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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine wildlife regulators said Thursday the state's hunters had a more successful moose season this year than in 2014, and there are positive signs about the health of the state's official animal.
A spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife said hunters harvested about 2,200 moose this year for an 80-percent success rate — both higher figures than last year. The increased moose harvest dovetails with some positive signs about the state's official animal, including that moose observed during the season were healthy, with a good percentage of stored fat, said state moose biologist Lee Kantar.
"During September we had several bull moose harvested that weighed over 1,000 pounds," Kantar said. "That shows there's a lot of stability in what the moose population looked like."
It's good news for the state's moose herd, which has suffered die-offs due to parasites such as winter ticks and brainworm in recent years. Maine has the largest moose population in the continental United States with an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 animals, and the state reinstituted its moose hunt in 1980 after it had been closed for about a half century.
But the state has cut hunting permits in recent years, including a trim from 3,095 to 2,740 this year, as a result of concerns about maintaining a healthy herd. More than 50,000 people typically apply for a moose hunting permit.
Maine wildlife regulators use the moose hunt to drive tourism and limit moose collisions with vehicles, which can be deadly for the driver. The hunt is also popular with out-of-state hunters, and the state touts the meat as "sustainable, free range and organic."
Maine and New Hampshire are in the midst of a five-year study to better understand why moose populations are in decline. State wildlife biologists said earlier this year that moose mortality during the 2014-15 winter showed improvement from the prior year.
The 2014 harvest total was 2,022, a 65 percent success rate. Better hunting weather also helped this year, Kantar said.
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