with the hellish winter you guys up there are having, how are moose doing?? I imagine there's a hellovalot of wolf meat to be had

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
with the hellish winter you guys up there are having, how are moose doing?? I imagine there's a hellovalot of wolf meat to be had

There's a helluvalot of car, truck and train meat going to local charities. Hundreds of moose killed on the roads and RR tracks on the Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage area, Mat-Su Valley and Fairbanks area. Hundreds more will starve before spring.

You know what the research results show--in winters like this, wolves eat a lot of carcasses of starved moose. Makes good sense--why risk getting your head kicked in trying to kill a live moose when you can eat a carcass risk free?

Research also shows many moose that wolves do kill during very severe winters would die anyway of starvation or vehicle accidents by spring.

Those darn researchers--they sure mess with our core beliefs.

Just saw a photo on the TV news of a moose on the roof of a building in McGrath. Looked like 8 or 9 feet of snow piled up there. Also, a picture of a cabin in the Glennallen area with 4 feet of snow on the roof. Moose will starve over a big area of the state.

The moose in GMU 9 seem to be doing fine with no undo hardships yet!

They are starting to get resourceful in getting at the food:



Those with a good line of credit are still able to get all the food they want!

I sort of think so far so good over here. Weather is warm now and the snow is receeding although it was not deeper than about 4 or 5' in the worst spots. I think the moose have een able to migrate to thinner snow area to continue to feed.

Somebody told me one time you can't freeze a moose but you can starve 'em. I don't think the browse is buried so,.........


A rare sighting of moose on the flats next to the road in DLG.



North shore Alegnagik village home. Wolf skins, (plural,) on rope.

Mat valley 394 moose killed on the roads so far this year. State did not issue any valley cow tags either for the upcoming year. Alot of folks not happy becuse they put all there choices for the valley cow tags. But it needed to be done... Out on palmer hay flats one day I counted 30 moose...

any chance one of you guys would be willing to
cape a bull somewhere around 50-60"??
I'm trying to find a fresh cape for Dad's mount
that's rotted due to poor tanning by Jona's Bros.
Seattle back in the mid 60's.

IF so, either pm, or e'mail me @ gldwight/yahoo
Thanks much.
George

Does anyone cut down any trees for browse during rough winters to provide feed?

Have noticed this week a lot of moose chilling in front yards, which is pretty typical for February and March here on the Kenai Peninsula. The sun has got some pretty good warmth in the afternoon now.

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
any chance one of you guys would be willing to
cape a bull somewhere around 50-60"??
I'm trying to find a fresh cape for Dad's mount
that's rotted due to poor tanning by Jona's Bros.
Seattle back in the mid 60's.

IF so, either pm, or e'mail me @ gldwight/yahoo
Thanks much.
George

Sorry George I wouldn't be able to. Its a long way out from where I hunt and I'm generally over weight so the extra effort of the cape isn't appealing.

Repost the request in August closer to season and perhaps call some of the Anchorage and Fairbanks taxidermists to see if they have one for sale. I took a sheep cape into an Anchorage shop several years ago along with the horns to have done european style. The shop readily purchased my cape. I'd think there would be other tourist hunters like me that show back up in town with the skin and horns and then decide a shoulder mount bull is a bit much.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
Does anyone cut down any trees for browse during rough winters to provide feed?

Not really--or if they do it's on too small a scale to do any good. Plus, technically it's illegal--you can't feed wildlife in Alaska. And, moose don't eat spruce, the most common tree here. They will eat the tops of paper birch trees but they are rare in the mountains.

There's an outfit here that just got a permit to feed moose. They want to pack trails away from roads and railroad tracks and feed "haylige." They are seeking donations to buy moose food--it's very costly, two or three times the cost elsewhere. Also, you have to be carefull--you can do more harm than good if you feed grass hay. Moose digestive systems can't handle grass hay and they die with a full rumen. In 1989-1990, the state bought many tons of grass hay from Delta Junction farmers and killed a bunch of moose with it.

In truth, feeding moose here is mostly a feel good operation. It may divert some animals from roadways but you really can't do it on a large enough scale to be effective because of the cost and the size and remoteness of many areas.

The best approach is to try to keep moose numbers from getting too high. In populations with moderate numbers of moose, many survive even during the worst of winters.

I see, I had thought knocking some birch or aspen/poplar over might keep them off the roads. I saw something once in TV where some folks flatten snow for them to get them back into the woods to help prevent auto accidents.

One can't 'feed' deer where I live but cutting down a tree for the bark and buds where it stood wouldn't really be feeding as a lot of people cut their firewood trees now and the tops feed wildlife in severe winters.

