Moose hunt to retain two-week split season

AUGUSTA – Hunters in far northern and eastern Maine will have two weeks in which to get their moose again this fall.

On Thursday, members of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Advisory Commission unanimously supported continuing a two-week split season, which was adopted last fall to distribute the pressure of having too many hunters in some areas. The number of hunters who take to the woods to stalk the state’s most famous wildlife species has quadrupled in the past 20 years to 3,000.

Those who win moose permits in the June 12 lottery will be allowed to hunt in an assigned wildlife management district for either one or two weeks. The week of Oct. 7 through 12 is for all hunters, while those whose permits specify Aroostook and northern Washington counties, where there are more moose, will get an additional week – Sept. 23 through 28.

Since 1999, 2,700 Maine residents and 300 out-of-state hunters have been granted moose permits each fall. The number of moose killed each season has hovered at about 2,500, even with last year’s season expansion, according to DIF&W surveys.

The moose kill is not evenly distributed through the animal’s range, however. In 2000, for example, more than 100 moose were shot in a tiny area centered around St. Croix Township in Aroostook County.

To further complicate matters, almost every hunter in Maine will be in the woods at some point during the month of October. Bear and deer hunting seasons span the fall. Hunting for game birds such as pheasant, grouse and quail begins in October, as it does for squirrel, raccoon and fox.

Last fall, DIF&W abandoned its traditional moose hunting zones and assigned permits that specified one of 18 wildlife management districts. The geographic distribution and the additional week served to spread hunters through the forest so they weren’t tripping over one another, creating a dangerous and unnatural environment.

“We wanted to make sure that we kept it a quality hunt,” said Mark Latti, DIF&W spokesman.

The timing of the split season was set following discussions with sportsmen from across the state. Historically, the weeklong moose hunt shifted from year to year, beginning as early as Sept. 19 and ending as late as Oct. 25.

Both the early and late season have their benefits, sportsmen said.

In September, bull moose are typically larger and healthier than they are in late fall. The males are also more responsive to moose calls during the September mating season, said Mark Stadler, director of the department’s wildlife division.

In October, temperatures have cooled, easing the preservation of several hundred pounds of moose meat, he said.

Some tourism businesses that derive their income from moose watching or foliage viewing criticized the shift to October, saying that it infringed on their season. Easing these potential conflicts is much of the reason behind not including the Moosehead Lake region in the expanded hunt.

Among the sporting community, the response to the split season has been generally positive.

Only one person confused the seasons last fall, and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine did not receive a single complaint, SAM Executive Director George Smith said Thursday.

“It gave a considerable number of people the chance to hunt in September, and spreading people out was a great success in removing some of the congestion,” Smith said.