Here's why so many moose hunters in much of Newfoundland are so frustrated

Moose licence applications for the 2024 season will be online in a few months and at least one hunter is cautioning others about applying for Moose Management Area 29 — the Bonavista Peninsula.

"Thinking about applying to Area 29?" Lee Tremblett asked in a Facebook post, before answering, "Don't! Nothing left on this end. Worst I've seen it. A good many more will say the same."

The 47-year-old commercial fisherman from Bonavista is just one of thousands of frustrated hunters throughout Newfoundland and Labrador in recent years who either didn't fill their tags — yet — or had to hunt much harder and more often than they have in the past.

I've spoken with countless hunters from different parts of the province over the past decade and the general consensus is that the moose aren't there like they used to be.

Fifteen years ago, for example, it was unheard of for hunting parties to return from a four- or five-day trip to the great Northern Peninsula without a quartered moose or two in the bed of their pickup. That's not the case these days.

Success rates are consistently dwindling in many moose management areas across Newfoundland.

Here's a condensed version, from a CBC column I wrote several months back, of overall success rates over the past 15 years:

• 2008: 74 per cent.
• 2010: 72.5 per cent.
• 2012: 69 per cent.
• 2014: 64 per cent.
• 2016: 61.3 per cent.
• 2019: 59 per cent.
• 2021-22: 57.5 per cent. 

It's worth a special mention that the 2021 success rate for moose management areas 35 and 33 — St. John's and Salmonier — was 32.5 per cent. That isn't a typo.

A couple of keyboard warriors with a supposed background in biology will likely take some satisfaction in telling me — once again — that neither I nor most hunters know what we're talking about or what factors should be considered when we suggest the number of licences should be cut considerably.

Well, if they can't accept the opinions of those on the ground, it's tough to argue with the facts. We still maintain that the population is nowhere near the government's estimated figure of 120,000 animals.

There are a few areas of the province, particularly on Newfoundland's west coast, where the moose population appears to be stable. And there are some hunters who will say that no matter the area, "ya got to get out of the truck to find them."

But that argument holds only so much water. Dozens of men and women have told me over the past few months that they've covered every inch of ground they've always hunted, and while some of them did manage to harvest an animal this season, they are spending considerably more time and money than ever before. Some of them are ready to give it up, for good.

Tremblett has no plans to ever quit hunting, and while he's known for being capable of "walking anywhere a moose can go," he told me, he'd prefer it didn't take three months before he could fire a shot, if at all this year, with the Dec. 31 deadline fast approaching.

"I've hunted most every day since the season began [Sept. 9]; slept in just four mornings so far," he told me in mid-December.

"I usually stick to the Bonavista area for my walking hunts, but on really bad days I venture the roads and woods roads in the truck; maybe 50 kilometres. The walking area I hunt is around five kilometres, round trip, right in the main corridor they usually travel — lots of food, water and shelter for them. Some days I'd go twice, three hours in the morning and a couple in the evening."

He admits the weather has been a factor this year: "Storms steady coming, bogs flooded out all season, then snow had the trees loaded down."

Cellphones, which provide "lots of spotters on the road for one actual hunter," and electronic callers are major enemies of moose these days as well, he said. And since the practical (shooting) part of the hunting courses was taken out many years ago, he said, "a good many animals are shot at and wounded, and not many people are willing to chase down a wounded moose if it's not convenient."

Poaching used to be common in Moose Management Area 29, he said. "But not so much in the past 10 years because it's not easy finding a moose to poach."

Surprisingly — unlike many other hunters I know in his area — Tremblett doesn't have a problem with the number of licences issued this year for the Bonavista Peninsula, though he believes the total could be lowered in down years like this. In total, 750 were issued for the area. 

We've seen the social media photos of successful hunters with their animal this season. Quite a few of them, actually. But not 27,575 licences issued for 2023.

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