Dozen years back, when we lived in the MatSu, I'd be out cutting firewood and the moose would show up waiting for me to leave to eat the tops I had just cut down. Almost tame, they would be 10 yards away; sound of chain saw was the dinner bell. We had lots of moose in the MatSu back then.

Here along the Yukon, I've never had a moose come in while cutting wood, and I have two woodstoves.
After Daytona was postponed, I ran out my wood trail to look for a pair of glasses I had set down and got covered with snow. To my surprise, a set of tracks had been feeding on what I had just cut a day before. Thats how low our moose numbers are in this part of the interior.

Anyone know how the Moose faired up Talkeetna way ??

It has gotten so bad for them, they are attacking hummans!

Moose attacks

quote:

Originally posted by bcolyer:
Anyone know how the Moose faired up Talkeetna way ??

They are in serious trouble in much of southcentral Alaska including Talkeetna. The Willow area (30 miles south of Talkeetna) got a couple of feet of new snow about a week ago--on top of 4-5 feet already on the ground. Anchorage is only 13 inches short of the all-time snowfall record (132 inches).

On the serious side, the State is trying a couple of things:

feeding stations

Druging

Capturing and translocating moose is a pretty crazy idea, in my opinion. Snow is deep all over--where will they be released where conditions are better? If they survive the stress of capture and the ride to a new area, can they find food and cover and compete with moose already living there? Not likely. I think it's pretty much a "feel good" operation to get them out of sight in the Anchorage and Mat-Su Valley area and dump them in a more remote area where they will die anyway.

Out here I believe its so far so good.










I've seen several different groups of moose over the last few weekend rides and all seem to be faring at least ok. Undoubtedly some have died over the course of the winter but then again, some died last spring, summer and fall and some will this year too.

We saw this little fellow yesterday and he'd surely like a moose to die soon!





We had deep snow out here this year but it seems like along the rivers and coast the moose were able to gte arond in lighter conditions. Willow browse remains abundant in all area regardless snow depth. The bears are just barely popping out of their holes and the snow is receeding quickly so maybe the predator kill won't be too bad.

On another note, the waterfowl are also just barely starting to show around here and I've seen a few pintail up at the lake in addition to theusual year round mallards. there was a report of geese, but the source isn't reliable so,.... There guys showed up in my neighbors yard for no good reason and came back the next three evenings. Some body threw them some brown rice and I'm guessing they appreciated it. Odd for sure.

Here's a cow that the wolves slayed with a calf that was inside her. We pulled it out for the picture. Between the wolves and the birds this kill only lasted 3 days.

A very un official conversation with a fellow Dillingham'er led me to believe that wolf harvest this year has in some places been significant. The village of New Stuyahok is purported to have killed 25, the up river village of Koliganek not so much. Dillingham generally didn't do so well but one fellow claims to have really knocked 'em dead with less than a dozen I think. A known hardcore hunter up at Aleknagik took quite a few but the number I was told escapes me.

The numbers aside, really the point is effort is substantial and I believe private enterprise predator control is in effect.

Unofficial Naknek/King Salmon (other side of the pond) wolf harvest #s are most likely well above 30. Nice to see a few get knocked down.

Scott:

Those pics are great. It was almost like visiting.

Thanks for posting.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
any chance one of you guys would be willing to
cape a bull somewhere around 50-60"??
I'm trying to find a fresh cape for Dad's mount
that's rotted due to poor tanning by Jona's Bros.
Seattle back in the mid 60's.

IF so, either pm, or e'mail me @ gldwight/yahoo
Thanks much.
George

Sorry George I wouldn't be able to. Its a long way out from where I hunt and I'm generally over weight so the extra effort of the cape isn't appealing.

Repost the request in August closer to season and perhaps call some of the Anchorage and Fairbanks taxidermists to see if they have one for sale. I took a sheep cape into an Anchorage shop several years ago along with the horns to have done european style. The shop readily purchased my cape. I'd think there would be other tourist hunters like me that show back up in town with the skin and horns and then decide a shoulder mount bull is a bit much.

I had a moose over my fireplace, but when I shot a bigger moose in the Yukon I simply swapped out the horns and had my taxidermist permanently mount the swap out into the skull as well as properly fit the new antlers on the shoulder mount. He did it in return for the cape. I thought it as a fair deal, especially because he helped lift that thing on the wall. It sits 13 feet high.

Getting the time of year for bear baiting. I think more Alaskan hunters should try it out, can only help the moose as blk bears take moose calves too.

Our family gets into Spring bear over bait; actually fun looking at all the game camera picts, daily run out to stand, and just spending time enjoying nature; kids had a great time. We got 8 bear outta our stand last spring and plan to hit them hard this May & JUne too; can only benefit the moose.