That is why we have such a high rate of calf twins and triplets these moose have it made and are fat..no need to call in the airforce yet.

My turn?
I live in an area with a high caribou population. I work at the airport and see firsthand the operations of guides and transporters. Have you ever seen a dumpster of caribou? 2 pallets of meat stacked 3-4 feet high in 50 degree weather for 3 days? Anyone ever try to give you rotten meat? Ever see a sign "free meat" cause a guy got 5 caribou and a moose but didn't want to pay freight charges back where he came from? Note* he took the antlers! I can go on and on but I know ill be in the minority here because there are guides that will defend themselves and others. Another quick note that happened a few weeks ago the local police were given rotten meat from a client that ended up in a dumpster also. I overheard a cop telling the story at a local store. You might ask why this wasn't brought to troopers attention believe me it was. It makes no sense that all a person has to do is bring the meat to a hub in edible condition. What is done after is a grey area.
Ok. Now for the misconception that money is brought into the community. Guides and transporters pick their clients up at Alaska airlines and bring them to their base of operations. They sit on the ramp and wait for the aircraft that takes them to their destination. Tents food water are all provided for. Relax ive seen the everything these guys keep stocked in their buildings and shelters. When clients return they sit on the ramp and gather their belongings to be brought to Alaska airlines to check in. How do I know this? I work at the airport. Where is the money coming into the town? Tickets are bought from Alaska airlines. 4 out of 5 transporters are based in towns other than kotzebue. 1 based in kotzebue has 1 local pilot part time. Guides are not based in kotzebue. Fuel is bought from Crowley.
where is the money that is supposedly being brought in?
The last gripe I have is about the notion that with an airplane you get out where locals will not be affected by the actions of guides and transporters. Have you ever hunted the migration of caribou? You ever shoot a caribou out of a herd and have the next bunch an hour later take another rout because the herd that you shot one from leaves a scent going in another direction for them to follow? Imagine this.... 5 transporters dropping off a few hundred hunters in the path of these caribou and this not affecting the migration of the herd. Not only hunters but plane traffic all day long. Noatak kotzebue noorvik kiana selawik ambler shungnak and kobuk all rely on this migration for food. Depending on what the caribou do in a year some villages have a tough time getting meat. 2 years ago the migration went a northern route and everyone suffered from locals to guides and transporters. Locals didn't get the meat they needed and the guides and transporters had to burn more fuel to get hunters to the caribou. The moose population took a major hit that fall because people prefer moose over caribou. A friend of mine settled for a moose that fall after not getting caribou and said there were 26 sets of moose antlers up to the place he got a moose. After all we don't eat antlers.
Alrighty then. Let the mudslinging begin. Ive put a big bullseye on my chest so grimmer your best shot.

This jumped in kind of late. Wrote it this afternoon and after the recent posts.
I will reedit this to address some of my feelings on keeping money in the villages.
My thought is that locals could gain from providing drop off packages and boat rentals for resident and non. Restricted to certain areas that the villages deem appropriate. Cut down on the competition and give some local employment and harvest some of the excess. Many residents would pay for drop off hunts if the equipment was supplied. It is not guiding. Other guys do this. Not sure of all the legalities but it is a thought.

There will still someday become an issue of carrying capacity. And I bet the lower reaches of the Yukon are getting there. There are far more alder than anything in the lower yukon area. Where are the concentrations of moose in the winter. Specific patchs of willow. You see concentrations of them where ever you fly over the willow patchs near the river bend and disturbed grounds some of the best. There is only so many willow tops to go around. There is always scattered moose. Always will be. But the willow patches take it in the tops in the concentrated areas. Come to Homer and look at what years of overgrazing did to the willow patches in the prime winter areas. Very apparent. Short stubble of a willow with ever available nibble taken off them every year.

The numbers are not there yet in the Mountain Village area and above. But their will come a day in the lower river, if it is not their yet when winter browse will be the deciding factor for a healthy herd. Be different if they had a place to go. Holy Cross moose can migrate up or down as they need. Where does a moose at the mouth of the Yukon go when it needs new habitat.
Much like the lynx populations. They have steadily grown for the last 15 years.
My theory
They also have no where to go. Bearing Sea, Tundra for miles and miles north and South. Or back up river. Plenty of food. Even with low hare numbers our rodent population is such that it could support any predator out there if they got hungry.
Doesn't seem to be a boom and bust. Just boom. at least for the last 12 years. No sign of a down turn yet.
Trappers seem to be keeping these numbers in check.
But moose. Only so many the villagers can take.
And yes no dead moose yet showing up to starvation.
And certainly not in your area Jeff but I do wonder about the Emmo Kotlik areas. When we might see some of it down the line.
Interesting article. Alaska Moose management-Science or Comic book biology
As he describes it moose left to fulfill the carrying capacity of an area live on the brink of disaster. It is far better to maintain the herd at 50 to 75 % Thus insuring extra food for those hard winters of cold and deep snow. Little wiggle room on a hard winter with little food. Moose die. Just like other animals. And that might be worth it to the local villagers in view of the alternative, Outside hunting pressure.
Hard decisions for both sides. But in the end. There will be dead moose one way or the other. Wolves, people, cold, starvation. What should we manage for. Many sides to that question. And to each his own.

[quote=Kusko]Actually Jeff, for the number of people that live in our area, our moose are doing pretty darn good. We started with 77 moose in a stretch of river that went 200 miles. After 5 years of no hunting, we had 1000 moose.

I'm pretty sure this is impossible without a lot of dispersal into the area from somewhere else. That would be close to a 70% growth rate per year. The largest growth rate measured in Alaska (THAT I'M AWARE OF) was on the predator free and relatively snow free area of Kalgan Island. It was around 33%.

This rate is falling off as of the last survey done.

Do you realy think folks with no wildlife officers at all in our area actually quit hunting meat when FnG said you cant eat moose meat no more? are you kidding me?..lol

the population increase was due to moose migrating in from upriver and other areas where wolves and fires were driving them out.
plus stores and food stamps and oil money combined with high fish prices (ie $5. a lb some were making 100k a year) that relieved some of the pressure off the moose, as folks could now afford to eat from the stores.

It was not due to some snot nosed Bilogist from Seattle fresh out of college.

Dirt when the economy crashes and no more store bought goods we will see how long your moose last just like the elk, buffalo. the deer and waterfowl in the 48... when folks depended on them for food especialy during the depression