Archery calf tag ???

Hi folks.

I'm thinking of trying archery moose hunting this year and applying for a calf tag in a WMU adjoining the one I usually rifle hunt in. When I apply for a tag in the rifle hunt, my tag is always good for a calf in any WMU except those with a calf draw whether I am successful in the draw or not (usually not because I hunt alone). So If I am successful in getting an archery calf tag and don't harvest a calf in the archery season, is it still good for a calf in the rifle season in any WMU except for those with a calf draw?

Apologies if this has been discussed already, but I did a search and didn't come up with a match.

There is no calf tag in archery. Calf season is not open during archery season in most WMU.

Another bonehead MNR initiative.
Moose herd declining so we'll protect the calves and give them a chance to grow.
We'll take calves away from the archers (lowest success rate and lower hunter numbers) and leave them in season for the first 2 weeks of the rifle season (highest hunter numbers and way more range and firepower).

It gets better! We'll also keep issuing huge numbers of cow archery tags so that if any archers are successful then we'll orphan the calves and let them meet their demise will the predators or the gun season guys.

How is an advisory board going to work with this mentality.

An MNR insider told me this was done to stop poaching by northerners (non native) because too many pretend archers were out there hunting for an archery adult moose because someone they knew back in town had a tag. The calf tag allowed them all the latitude they needed to poach.

So now they all ride around legally calving during gun season and find an adult tag if and when they shoot an adult. If they find a cow then the whole family gets whacked. Later the entire party meets up but some need to rent a hall to accommodate the party size!

But the cow tags right across the board still has me puzzled.

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

Another bonehead MNR initiative.
Moose herd declining so we'll protect the calves and give them a chance to grow.
We'll take calves away from the archers (lowest success rate and lower hunter numbers) and leave them in season for the first 2 weeks of the rifle season (highest hunter numbers and way more range and firepower).

It gets better! We'll also keep issuing huge numbers of cow archery tags so that if any archers are successful then we'll orphan the calves and let them meet their demise will the predators or the gun season guys.

How is an advisory board going to work with this mentality.

An MNR insider told me this was done to stop poaching by northerners (non native) because too many pretend archers were out there hunting for an archery adult moose because someone they knew back in town had a tag. The calf tag allowed them all the latitude they needed to poach.

So now they all ride around legally calving during gun season and find an adult tag if and when they shoot an adult. If they find a cow then the whole family gets whacked.

But the cow tags right across the board still has me puzzled.

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So, close everything but hunting for bulls, makes the most sense and I have been yelling this for a while, no dime will go to a moose hunt in this province until they change these regulations, I am eyeing a yukon moose hunt though in a couple years if everything goes to plan.

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Originally Posted by Fox

So, close everything but hunting for bulls, makes the most sense and I have been yelling this for a while, no dime will go to a moose hunt in this province until they change these regulations, I am eyeing a yukon moose hunt though in a couple years if everything goes to plan.

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If we are going to harvest cows and calfs!!!!!!!!

What if we went to antlerless and antlered for moose also. Would allow hunters to make a conscious decision about what they are going to harvest and take away the misidentification aspect of cow and calfs.

Might mean that you dont hunt one year because your group might not have a tag. But seems like a better way to manage if we are going to allow the harvest of calves and cows.

From a management perspective they would have to get there numbers correct on population modeling and mandatory reporting each year should assist in the subsequent allocation in a perfect world any way.

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Originally Posted by Fox

So, close everything but hunting for bulls, makes the most sense and I have been yelling this for a while, no dime will go to a moose hunt in this province until they change these regulations, I am eyeing a yukon moose hunt though in a couple years if everything goes to plan.

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If we are going to harvest cows and calfs!!!!!!!!

What if we went to antlerless and antlered for moose also. Would allow hunters to make a conscious decision about what they are going to harvest and take away the misidentification aspect of cow and calfs.

Might mean that you dont hunt one year because your group might not have a tag. But seems like a better way to manage if we are going to allow the harvest of calves and cows.

From a management perspective they would have to get there numbers correct on population modeling and mandatory reporting each year should assist in the subsequent allocation in a perfect world any way.


I would suggest this for both archery and gun hunting.

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Originally Posted by Buckshot517

If we are going to harvest cows and calfs!!!!!!!!

What if we went to antlerless and antlered for moose also. Would allow hunters to make a conscious decision about what they are going to harvest and take away the misidentification aspect of cow and calfs.

Might mean that you dont hunt one year because your group might not have a tag. But seems like a better way to manage if we are going to allow the harvest of calves and cows.

From a management perspective they would have to get there numbers correct on population modeling and mandatory reporting each year should assist in the subsequent allocation in a perfect world any way.

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I would think that you would have to assume that the antlerless is a female, therefore the antlerless validation numbers are simple to consider.

Look to most of the other places there are moose hunts, nobody allows free range on calves.

Based on a 50/50 split of gender on animals you have to believe that 50% of the calves shot are female and therefore can never become calves.

Why not have a minimum size bull hunt, put in a draw system like you have in many other jurisdictions, that is really the only way to build up the population, an open calf hunt is stupid and has always been stupid.

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Originally Posted by Bearhunter

There is no calf tag in archery. Calf season is not open during archery season in most WMU.

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There is an archery calf tag draw in WMU 48, 55A 55B and 57. I believe one of these areas is where the OP was implying he wanted to apply for. And yes if you draw the calf tag for archery only season and do not fill it you can still hunt calf in the limited calf season during the gun hunt in another WMU.

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Originally Posted by Fox

I would think that you would have to assume that the antlerless is a female, therefore the antlerless validation numbers are simple to consider.

Look to most of the other places there are moose hunts, nobody allows free range on calves.

Based on a 50/50 split of gender on animals you have to believe that 50% of the calves shot are female and therefore can never become calves.

Why not have a minimum size bull hunt, put in a draw system like you have in many other jurisdictions, that is really the only way to build up the population, an open calf hunt is stupid and has always been stupid.

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I dont think Ontario will ever adopt a antler point system. If we did there would be a ton of people calling saying they shot the wrong animal or just leaving them. We are already seeing that just look at the stuff in the media last fall lots of moose seized for the wrong animal. When bulls are shot as cows and cows are shot as bulls and then the miss identification between cows and calfs is prevalent also. We need to mitigate that in some manner. I dont think everyone will be happy with what we choose but I don't think OFAH and the general hunting community would go for severe restrictions. They seem to be about creating hunting opportunities the reality is we need a drastic change but need to find something that will please the masses.

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Originally Posted by Buckshot517

I dont think Ontario will ever adopt a antler point system. If we did there would be a ton of people calling saying they shot the wrong animal or just leaving them. We are already seeing that just look at the stuff in the media last fall lots of moose seized for the wrong animal. When bulls are shot as cows and cows are shot as bulls and then the miss identification between cows and calfs is prevalent also. We need to mitigate that in some manner. I dont think everyone will be happy with what we choose but I don't think OFAH and the general hunting community would go for severe restrictions. They seem to be about creating hunting opportunities the reality is we need a drastic change but need to find something that will please the masses.

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So the way to save the moose population is to keep things as they are?