18A Moose quota, what happened

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Originally Posted by gbk

X2 -while have no personal experience,here is my stake to the claim:

One of my coworker stopped going there about 10 years ago.
They hunted the area for 10- 15 years prior.Always shot a moose. Central area of the WMU.
Then-things slowed down,to a point-there was no more moose shot by a rather large group,for years.
They gave up.

My buddies friends(avid hunters)spent there 7 days( 4 ppl)on a surplus tag,maybe 6-7 years ago.They told me ,the thousand miles they drove,no single moose track was crossed.North east area of the WMU.

My friend went there with 5-6 old -old and very experienced archers ,in a week ,they barely saw tracks.
Just old overgrown clear-cuts, full of planted monoculture .
North West corner of the WMU.

Based on all this,i think that WMU is dead.

Of course-there could be strong pockets(but for how long?).

They actually should be closing this and some other WMUs for hunting...........if they are to save the remnants of the moose population there.

Wait-i am dreaming.

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I can assure you, there is no shortage of moose in 18A. Last 7 years have harvested moose and experienced plenty.

Call the MNRF biologist in Geraldton and ask for an explanation,

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Originally Posted by Sam Menard

Call the MNRF biologist in Geraldton and ask for an explanation,

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Good idea, I'll do that. Thanks

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

I think 18a is the Geraldton WMU where the MNR has spent the last couple of decades trying to eradicate the moose in favour of the woodland caribou. The logic was to eliminate the moose to starve out the wolves in the area so that the caribou herd could get established. There are MNR papers available on this. To this end, moose tags were grossly over-allocated in the WMU (compared to the rest of the province) without regard to the actual moose population. My guess is that this experiment has come to and end.

Read through the attachment. Search for the word "moose".

https://www.ontario.ca/page/woodland...plan#section-6

A couple of excerpts:

• 5.4 Ontario will assess the relationship between Moose and caribou numbers in order to develop recommended objectives for maximum Moose numbers in Wildlife Management Units within continuous caribou distribution. This process will be implemented through the Moose management program by the establishment of Moose population objectives and harvest management strategies.
• 5.5 Within the geographic distribution of caribou, populations of predators will be managed primarily by managing habitat and the associated roads to reflect natural forest conditions. This will include the management of land and resource uses to maintain naturally-occurring low densities of prey (e.g. Moose, White-tailed Deer) and predators. Ontario will assess the feasibility and effectiveness of directly and indirectly influencing predator densities in very specific situations, and develop criteria and guidelines for managing the prey-predator balance as required.5.4 Ontario will assess the relationship between Moose and caribou numbers in order to develop recommended objectives for maximum Moose numbers in Wildlife Management Units within continuous caribou distribution. This process will be implemented through the Moose management program by the establishment of Moose population objectives and harvest management strategies.
• 
  5.5 Within the geographic distribution of caribou, populations of predators will be managed primarily by managing habitat and the associated roads to reflect natural forest conditions. This will include the management of land and resource uses to maintain naturally-occurring low densities of prey (e.g. Moose, White-tailed Deer) and predators. Ontario will assess the feasibility and effectiveness of directly and indirectly influencing predator densities in very specific situations, and develop criteria and guidelines for managing the prey-predator balance as required.

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I would tend to agree

12b took a big tag reduction as well. Quite likely it’s as a result of the moose inventory the MNRF did this past winter.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/moose-population-management

This link is the moose population target by WMU.
WMU 18A is way below target.
I can’t find it but now but I believe MNRF did aerial survey on 18A & 18B

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Originally Posted by BPR 30-06

https://www.ontario.ca/page/moose-population-management

This link is the moose population target by WMU.
WMU 18A is way below target.
I can’t find it but now but I believe MNRF did aerial survey on 18A & 18B

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Thanks for sharing :-)

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Originally Posted by BPR 30-06

https://www.ontario.ca/page/moose-population-management

This link is the moose population target by WMU.
WMU 18A is way below target.
I can’t find it but now but I believe MNRF did aerial survey on 18A & 18B

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Thanks for the link.

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

Thanks for the link.

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https://lakesuperior.travel/Travel-O...to-count-moose

Link to northern WMU’s Surveyed
WMU 17, 18A & 18B

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Originally Posted by BPR 30-06

https://lakesuperior.travel/Travel-O...to-count-moose

Link to northern WMU’s Surveyed
WMU 17, 18A & 18B

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Thank you, great resources