1 shot 3 moose

[fishman1 164]

Opening morning seen my friend run into a cow and twins. Having a cow tag ( group of 6) he downs the cow in 1 shot. His group retrieve the animal as the twins stand in the cut and watch. They now face a long winter trying to survive on their own.

Seems like a waste.

Thanks go to the government and NOSA for a well thought management policy!

[Resource Pimp 60]

A legal kill for your party no doubt. It puts a hunters ethics and conscience to the test. Theres cows out there with no calves that could be shot instead. Same choice as keeping an 8 lb walleye full of spawn or releasing it. Personally i wish there were a bull only season for a few years

[JohnZ 66]

A legal kill for your party no doubt. It puts a hunters ethics and conscience to the test. Theres cows out there with no calves. Same choice as keeping an 8 lb walleye full of spawn or releasing it. Personally i wish there were a bull only season for a few years

That's how Alaska does it... I think we need a total shut down of moose hunting by everyone for a few years, then bring it back bulls only.

[Fishbum 35]

Tell me about it. Pretty sad eh ... Not to mention those twins calves will most likely just be feeding the predator problem so next yr there'll be twice as many wolves to eat the other lucky calves that may survive !! Total bull sh*t !!

It's totally different than walleye due to the fact that EVERY female will have millions of eggs. Not just 1 piss poor management stratgy if is say .. Let's give out 70 cow and 50 bull. Shoot all the mothers .. Oh ya real smart !! NOT

I dunno about everyone else but I been seeing way more moose sign this yr that others.

[scandiman 114]

Well I'd say your friend seriously lacks hunter ethics fishman1.

[scandiman 114]

And before we go shut down moose hunting completely, I'd ask everyone this: how many of you are helping control the increased moose predator numbers? Have you harvested a big boar lately? Talk about great meat for the freezer. Have you actively targeted a wolf?

Don't get me wrong, I think the ministry seriously lacks in the moose management department, but are we all doing our best to help the situation?

Food for thought.

[Porkchop21 34]

I agree with the lack of hunting ethics. There seems to be a lot of cow tags floating around out there. Maybe they should have went with a unisex tag, 4 people minimum and shortened the season to Nov 15 to Dec 15. I think that could work as this current system is a disaster. I know of 2 other cows that were shot during this past week which had calfs. They are now bear/wolve bait, mostly comes down to ethics in my opinion.

[Dirttracker18 26]

Well I'd say your friend seriously lacks hunter ethics fishman1.

Agreed!

Its not the rules that are the problem its the ethics of the hunter. Do I agree with the new rules, no.

However I would never intentionally orphan a calf, let alone 2. My group was in total agreement, no cows with calves will be shoot until calf season opens.

Greed trumped ethics in your group

[tracker 61]

I won't get into the politics around the "management policy".

I will touch on what our group did this year. We had 7 Pool 1 hunters, we could have applied in WMU13 as a group or possibly two for a cow first choice. Good chance we would have gotten 1 cow tag. Our group discussed the intention of the season change and decided that we would not harvest a cow or calf, so we applied bulls only. We were not successful so we wait another year.

[toma-hawk 44]

I've said this in another post. You really don't want to close moose hunting totally,you may never get it back, just look at the spring bear hunt.The powers that be has to come up with some sound management,along with all of the stake holders,they are trying times, hope things can be worked out for the moose and the hunters.

Rick

[pbear 24]

Perhaps an antlerless and antlered tag instead of cow, calf and bull. The only reason I think they continue with the calf season at all is so they don't have to refund unsuccessful hunters.

[fishman1 164]

It wasn't my party.i am one of the 14,000 hunters that have quit applying in the last 2 years.

The animal,in question walked out ALONE.

It wasn't until after the cow was downed that the calves showed themselves.

[fishman1 164]

Well I'd say your friend seriously lacks hunter ethics fishman1.[/quote did the ministry think that hunters were going to let the cows go??.

And who is NOSA to be managing ( or helping to manage ) our moose herd.?

[Fisherman08 6]

Sad thing is those calves are not the only twin calves or single calves that are going to be left in the bush to try and survive on their own. Numbers could and are going to be staggering across North Western Ontario with the amount of calves left to fend for themselves. Lets see how the MNR Biologists come up with excuses then when the population gets even more reduced. You can be sure that they won't blame it on the Wolves or the Bears as many have said has.

Easy to comment that groups sit down and discuss their options when they have multiple numbers of Group 1 hunters and thought it through and figured on the outcome when a cow is taken with calves left behind and decide that they would put in for bulls only. Ok, so you don't hunt for another year or 2 or 3 until you get an adult tag. So why not go 5 - 10 years without a moose season then, and come back with a Bull only system in place. Same thing really......

There are many people, and groups that have not drawn an adult tag for many years and when they do, they're going to try their hardest to fill their tag cause they put a lot of money, time and effort into hunting, and getting that tag. Unfortunate side of things, Calves are still going to suffer.....

Unfortunately, One way or another Moose Season is going to be closed. And I think, that is what the Animal Rights Activists want.

There the ones with the Money calling the shots. Just like the closing of the Spring Bear hunt and the problems that it has created.

