Moose Hunting in Michigan's Upper Peninsula? | Headwaters - Community Journalism for the Great Lakes

A moose hunting season may open here in the Upper Peninsula in the fall of 2011. Thursday, the hunting bill (Bill 1013 sponsored by Republican Senator Jason Allen) passed the State Senate and is expected to be signed by Governor Granholm. It was approved unanimously in the Senate and passed by 82-9 in the House. The bill would “authorize the establishment of the first open hunting season for moose and create a seven-member moose hunting advisory council within the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE).”

Rules for the moose hunting season would be similar to the elk hunting season and a survey is planned to be conducted in the spring to determine the logistics of the hunting season, including how the licenses will be distributed – likely in a lottery. Licenses are expected to cost about $100.

Hunting is a rich part of Michigan’s heritage, a tradition passed down through the generations, and it is vital to the state’s economy. Some argue that license fees acquired from opening up more fishing and hunting opportunities in the state would help generate much-needed revenue for local communities, especially the hunting of a large iconic animal like the moose.

The House Legislative Analysis document says that, “While it is unknown how many applications the Department would receive for the moose hunting program, it is anticipated that there would be considerable interest in the hunt. Both the black bear hunt and the elk hunt in Michigan require a $4 application fee. In 2009, 57,285 hunters applied for the black bear hunt, and 38,826 hunters applied for the elk hunt.”

According to a 2006 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife report, a total of 1.37 million resident sportsmen in Michigan spent $9.4 million a day for a yearly total of $3.4 billion. Sportsmen in Michigan also added $1.7 billion in salaries and wages and $406 million in federal taxes as well as $378 million in state and local taxes.

Supporters of the bill included the DNRE and the Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

Others were critical of the bill and argued that the economy is not the only thing that should be considered. Some say that wildlife viewing is just as important as hunting. The 2006 USFWS survey also reported that wildlife viewing brought in $1.6 billion.

Other concerns were included in a recent blog posting at connectmidmichigan.com, by Pete Mackin:

A scientifically, well-managed herd should eventually be healthy and robust; at which point I could see the beneficial denouement of an economically prosperous hunting season. Further, the language in this bill creating an advisory council proposed to oversee this new moose season does not require any of its members to have scientific credentials or field experience with the Michigan moose herd and only mandates that they consider whether or not to “expand” the season once it’s initiated…Michigan’s moose herd is not yet to the scientific level of stability that would allow for a healthy hunting season. Twice the Michigan moose population was recovering (late 1800s and the 1940s) and twice hunting lead to their near extirpation in the Upper Peninsula…My former political opponent Sen. Prusi apparently has not consulted experts in his district (or gone out with them on field studies as I have) otherwise he would not have cosponsored this bill.

Moose are native to Michigan and once thrived all across the state, but disappeared in the late 1800s entirely from the Lower Peninsula and mostly from the Upper Peninsula as well. After a failed attempt to relocate moose in the 30s, the state was somewhat more successful during a second and third try in the 80s when moose were brought to the UP from the Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.

According to the DNRE populations have since increased, “When we look at the population data from about 1996-97 forward, our model suggests the population is growing at about 10 percent per year.”

But the state never met a population goal of 1000 moose by the year 2000.

The agency points out that global warming makes it very difficult to predict moose populations, that moose are designed to handle very cold conditions. However, partly because they aren’t able to sweat, surviving in a warming climate presents major challenges for the herds.

According to the legsilative analysis, Michigan Technological University professor and wildlife ecologist Rolf Peterson expressed some concerns “about how the impact of moose hunting would be evaluated” and “that trends in other states and Canadian provinces indicate that moose will be increasingly challenged by climate change in the near future.”

The State of Minnesota has experienced a declining moose population from about 4000 to less than 100 over the last few decades in the northwest. It is for many of these reasons that the Humane Society and several individuals oppose the bill.

Decisions on moose hunting will also have to include tribal negotiations. According to the government analysis, “the state will also need to negotiate with other tribes with members in Michigan and Wisconsin regarding moose hunting as it relates to rights retained by those tribes under the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe.”

Today’s Michigan moose population rests somewhere between about 400 and 600, mostly in the western Upper Peninsula. Additionally, about 500 moose remain in the Isle Royal National Park.