Moose, single calf or twins

[Home3]

Last month, I saw my first cow with twins in my hunt camp area. I had always wondered why I see a lot of twins further up north but none in my area. I understand that the whitetail always have singles in their first year, followed by twines after that. So I assumed it is the same with the moose. Apparently not:

"Of all the information biologists collect regarding moose in Alaska, the percentage of cows that give
birth to twins each year tells them more than anything else. There are other indexes .. but it is twinning
rates that are the best indicator of a moose herd's general health.

(The number of twins).. gives them a good idea of how much food the moose have to eat. Low twinning rates -
below 20 percent - usually mean that moose are scrounging for food. High twinning rates, such as
those on Togiak, indicate that there is plenty to eat.
"You can pretty much track the nutritional status of a population by looking at its twinning rate," said
Kris Hundertmark, the resident moose expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Studies of both captive and wild moose have shown that producing twin calves requires a cow moose
to be in top physical condition. "

What rate of twins you see in your area?

 

[blargon]

Havent seen a calf since 2005. Lots of bulls and cows though.

 

[cbh560]

I'd say that I see about 1/4 to 1/3 of the cows in my hunting area in NE Sask with twins at her heels.

 

[Iron Sighted]

Just saw two calf moose together beside the highway right outside of town last week, hope they don't make a habit of hanging out there often.

 

[DVXDUDE]

We shot twin calves in 2010, Then in 2011 in the same spot a cow and twin calves came out again. That cow went nuts when she seen us (think it was the same one as last year). We had a bull tag that year so we let the calves go as well. 2012 we shot two calves again but different cows. I think our camp has shot twin calves about 3 more times in 25 years.

 

[Slooshark1]

We had one old guy named Keijo that had a cow with twin calves come out about 100 yards from him. He shot each one between the eyes with his BAR. 300 Win Mag. I was impressed. 3 shots, 3 moose. No meat wasted.

 

[Bland]

Biologists use a term, fecundity rate, this is a broad term meaning if living conditions are good then twins are in order, or just a high number of successful births is more to the point. In our area there was a massive berry crop last year, this year almost non-existant. So the bears had a big birth rate this year as they denned last year in good shape. See what happens this fall. Moose numbers are down in our area for the last three years due to unknown circumstance, still waiting for a rebound. Have not seen any twins in that time. Any time soon would be good.