Historic Moose Harvest Data

1899

1899

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I was reviewing historic big game harvest data for BC. Sometimes I wonder if I am just getting old or if things really do suck as badly as I perceive it.

For those who don't know, the vast majority of moose hunting in BC is now limited entry - that's a draw. And it is not so easy to get a draw. If you do get one you go into a reduced odds system for the next three years. But you can't accumulate points if you don't get a draw.

YearNumber of HuntersNumber of Moose killed
197741,00712,833
198045,80912,406
198639,15012, 186 + 1303 by non-residents
199237,30710,568 + 989 by non-residents
200629,6068,577 +1362 by non-residents
201230,9466,733 + 803 by non-residents
202322,1553,922 + 595 by non-residents


Sadly the trend reflects my gut feeling.

By comparison, in Sweden the moose harvest in 1960 was 32,680 and this steadily increased to approximately 100,000/year now. There was a peak harvest of 174,741 in 1982 when the population peaked and a cull was required. There are about 300,000 hunters participating in the hunt per year.

Really disgraceful what has happened here with our moose herds and hunting opportunities.
 
Something could be done about the wolf population/density here too. Half the landmass of Sweden, yet they harvest 20x as many moose. Lots of excuses, but nothing being done over the last 40 years to deal with the problem.
 
Lastgun said:
Sweden has very few aboriginals and very few wolves or bear...But Sweden has over 700,000 muslim refugees who prey on young blonde female Swedes...The moose have it made in comparison.
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i would take a real hard look at the difference in game management and forestry practices long before I would put blanket blame on first nations although i do agree that is some areas they as well as other races of poachers are a concern.
 
Scandinavian countries have a really different way of managing wildlife and forestry is done completely differently too! Like most things in Europe they tend to think ahead of time and look at the big picture instead of us North American looking at a fast profit in a short term and not worrying about the long term. Or at least that is what I get from Scandinavian friends on hunting and forestry!
 
another interesting thing most folks might not know..... while moose existed in the northern part of the province, peace country and north. Central and Southern BC had no reported moose populations prior to the 1900's according to government and Indigenous knowledge at the time. So it is historically accurate to say that BC Central and Southern Moose populations have only existed for 125 years on paper.

First Nations from the Rupert/Skeena/Bulkley regons would travel far along thier trade routes to barter for moose hides, which they historically could not get without trading for them. In more recent times and perhaps the height of populations, that area was called a moose factory by many hunters I've known. So in a few short decades the area went from no moose, to being heavily populated with them and then numbers began to drop. I think if one follows logging efforts over the decades, since say 1960, one might see a trend that coincides with the boom and bust of moose populations in central and southern bc.
I'm in 100 mile and the primary ungulates are mule deer , whitetail deer and moose. However, in historical records , prior to 1900, this was mule deer and elk country with seasonal cariboo to the east of us and the odd band of big horn sheep roamng around. No moose or whitetail.
The one widely accepted theory is that moose began to populate areas outside thier historic ranges into central and southern BC due to the creation of the railways. Giving the animals routes to travel for miles that didn't exist prior to thier creation.
So really, our moose populations increased due to the activities of man and then plumetted, due to the activities of man.
I talked to a fellow i have known for a long time who has an ear in the BC ministry of environment and lands and whatever they are calling it these days. It was said that when EBY was parachuted into the premier seat by Horgan, his little team of imbiciles wanted a mandate that would reduce BC Central and Southern interior moose populations to 1938 levels. I don't know what that is but it seems the plan is working.

That said, I was really quite surprised at how many moose I encountered this fall. I couldn't shoot them as i didn't have a draw but it would have been a very successful season had I pulled a tag LOL Lots of healthy cows and calfs as well and counted quite a few bull calves. Oddly they were not where i would have expected them to be and it really changed my perception of the moose behavior in that particular area. I even have a mystery moose, a young bull, passing through my property every few days. I only know he's been around because he takes the same path and I find his tracks in the snow. I've never seen him so he must be coming though in the very early dark hours of the morning. I've had cow and calf bedded in the yard some winters but it's rare to see them come daytime. Usually only see the beds in the snow or dark shapes at night.
 