[fishman1 164]

Speaking of ethics, it's a hard thing for many hunters to swallow seeing the natives slaughter the herd, where are their ethics???.

A hunter draws a tag, which is a feat in itself nowadays, he has the right to shoot the animal.

[Kashabowie_KID 8]

And y does the race card come out?

[Guest FreshwaterFisherman]

If you are going to discuss the topic of moose populations seriously then including aboriginal harvest only makes sense.

[eddylives 99]

If you are going to discuss the topic of moose populations seriously then including aboriginal harvest only makes sense.

This is very true.

You cannot have any meaningful discussions if there are only partial facts and half truths.

[hunt or be hunted 59]

I agree with the above comment that all issues, facts and truths need to be addressed properly but in sayn that will it actully happen ? The government doesn't wanna even think about touching aboriginal hunting rights that were set 130 plus yea ago which in my personal opinion isn't fair anymore as times have changed and our resources need to be better managed. I'm a long time moose hunter and I honestly agree with shutting down the moose hunt for a couple yes and then goin to a bull only system, but also their should be harvest cull put in place for Wolves. But in order for it all to work properly both parties Caucasian/aboriginals need to work and agree together about this issue, if we close a moose season or drastically cut back tags but have no reprocusions towards aboriginals and their harvesting amounts then how we to maintain a sustainable moose population.

[Dirttracker18 26]

Opening morning seen my friend run into a cow and twins. Having a cow tag ( group of 6) he downs the cow in 1 shot. His group retrieve the animal as the twins stand in the cut and watch. They now face a long winter trying to survive on their own.

Seems like a waste.

Thanks go to the government and NOSA for a well thought management policy!

Changing your story since the original post. Don't like us ethical hunters telling you he did wrong?

[callawaydan 2]

in Quebec its 2 tags for a moose.you are allow a bull every year and a cow every 2 years.the season is open only 2 weeks and 3 weekend.they close the cow season for one year and its does help the population.they should do something like that here.iam thinking of going to hunt with my family in Quebec if this bullshit continue.its 480.00$ for a non residents tags and guaranty a bull moose every years.

[tracker 61]

If NOSA was managing the herd for the MNR, I can honestly say that it would be in better shape than it is in now. Did NOSA play a part in getting the MNR to recognize that there was a problem, defintely. If the moose hunter paid attention to this issue from the start and understood how the MNR internal policies work, they would have known that there were minimal options that were presented to the stakeholder groups. You could choose door #1,2 or 3. You could not create your own door. Sure there are a lot of disgruntled hunters who blame organizations such as NOSA when decisions are made that they do not agree with, but on the other side, hunters have shown support that moose hunting practices could not remain as they were. I just hope that hunters put as much passion into their comments to the Phase II moose management plan as they do in their threating emails and telephone calls (just less cuss words and name calling )

[L J B 7]

We live in an anti - hunting province. If you give up hunting and harvesting of animals for a few years and think the hunt will ever be reinstated you are a dreamer. We should, as hunters, not be suggesting for a minute that hunting moose be suspended. Reduce the tags, but don't give up your hunting privilege.

Will a calf survive after the mother is harvested in the fall? It seems as though many of you think that it is doomed. Can it outrun and defend itself against predators at this age? We know bears will not be a problem for calves throughout the winter as they are hibernating. Is a cow still providing milk at this time of year? Or can a calf gain it's required food on its own now? I don't have the answers to these questions. Maybe we should really be educated before we decide to give up our hunting for cows. An easy solution to this problem of " hunting ethics " would have been to allow a hunter to tag a calf with an adult moose tag. In my opinion calf are the best tasting moose out there. The meat is very tender and not very gamey tasting at all.

The original poster of this topic did not change his story at all. The calves could well have come out into the cut after the cow was shot.

NOSA did endorse this present 2 week calf season. To suggest that you had to pick door # 1,2 or 3 is ridiculous. Option # 4 is to reject all of the proposals. I cannot believe that an organization that fought so hard to have the spring bear hunt reinstated would endorse something that would potentially lead to orphaned calves. Even if the M.N.R. Had already made its mind up about what it was going to do, NOSA could have voiced their opposition publicly.

Where I hunt ( within 3 hours of Thunder Bay ) I consider the moose population to be quite healthy. I have no scientific proof to back this statement up other than my own observations. Maybe this moose problem is not all doom and gloom as some suggest. If the moose herd is really declining and it is being caused by hunter over-harvest then population numbers should start to rise shortly with the drastic reduction in adult tags. If the population crash is caused by environmental factors then no amount of tag reductions will solve the problem. Has the Minnesota moose population rebounded? They have suspended moose hunting for several years now.

My main point is that maybe we should be a lot more educated as to what the problem really is before we give up any of our hunting rights or condemn a fellow hunter for legally taking a cow moose. Anti-hunters don't even need to wade into this issue. Moose hunters are going to have the hunt cancelled all on there own.

[toma-hawk 44]

LJB well said.

Rick

[naden 136]

Why does it matter if the calves are "orphaned"? They might survive they might not, but if this situation had occured last season both calves would have been shot. Dead is dead, the only difference here is whos bellies the calves ended up in.