Tales from the Outdoors: The Adaptive Moose Hunt

By Bob Chapin

For over 12 years, I have been applying for a moose tag through the State of Maine Moose Lottery, always with the same result—not selected—until this year. When the results this year were announced in June, I was excited to receive notice that I was selected, only slightly disappointed that it was for a cow tag then confused by the news that it was an ‘Adaptive Moose Hunt.”

What is an Adaptive Moose hunt? A little research gave me the answer.

The Adaptive Hunt is an experimental hunt that Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is conducting over several years in a restricted area of Unit 4 in the North Maine Woods above the Golden Road on the western border between Maine and Canada. The biologists hope to improve the survivability of post-rut cows and young calves from over winter mortality caused by a heavier than normal load of winter ticks.

The ticks are sort of a double-edged sword in that not only do they rob the moose of a good portion of their blood supply, but they also cause the animals to rub their itching hides on trees and rocks trying to scrape off their tormentors. This action rubs off their hair, which is hollow and a good insulator, making them more susceptible to winter weather and they die due to exposure.

By reducing the high number of cow moose in Unit 4A, IF&W hopes to rob the ticks of hosts and improve the survivability of the remaining moose. That particular WMD (Wildlife Management District) was chosen for several reasons. They have a lot of data on the moose population having studied it there for years and the country is sparsely populated so there is little interference with the local residents.

The lumbering industry is continually logging off sections that allow the sunlight to reach the forest floor and promote the new growth that moose rely on for food. It is a living laboratory that they can use to validate their scientific theories and extrapolate data that can then be used to formulate sound management policies. These will end up in future hunting regulations that are good for the moose as well as the hunters.

Subsequent to the hunt, the biologists will closely monitor the remaining moose population with aerial surveys and moose they have collared with transmitters to determine if the experiment is working. If it is, then they may export the practice to other Wildlife Management Areas. If it shows no impact other than the reduction of moose densities due to the focused hunting, then it is back to the drawing boards to find another solution to the vexing problem of ticks. If the tick problem is so bad for moose, why doesn’t it affect the deer herd as well?

To a certain extent it does but the two animals act differently. Most deer will have a minimal tick load and that is because they spend more of their average day on their feet. Moose and deer are both considered crepuscular, meaning most active during periods of reduced lighting, such as dusk and dawn.

Moose will browse for a couple of hours in the morning then go lie down until nearly sunset. Deer will spend longer periods of time searching for food sources, browse a little bit, then move on to the next source until they are full. That is one reason why as humans we see so many more deer out and about than we do moose. Moose are also less tolerant of human interaction and prefer woody vegetation to the wider variety of things that deer feed on.

Right now the moose rutting season is on and bulls are traveling greater distances to find receptive cows so are seen more often by people. They are also in a transition period regarding their feeding preferences. Where you would normally expect to see them in marshy bogs eating the succulent aquatic vegetation, after the rut they will be moving further up the hills and mountains in their area looking for the more woody areas.

Following my own advice from an earlier column, I spent several days this past week scouting the area I will be hunting next month. I expected to see a lot of moose as we were out and about dawn and dusk – we saw three – one almost in the Seboomook Wilderness Campground where we stayed for three nights. I also expected to see more grouse as this area is renowned for its bird hunting as well – we saw four. We also had bonus sightings of whitetail deer and a pine martin. The foliage was approaching its peak and absolutely beautiful. <