thoughts on shooting a cow?

[fratri]

That's a tough question...... Minister biologist I am not, I sure hope they have a better understanding of how it works then I do...
Best of luck with whatever you decide.

[Fox]

I think cow hunting should be banned in most of the province due to the lack of moose, if there are a lot of moose then you could take both assuming the tags were there, but shooting a moose cow early is going to reduce the chances that calf makes it the winter and that cow will not make it to have any more calves, so to me it would be a no 100%.

[smokeeter]

If you are hunting at the first of the season, your calf tag isn't any good. It doesn't go into effect until Oct. 24. If you orphan the calf it probably won't make alone, having said that if the opportunity presents itself when they are in season then it's a no brainer, take the calf .(Kinda counter productive to the moose population tho)

Resident moose season opening dates – 2020



Season

Wildlife Management Unit

Start date

Moose Rifles, Shotguns, Bows and Muzzle-loaders Seasons 2, 3, 4, 18A, 18B, 24, 27 Adult Moose Oct. 10 Calf Moose Oct. 24

[klums]

I shot a cow last fall and the previous fall with my bow. what we have found was that you better off finding water that has bedding and feed close by, I would catch them as they moved from those areas to feed and they seemed to hold a fairly regular routine and not have a real large home area. I have hunted moose for years and the vast majority of cows I encounter do not have calves.

[revr]

If you shoot a cow with this years calf the calf will not make it. The calf will cry away beside the gut pile or in the area until the wolves or bears show up. It is unfortunate that the MNR has allowed this to happen this way. If you think you would shoot a cow with a calf then wait to go till calf season when you can take both. Not only does it suck to leave the calf to die but it also sucks to feed the wolves!! Even if the wolves didn’t find the calf, the winters are brutal and start in November, a young calf has no clue how to survive a winter like that.

[trimmer21]

I think cow hunting should be banned in most of the province due to the lack of moose, if there are a lot of moose then you could take both assuming the tags were there, but shooting a moose cow early is going to reduce the chances that calf makes it the winter and that cow will not make it to have any more calves, so to me it would be a no 100%.

I absolutely agree. The calf tag system was dumb from the get-go. The new system next year should go a long way to end that.

[deadeye]

Never made any sense to me. Camp by us always applies for cow tag and gets 1 every year. Usually fill it too. We only apply for bull. The other camp will shoot the cow and take pics of calf standing there. It will hang around for day or two until bears or wolves come to gut pile.funny thing...you never do see the calf again....just saying.....

[bellerivercrossbowhunter]

Still hard to believe that we can still kill Cow's and calves with the massive decline of Moose in Ontario. You can't make this up!!!

[Fenelon]

Cow harvest has never made any sense to me. It's different than deer, where they can potentially breed as fawns and most certainly will as yearlings. A good maternal cow is usually 5-12 years old from what I've read. Younger cows have much higher calf mortality rate. To remove "the biological " unit from an already depleted population smells like the proverbial shot in the foot to me. Removing that one prime cow will take many years to be replaced in the population, plus you've lost that animal's calf contribution to the population, prior to the replacement coming of age. I say shut down the calf and cow harvest completely in all units other than the most northerly ones, and only if numbers appear to be stable.

[Fox]

I absolutely agree. The calf tag system was dumb from the get-go. The new system next year should go a long way to end that.

Would any farmer kill 80% of their calves and build up a herd, heck no.

I have a friend in the Yukon, they have a great system, minimum size or point count for the antlers, this means that there are always bulls of breeding age and no cows or calves are shot. I know that calves are killed my wolves and bears and moose are killed during native hunts but 1 more cow killed by a non-native hunter is one less dropping a calf or calves next year.