pack that uses the Missinka as it's territory.
Do some reading...
2008 report
http://www.bchydro.com/pwcp/pdfs/reports/parsnip_caribou_2008.pdf
2009
http://www.bchydro.com/pwcp/pdfs/reports/pwfwcp_report_no_332.pdf
leadpillproductions
10-19-2009, 10:50 AM
how about just shoot the wolves that should help
Actually, for the MILLIONTH time, killing wolves doesn't solve the problem.
Because you'd have to spend tens of thousands of dollars doing it multiple times per year, every year. Because if you leave the population of food (MOOSE) on the landscape, and you knock back the wolf population, the wolves will do what is called compensatory reproduction, essentially having more and more and more pups, because the food is available (large moose population). When there's less food on the landscape for wolves to eat (MOOSE), they have less pups, live in smaller packs and generally cause less of a problem.
But no, the only thing people can get through their heads is killing the big bad wolf. It doesn't work.
bigwhiteys
10-19-2009, 10:59 AM
But no, the only thing people can get through their heads is killing the big bad wolf. It doesn't work.
Doesn't work where...? in the regions the study is going on or anywhere?
Carl
The Hermit
10-19-2009, 11:04 AM
wait... if you thin out the moose the wolves will just take more carriboo!!! I can't imagine that the MOE would be that daft!!!
jml11
10-19-2009, 11:47 AM
Ive lived in PG for 14 years and have never seen a cariboo.
You aren't looking in the right place :smile:. Saw quite a few while Grizzly hunting this spring. While I understand the management tactics a bit I can't understand why they are isolating the parsnip area at this time. Seems to me there are troubled caribou in 7-17 and 7-18 as well with just as many (if not more) predators. Maybe we will see changes to the moose seasons in these areas as well?
vortex hunter
10-19-2009, 12:08 PM
Hey all I'm new around here looking to meet some cool new hunting buddy's to hunt moose etc. I like long hikes stalking and I hunt with an excalibur vortes crossbow it packs a big punch 200lb draw shoots 330fps and I am kinda a green thumb but hunted in the past with my father would anyone like to take me hunting pm me thanks....
mxracer328
10-19-2009, 12:14 PM
all the moose are in my freezer
wait... if you thin out the moose the wolves will just take more carriboo!!! I can't imagine that the MOE would be that daft!!!
This is what happened in a similar study in the Kootenays. It's called prey switching. The (hoping!) difference this time is the timeframe over which the changes happen. The moose population in the kootenays population was dropped really, really fast. So the wolf population just did a fast adjustment, and found new food...caribou...bad news!
The thinking in the Parsnip study is that the moose population is being brought down over a longer period of time, and the packs will either a) break up or b) move out of the area (or both).
It's already happened to the Hominka pack. The alpha male was hit by a truck and the pack has since fragmented. That's another reason we were collecting scat, to see if any of the Hominka wolves have joined other packs, or may be lobo-ing in another drainage. I'm of the understanding that currently there is no active wolf pack in the Hominka valley, although the Parsnip mainstem pack does venture up there occasionally.
As to why the Parsnip, specifically, I don't know why they decided to study there. Probably because it has relatively easy access. I imagine if it's deemed workable in other units like the Torpy and McGregors, we may see extended moose seasons there as well.
Sitkaspruce
10-19-2009, 02:55 PM
Hunted 7-16 and 7-23 for a week. My buddy shot an immature before we even set up camp and we were all pumped think we had a week to fill the rest of our tags, there were four of us. With all of us covering different areas one cow and calf were seen. Wasnt only our bad luck we talked to several camps with multiple hunters in each who had either had not harvested anything at all. Talked to a guide in the area who said that the Outfitters were also having limited success. His theory is that in the past few years the Govt has been handing outbout 4 times the LEHS they used to as well as extending cow calf season by ten days. Their reasoning, get ready for this and Have heard this theory several times now is that if they significantly reduce the moose population in the area the wolves will move out of the area leaving the CARIBOO alone. Ive lived in PG for 14 years and have never seen a cariboo. Im thinking maybe they are already too far gone but the govt in their infinite wisdom thinks the right thing to do is to wipe out the moose so the Cariboo can recover. What are your thoughts and how are you guys in other areas doing?
Let me guess the Guides name was Mark.......
I just finished up guiding for moose this year in an area that has not had any increase in Bull tags and a slight increase in Cow tags. It was by far the toughest hunting I have had to do to get my clients moose. So it was not just in 7-16 or 23, but all over. I talked to lots of guys who are still trying to fill their bull tags and they live there. I found the moose to be up high and in the real thick crap. They did not move much, the heat from the summer changed their patterns and they were already bunched up (bulls and cows) so the rut was pretty quite and the bulls did not have to travle much to find the cows.
All this crap about way too many tags and extending the calf season is just his excuse for poor guiding.
I find it funny that the same excuses are used when ever someone does not get their moose. What about the discussion in the offseason about hunter #'s are much lower and moose are at an all time high and that we should have a GOS. I could not imagine the excuses if the moose was not in the back of the truck. I am not aiming at you Tauras, just at the guide. Some think that the moose are all theirs. That is why it is called hunting and not shooting.
Cheers
SS
30-06
10-19-2009, 03:07 PM
on my hunt in 7-23 parsnip i seen caribou...grizz...not one moose tho
on my hunt in 7-23 parsnip i seen caribou...grizz...not one moose tho
I'd love to hear where you saw the bou...pm if you like.
Bowtime
10-19-2009, 03:18 PM
A guide would say they are giving out too many tags. The moose are there, just have to find them.
tomahawk
10-19-2009, 03:25 PM
A guide would say they are giving out too many tags. The moose are there, just have to find them.
4 of us hunted for the better part of 8 days, had approx 30 bulls answering the call over that time frame, some would be the same ones from the day before but we were calling over several different area's and there were lots of bulls where we hunted.
4 of us hunted for the better part of 8 days, had approx 30 bulls answering the call over that time frame, some would be the same ones from the day before but we were calling over several different area's and there were lots of bulls where we hunted.
I thought you were in 7-7?
7-7 is a really good unit for moose!
Or, if you read the reports, you'll find out that the moose population has been kicked back by about a thousand animals...so there *are* less moose.
BCBRAD
10-19-2009, 04:33 PM
it was like this in 1990, in our area we saw cows everyday this year, with 5-13 closed except for LEH we saw a lot of Quesnel hunters . we have meat in the freezer but a bit harder than other years.
jml11
10-19-2009, 04:44 PM
I'd love to hear where you saw the bou...pm if you like.
From past threads he started, he was hunting 7-23 A Kennedy Siding.
tomahawk
10-19-2009, 04:58 PM
I thought you were in 7-7?
7-7 is a really good unit for moose!
Your right I was, just added that as the overall conversation was about less moose in the bush in general but I have been hunting the same area for almost 30 yrs and there is as many today or more as there was back then.
killman
10-19-2009, 05:21 PM
We know why the study was done in the Parsnip, don't we huntergal.
The Hermit
10-19-2009, 05:48 PM
My hunting partner for the moose trip this year has hunted that same area for 25+ years and said this year was the slowest in a long long time. We got our two moose but had to work harder for them than he could remember. Maybe he is just getting long in the tooth and short in the memory! <razzz>
Two seasons ago I had a draw in 7-16b Parsnip and didn't see a single animal, moose, deer, bear and certainly no Boo!
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