Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa recently announced it would conduct a bulls-only moose hunt this fall, limiting the hunt to nine bulls.
The hunt will be conducted September 28 through December 31, or ended sooner if the limit is reached.
Boise Forte band, which also signed to the 1854 Treaty Authority with Grand Portage, which limits some of the tribe’s hunting and fishing rights in exchange for a yearly stipend from the state, also plans to offer a tribal bulls-only hunt with the limit set at nine.
The 1854 ceded territory is a geographic area in northeastern Minnesota that includes portions of Carlton, St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties. It also includes small portions of northern Pine County and east-central Aitkin County.
Meanwhile, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which long ago opted out of the 1854 Treaty, is offering a fall tribal hunt that will allow as many as 24 bull moose to be taken. That hunt will run from September 21 to December 31.
If all of the permits are filled, less than one percent of the moose population will be affected by the fall hunt.
In 2013 the state cancelled its bulls-only moose hunt citing a drop from 8,840 moose in 2006 to an estimated 2,700 in 2013. Since then the population has leveled off at about 4,000 moose, with efforts under way by state and tribal researchers to understand why so many moose died so quickly.
Scientists know some of the culprits that caused the die-off: brain worm transmitted by deer, predation by wolves and bears, winter ticks, climate change and a lack of habitat, and work continues to see if the moose numbers can be brought back to more robust numbers in northeastern Minnesota.
Leading the way in that regard is a multi-tiered project conducted by Grand Portage.
Over the last several years, under the direction of Dr. Seth Moore, Grand Portage director of biology and environment, and Grand Portage Trust Land Administrator Tony Swader, there has been an effort to create diverse habitats for moose on tribal lands to see how different growths of plants and trees affect the animals’ success in foraging for food. Some of this land clearing is accomplished through expanded logging or prescribed burns.
Most of a moose diet comes from moose browsing on young trees and plants. Older forests lack the nutrition moose need to live.
In another effort to expand moose numbers, Grand Portage began a program to reduce both bear and deer populations on tribal land through an added fall archery deer and spring bear hunt. Bear and wolf are significant predators of moose calves, with 75 percent of calves dying in their first year of life.
Deer spread brain worm to moose, which often causes moose to fall ill and then succumb to predation or illness.
Moore said he doesn’t believe the few bulls taken by tribal members affect the overall population and stability of the Northeastern Minnesota moose herd. Only efforts to expand the moose habitat and lessen predation of calves—and stopping or slowing the spread of brain worm—will allow moose to fully recover in Northeastern Minnesota, said Moore.
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