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Description
ABSTRACT: Wildlife biologists and members of the hunting public in Alberta voiced concerns that unregulated hunting by First Nations' hunters was detrimental to some moose populations. Moose population dynamics were examined in 3 study areas where First Nations hunting occurred. Provincially licensed sport hunters were only allowed to harvest antlered moose in all 3 areas, but numbers of permits were unlimited. Moose populations in some management areas were characterized by strongly biased sex ratios in favor of females, high mean age of the female cohort, and reduced reproductive performance. In Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) 358, where hunting by First Nations' hunters was considered "heavy", the sex ratio was not strongly biased, moose numbers were sustained at a higher level, and both pregnancy and twinning rates were higher than in the other areas. Contrary to the fears of wildlife managers and sport hunters, moose hunting by First Nations' hunters in WMU 358 did not appear to be detrimental, but may have actually enhanced moose productivity. The moose harvest there probably resembled a selective harvest system where females as well as males were included. Wildlife managers in Alberta may wish to consider the benefits of selective harvest for other areas that are currently managed under a non-selective male-only harvest strategy.
Key words: age structure, Alces alces, First Nations hunting, moose harvest, Native hunting, productivity, selective harvest, sex ratio
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In many jurisdictions across North America, the moose (Alces alces) resource is shared by Indigenous People (First Nations people in Canada, Native Americans in the United States), who are exercising their treaty hunting rights, and sport hunters licensed to harvest a moose. Conflicts between these two groups have been known to occur and wildlife managers must consider the harvest by both when formulating the annual hunting regulations. An annual telephone questionnaire in Alberta (Lynch and Birkholz 2000) provided reasonable estimates of the annual harvest by licensed sport hunters, but the take by First Nations' hunters was never documented. In response to the uncertainty concerning the total harvest of moose each year, those who set hunting regulations adopted a conservative approach by forbidding the removal of any females by sport hunters and later by limiting numbers of bull moose permits. The stated goal of moose management in Alberta was to increase moose numbers in most wildlife management units (WMUs).
History has shown that unregulated hunting can profoundly impact wildlife populations by reducing animal numbers or by altering population characteristics, including age structures of population cohorts and sex ratios. In Alberta, the Northern Moose Management Program (NMMP) enabled biologists to examine moose population characteristics over a large portion of northern moose range. Three study areas (WMUs 346,350, and 358) allowed a comparison of the characteristics of moose populations in an area considered to be heavily utilized by First Nations' hunters (WMU 358) and 2 other areas where First Nations hunting was not considered to be significant. The purpose of this paper was to examine the impact of unregulated hunting by First Nations' hunters on the moose population in WMU 358, an area considered by moose biologists to have been heavily hunted by that group for many years.
STUDY AREA
The 3 study areas were typical boreal forest, covered by mosaics of open muskeg and forests dominated by mixed and pure stands of white spruce (Picea glauca), black spruce (P. mariana), aspen (Populus... |
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