British Columbias totally uncontrolled calf season and a high count lottery on cows was the killer of the moose population.
The PG biologists said on a radio interview "we have a calf season because only half them make the winter anyhow".
When a local park (Exkers Park) was being established, a place I hunted offen and seen grizzlys most times, the same biologists said there was no grizzlys because it was too close the the city.
 
I never understood the cow season, in Quebec they have that every second year doesn’t make sense to me.
One thing they do that make sense instead of lottery is you need 2 or 3 tags per moose killed. I think it is a great way to alleviate the pressure.
Up here moose are also only 100 and some years into the territory, before it was mainly caribou, then moose and then mule deer and whitetail deer( the last 2 being in pretty small numbers). Moose population in the Yukon is estimated at 70000-80000.
 
DGY said:
Up here moose are also only 100 and some years into the territory...
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Modern moose (Alces alces) first colonized the Yukon approximately 14,000 to 15,000 years ago, migrating from northeast Asia across the Bering Land Bridge. The region they arrived in, known as Eastern Beringia, was an unglaciated area that included present-day Alaska, the Yukon, and parts of the Northwest Territories.

This migration occurred toward the close of the last glaciation as the environment transitioned from arid steppe-like grasslands to wetter, more heavily forested and shrub-tundra areas, which provided ideal moose habitat. The modern moose replaced the extinct giant moose (Alces latifrons), a species better adapted to open parkland that had inhabited the Yukon earlier.
 
IronNoggin said:
Modern moose (Alces alces) first colonized the Yukon approximately 14,000 to 15,000 years ago, migrating from northeast Asia across the Bering Land Bridge. The region they arrived in, known as Eastern Beringia, was an unglaciated area that included present-day Alaska, the Yukon, and parts of the Northwest Territories.

This migration occurred toward the close of the last glaciation as the environment transitioned from arid steppe-like grasslands to wetter, more heavily forested and shrub-tundra areas, which provided ideal moose habitat. The modern moose replaced the extinct giant moose (Alces latifrons), a species better adapted to open parkland that had inhabited the Yukon earlier.
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Well for all those years I was mislead from most people up here saying that moose wasn’t part of the Yukon hunting culture until around the gold rush era of 1898, but you are right they have been here a long time but not in large numbers or at least it seems like there was a bunch of low years from the 1800 to about 1930’s.
Anyway you were right and I was totally wrong! Thanks for the info, I will spread the good news hahaha
Cheers
 
I had a conversation with a first nations felow from williams lake. He was a nice enough guy but when he said that first nations should have priority over the moose. I informed him that "white man" brought the moose to the land his recent ancestors hunted them on. From the lowermainland to this side of the peace, those animals are on the land due to the actions of white man and were not culturally significant food species for any central or southern BC tribes unless they went farrrrr outside thier lands to find them. He googled it and had to admit that i was right LOL
 
45ACPKING said:
I had a conversation with a first nations felow from williams lake. He was a nice enough guy but when he said that first nations should have priority over the moose. I informed him that "white man" brought the moose to the land his recent ancestors hunted them on. From the lowermainland to this side of the peace, those animals are on the land due to the actions of white man and were not culturally significant food species for any central or southern BC tribes unless they went farrrrr outside thier lands to find them. He googled it and had to admit that i was right LOL
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But that doesn't change their aboriginal right to hunt moose.

There is no silver bullet here, but i do think things could be done much better, and we could all have more access to hunting opportunities.

Now I do have to admit though, the elk situation has greatly improved in Northern BC and along the Fraser and Nechako corridors. Not sure how it is in the Kootenays, as the last time I hunted elk there was around Canal Flats in 1988.
 
1899 said:
But that doesn't change their aboriginal right to hunt moose.

There is no silver bullet here, but i do think things could be done much better, and we could all have more access to hunting opportunities.

Now I do have to admit though, the elk situation has greatly improved in Northern BC and along the Fraser and Nechako corridors. Not sure how it is in the Kootenays, as the last time I hunted elk there was around Canal Flats in 1988.
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no it doesn't but it's a fact that they weren't hunting moose for 100's of years before europeans came along like the guy i was talking to suggested. He actually had no idea that moose were not on his ancestors lands a mere handful of generations ago.
 
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