moose calf question

[ratherbefishin]

since I live on the Island ,I don't have access to on the site viewing moose year round.Can anyone tell me if cow moose typically have twins, or are singles the usual?I have had limited moose hunting experiance[shot plenty of deer, but only one moose]and have wondered about the reasoning behind the calf moose season, the official explanation being that twin moose calves rarely survive the winter and therefore taking one of the two doesn't impact the overall moose population and by taking a calf instead of the breeding population,maintains that for the future .I have similar questions about the immature bull harvest in terms of impacting the overall moose population
What I would like to know-is that the actual experiance of local hunters and what they are seeing ?How much does hunting actually impact the moose numbers, in terms of general overall mortality due to feed, wintering conditions, disease, wolves/bear predation, and vehicle/train accidents

[rocksteady]

When I lived up North (Prince George), I talked to a biologist who told me that the reasoning was that the calf mortality was usually over 70% due to all of the factors that you named (predation, etc) however once the moose was a year old or more the mortalty rates dropped significantly...I forget what % it was but a whole lot less than 70......

I do not think there was any difference in mortality of a solo versus a twin calf, but I could be wrong....

[tmarschall]

Rather.... where the populations are strong, harvesting animals from all age groups is good management. Offering hunters a choice other than mature bulls allows more animals to mature. You could think of the calf season as taking away food from the wolves and other predators, which in turn will help keep their populations down. The whole story is very complicated, but there is sound reasoning behind a calf season.

[boonerbuck]

Most of the Cows I see have singles. Only sometimes I see twins in my area and we're over loaded with moose.

[marcus44]

?How much does hunting actually impact the moose numbers, in terms of general overall mortality due to feed, wintering conditions, disease, wolves/bear predation, and vehicle/train accidents

Every one of these things have an impact. Weather definately has a huge impact and not just in moose, but deer, elk etc. there are definately more twins during years with mild winters, all affects the food supply and how healthy the cow will be. In sheer numbers of mortality, hunting is near the bottom.

[PGKris]

What I've seen is that they will have 2 calves on occasion but unless both get really lucky only one will survive to its second year.

[CanuckShooter]

moose]and have wondered about the reasoning behind the calf moose season,


Well I would speculate the reason for the calf season is that they needed to keep some moose hunting opportunity available for the unlucky ones that didn't get an LEH tag. I asked a local biologist one time what percentage of the moose in Region 7 would be bulls...she answered around 25%..so I asked what percentage of those would be the elusive Spike-Fork...and she just laughed and laughed....we kept track the next season..saw over 100 moose..and not one was a spike-fork.....while hunting the last 15 or so years in mu7 I have seen a total of 2 spike fork bulls and one with spikes...so we call them the 'wonder bulls'...you gotta wonder!

You don't see too many twins calves, so I think that it is fairly rare.

[ratherbefishin]

so,basically, is what you are saying is if you don't get a draw,go to an ''any bull'' area or take the early season if you want a moose?

[PGKris]

2 points are out there but if you don't get a draw either go to an any bull area or hunt calf season exclusively. If I don't get my draw this year I'm going to hunt deer and grouse and only calf season for moosies.

[moose hunter]

there is tons of moose around p.g every year there seems to be about the same amount of moose and i found the truth is a little under half of the born calves are actualy killed in the season and about another 10 % during winter and predatation but moose dont really have much to worry about killing them around here not that many wolves in most areas

[talver]

I seen two spike forks taken last year in 7 24 but I think that there goes the population of spike fork int that region. There was a group of 6 guys camped beside us they left after 21 day without seeing a 2 point moose we on the other hand took 2 leh bulls and could of popped a calf but it walk because we got lazy and didnt wanna work hard on the second to last day of the hunt and 2 bulls betwwen 4 friends is lots