I see that our DNR is spending $2 million and five years to study why our moose population is down. They intend to collar moose between 8 months and three years old to see what they can learn.

For those of you that understand moose, can it be a terribly complicated thing to understand? It seems to me that if we started killing wolves, bears, and deer and also allowed some burning to create habitat for moose and eliminate habitat for ticks, that we could probably expect an uptick in moose numbers. I also wonder if putting collars on them is beneficial overall, as I recall that they used to inadvertently kill a lot of moose during the collaring process.

For any of you that have any knowledge in this area, I would greatly appreciate you sharing. It's very possible that I'm wrong on some things, or perhaps everything.

I have no science in my answer but killing wufs would help a lot for many things.

X2
How many more wolves are in the state than there were 20 years ago. The state kept introducing wolves but they did nothing to help the moose numbers. Collaring the moose in my opinion doesn't answer questions except where they have been.. I don't live in the moose range but when I was a kid we seen moose quite often in this area.

According to the DNR the wolf population has been stable since the 1990s.

They usually have 4 to 6 pups so there has to be a lot killed to not increase population.

If you believe that l have a bridge I can sell you.

Sam,
There is big federal money coming into the state for wolf management. The DNR is not wanting to mess with the golden goose.
The Moose collaring was stopped once due to excessive stress and death due to netting them from helicopters. Wonder what has changed?

NateL,
How much time have you spent in the northern part of the state in the last twenty years?

Glad I could get everyone worked up. I was being sarcastic.

I spend many many hours up North every year. Rally, I'm sure we would agree on the change in wolf numbers. When I was s kid it was incredibly rare to even hear a wolf howl, maybe way up in the arrowhead or BWCA. Now I hear them everywhere, have them on trail cameras and see tracks in places they never were before. Including not that far from the Twin Cities. I spent third weekend of gun season in a special hunt area this year and never saw a deer and heard wolves every morning.

Pot stirrer

i know you're absolutely right about wolves being a golden goose. It just seems to me that the state would see value in the moose too.
As far as the netting mortality is concerned, I once spoke with a fellow that claimed to be in on it. He said that they lost 4 of the first ten moose he was in on. I don't know how true that number is, but if it is true, it certainly seems counter productive.

In my little area in "The Arrowhead" Moose seem to be recovering. I've had cameras on the same spots for 10 years or so. Fewer deer thus fewer wolves more moose and more bears. A lot of clear cuts that moose like. Deer hunting zone 126 is very thin on deer and has been for a while. If I remember correctly the mortality from the tagging was cows abandoning calves ater the calves were tagged. Tourists love to see wolves and moose, more tourists more money. Just my opinions.

Wasn't some of the mortality from collaring from the collars being to tight when it warmed up in the summer?

Really the only thing that can be controlled to help population is wolves. The only point to the study is to try to show the public it isn’t wolves. You can bet if it’s a DNR study it’ll show what they want it isn’t wolves. I mean if they find its ticks what are they going to do? Spray for ticks in the entire northern forests?

I agree there are too many wolves, but I’ve never heard of the DNR introducing more, as opined above. Why would they, wolves have always been present in MN.

Should we start a thread on the Lynx zone management? LOL

I'm glad to hear someone say they're seeing more moose.

I was told that most of the collar related mortality was from the moose going into shock, and just never standing up afterwards. I can't confirm that, it's just what the guy involved with it told me.

My thinking is that if we allowed some fires, we would eliminate some tick habitat, thereby reducing the number of ticks that survive the winter. My thoughts are all from the perspective of a barstool biologist though, I could be wrong.

The Lynx management rules is how I came up with name of Ruled-Out LOL

The only part of that that makes sense is..... well I guess I'll tell you when I figure it out.