Moose Droppings

Maine Moose Hunt and My Thoughts on Why the Drop off

Jun 11, 2007 @ 10:16 pm by Moose

Tom over at Black Bear Blog has an interesting story today on the drop in numbers of applicants for moose permits and why this trend. Here is my take from my perspective on the topic.

• The early days of the hunt was a lot easier because Moose did not perceive man as much of a threat with many years of non hunting. This is a good thing to bring this balance back however many non hunters don’t like this because the moose no longer pose for their cameras.
• Girl friend/ Wife Factor: When I first moved to Maine I took a hunter safety class and I was basically the only male over the age of 20 taking the class most of the class was made up of teenagers and women of all ages. It seems at the time as long as you had a License the permit holder did not have to be present when the moose was harvested. So it was not uncommon for the entire household to put in for a permit. That has since changed and I suspect many non-hunting women have said no they did not plan to spend a week’s vacation tromping around the Maine woods so their man could shoot a moose and they could tag it for them.
• Hunting numbers are dropping according to most statistics I see across the nation.
• Ending the hunter choice tag now you get antlered or non-antlered tag.
• More states open to moose hunting.
• A perception that moose hunting is easy “moose are extremely dumb” “you can drive up to them and get out and shoot” nothing is further from the truth. A moose hunt is a challenging hunt and most moose don’t hang around like they use to just begging to get shot.
• Making preference points for non-resident obsolete. This I think was a huge mistake because now the system is geared towards the non-residents who have some money. Old way there was a limit on the # of chance you could buy and with each unsuccessful yearly draw you got an extra one next year provided you put in. Now you still get that but also now you can buy as many draws as you like. So what is the incentive for someone to put in every year as a non-resident? Now I’ll say that I’ve been drawn under both systems so I know its not fixed. I buy mine still like the old system I don’t buy a whole lot of extra chances.
• Support network is not there. The art of butchering is not one that the majority of hunters I know practice, most pay someone to cut up their deer each year. Especially in the Northern zones for the late hunt there is no one cutting up moose that I’m aware of. I was lucky and had a good group of guys helping me that we butchered my last moose ourselves. My first hunt there was some butchers from down state that set up in the North to cut moose but now that the moose hunt has expanded down into more central and southern parts of the state these guys I’m sure have ample business near them without the burden of traveling. Most guide services will only skin & ¼ your game if you hunt with a guide service so butchering can be an issue.
• Cost factor Both my hunts were done on the cheap; I have friends who are Maine Guides as well as family members who live in Maine that hunt so I have some savings over the typical hunter. I stay with family and a lot of my meals were with family. The major expenses after license & tag is transportation to get up there for the hunt and the cost of getting around once up there. My first Moose hunt in 97 was around $2,500 and the second hunt in 2005 was about twice that. A hunter using a guide can expect the cost to be even higher. Hunters need to make a choice of what they’ll spend their limited $ on I think other hunt tags maybe easier to obtain as well as being able to hunt with a group of buddies rather then one subpermitee .

None of these do I see as a problem just my take on why some may no longer put in for tags. If I was Maine Fish & Wildlife director for the day what would I do?

• I would set up a third season in December. Land owner only and it would be all unused tags from the two earlier seasons would be reissued and awarded by lottery draw to any land owner that allows public hunting on their land. Zone 5 has 15 unfilled then 15 landowners in zone 5 will get an opportunity to hunt.
• Stop allowing Non Residents from buying as many chances as they want because it is a disincentive to encourage the “average Joe” from putting in.

Well I doubt I’ll be running things anytime soon in Maine but I do look forward to throwing my name back in the hat for a moose tag next year. Good luck to all and I hope some of you good folks get the hunt of a lifetime.