The Canadian Province of Ontario begins it's northwest arc of land straddling New York and our Grea Lakes States.......Like it's southern USA neighbors, it is seeing it's Moose population begin to shrink due to winter tic infestations caused by warming temperatures and human alteration of the landscape which allows the Moose to be more vulnerable to predation............Good to see an Ontario biologist(Vince Crichton) not blaming Wolves for the declines but rather pointing to a need to eliminate the hunting season for Moose Calves, which has now been curtailed to just two weeks............As Crichton states: "You've got to get rid of that calf season totally, only for a period of time, until you get that population up"...............

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ontario-moose-herd-requires-drastic-measures-expert-says-1.2963287&ct=ga&cd=CAEYASoTMjU1NDk5NzkyMjQzNDk3MDU0NTIaM2JiNTcwMGRiYTRlZTUyZDpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNGJ4Kh96I1mcsrp3Q-_BWBtqABT5Q

Ontario moose herd requires drastic measures, expert says

Vince Crichton supports the Ministry of Natural Resources and Foresty plan but more needs to be done

CBC News Posted: Feb 19, 2015 12:35 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 19, 2015 1:32 PM ET

If Ontario wants to increase the moose population in the province it needs to eliminate the hunt for calves, says a noted Canadian moose researcher and biologist.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is proposing a reduction to the calf-hunting season to a two week period this year.

But Vince Crichton said there needs to be a more significant intervention in order to rehabilitate the moose herd.

Vince Crichton, a moose researcher and biologist, said Ontario needs to eliminate the calf hunt in order to increase the moose population in the province

"You've got to get rid of that calf season totally, only for a period of time, until you get that population up," he said.

In the early 1980s Ontario implemented a selective harvest system for moose which brought in allowable harvests and tag quotas.

The system was supposed to double the number of moose in the province from 80,000 in 1983 to 160,000 by 2000, Crichton said. "That has not worked," he said.

The recent proposal by the MNRF to reduce calf hunting is a step in the right direction, but Crichton said he's not convinced it is enough.

Hunters have a greater ability to impact the moose population in the last forty years because of changes in technology and improved road access, Crichton said.

Not so the moose, "since Bullwinkle walked across the Bering Land Bridge 10,000 years ago he hasn't changed," he said.

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To hear more on this story the CBC's Outdoor columnist Gord Ellis spoke with Superior Morning guest host Cathy Alex. Click on the link below to listen to that conversation.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/moose-management-in-ontario-1.2963059

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Declining moose populations in some areas of Ontario puzzles biologists

The decline of moose populations in certain parts of Ontario reflects a growing concern across some other parts of North America.

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By: Curtis Rush Sports reporter, Published on Wed Oct 16 2013

Moose populations are thinning out in certain parts of Ontario, mirroring a disturbing pattern across other parts of North America.

Why the numbers are dropping in certain areas — while they are climbing in others — isn’t known.

IBrant Allison, senior northwest regional biologist with Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources, says that moose “are important to the biodiversity of the province.” Allison said he is seeing declines in Canadian jurisdictions near Minnesota, including Manitoba and the northwestern and northeastern parts of Ontario.

 

“We are definitely concerned,” he said, adding that biologists in Ontario have been in touch with their counterparts in Minnesota and Manitoba to see what the current research reveals.

“We are watching. They’re still trying to figure it out,” he said.

In the southeast part of Manitoba, some of the moose hunts have been closed for roughly past year.

Although several factors may be at play, climate change has been identified as a possible explanation. In the Cariboo Mountains of British Columbia, a recent study found that an epidemic of pine bark beetles led to a loss of trees and left the moose more exposed to human and animal predators.

Overall, however, the moose population in Ontario is regarded as healthy, with a population estimated at about 105,000, accounting for about 10 per cent of the North American population.

The areas of concern are the northwestern part of Ontario such as the Kenora-Dryden region, as well as an area running along the north shore of Lake Huron, from Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa to the Quebec border.

The Ministry of Nature Resources has identified issues such as habitat, climate, parasites, predation and harvesting by hunters.

On the positive side, moose numbers appear to have increased in the southern portion of the province, particularly in and adjacent to Algonquin Provincial Park.

The ministry monitors moose populations by aerial inventory surveys and post card survey information collected each year from moose hunters.

In the 1980s, Ontario saw the moose population dip to around 80,000. After strict controls were put in place on moose hunting, the numbers climbed back