North Dakota’s 2013 moose, elk and bighorn sheep proclamation is finalized and applications are available at the State Game and Fish Department’s website. The deadline for applying is March 27.


A total of 111 moose licenses are available in 2013, 32 fewer than last year.


Randy Kreil, Game and Fish Department wildlife chief, said a downward population trend in the northeastern portion of the state is of great concern. “Unit M1C will remain closed,” Kreil said, “and in addition, unit M4, which encompasses the Turtle Mountains, is also closed this year.”


In 2012, unit M4 had only seven moose licenses, Kreil added, with only two moose harvested.


Game and Fish is also making a couple of other changes designed to bolster the moose population. All licenses this year are for “any moose,” while in previous years some were specific to antlerless moose. “We think that the ‘any’ tags will protect the cow segment of the population,” Kreil said, “as records indicate most hunters choose to fill their ‘any’ tags with a bull rather than a cow.”


The moose season in units M8, M9 and M10 will open a week later than in previous years to avoid the peak of the rut. Data collected over the last year indicates a number of unbred cows were documented in those units, Kreil said, and opening the season a week later in October may improve breeding success by reducing disturbance during the peak of the mating season.


A total of 261 elk licenses are available to hunters this fall, 40 fewer than last year.


The number of elk licenses in units E3 and E4 is reduced by 40 due to the successful population reduction effort by the National Park Service in Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s south unit. A total of 937 elk – 701 adult cows – were taken out of the park by the reduction effort, and an additional 363 elk were taken by licensed hunters in E3 and E4 during the last three hunting seasons. Based on a recent elk survey, the estimated number of elk in the park is below 200, Kreil said.


On the positive side, elk unit E1 has been expanded to include parts of the Turtle Mountains, due to a growing elk population largely attributed to animals migrating in from Canada.


The bighorn sheep season will have four licenses available, the same as last year. One license is available in units B1/B2, B3 and B4. In addition, one license is auctioned through the Midwest Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation. The bighorn sheep hunter drawing the license in units B1/B2 is eligible to hunt both units.


To [url=https://apps.nd.gov/gnf/onlineservices/lic/public/online/main.htm]apply online[/url], access the Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. Paper applications will be available on the website (for printing) and at license vendors the week of March 11.


Bighorn sheep, moose and elk lottery licenses are issued as once-in-a-lifetime licenses in North Dakota. Hunters who have received a license through the lottery in the past are not eligible to apply for that species again.

For those of you that have applied, the big wait is coming to an end. This weekend in Rangeley Maine. The drawing will be the 22. Good luck to everyone, and feel free to contact us in regards to pursuing your Maine trophy moose. Please feel free to visit our website @ [url=http://www.ommoutfitters.com]www.ommoutfitters.com[/url]

A good spreading Bar goes a long way!
I like your way & your theory, But as you say to each his own.
I also seen that a well oiled Chian Saw, with Vegetable Oil,
works great on cutting the spine down the middle & halfing the Moose.
Depending on how warm it gets in Camp the onger you can hang it the better, but in most cases its too warm so the hang him, shin him, job has to be done fast & get the Moose to a cooler or Butcher ...A.S.A.P,
Thanx for your input, & good luck with all your hunts

Fred

I think this depends more on what your doing with the moose, Our seasons are early here, so we don't leave them hanging long, take some pic, skin them out and quarter them up, which seems to be easier to do hanging them by the head. And also the way we have always done it. we can start the hide with a knives, and then pull it off mostly with a 4 wheeler / truck and a rope. the head may be up out of reach, but the rest of the moose is easy to get at, where I think hanging by the hind legs, the hind quarters would be out of reach or the head in the way. Do you use a good rugged spreading bar or 2 sets of chain falls when hanging a moose head down? Will a moose still hang evenly when you start quartering it off one side, using a spreading bar? I guess everyone has there own way of doing things, and reasons for them.

The age ole theory, do I hang him with the head up or the head down.

Usually the Moose gets hung up the quickest way possible! Some don't know & some don't care

& some say this is the way I seen it done for years.

Same thing as they used to say, hurry & run over to it & slit its throat to let the blood drain out.

Ole School stuff, once the heart stops beating no more blood is going to flow.

So where does the blood naturally go, to the heart, & where is most of the meat on a Moose?

The hind end right! After doing Seminars & talking with Butchers, the best way to hang a Moose or

any animal for that matter is " HEAD DOWN " this lets the blood to drain naturally from the animal.

Take this from an Ole Hunter that knows.

Nice try, sorry wrong,...want to try again?

Moose means the Largest northern deer in north America and Elk in Europe

Does anyone know what the word "MOOSE" means ???? ALEC, ALEC.

Very good, I see someone knows their critters!

The Vulva Patch is a white patch of hair below the tail of a cow moose,
The bell or due lap, it hangs on the under side of a bull moose neck
The best way to call in a bull moose is by mimicking a cow moaning

What"s a Vulval Patch? ...Whats a Bell?...What is the best call to use to bring a Bull Moose in?

Moose lottery draws a big crowd in New Hampshire

Updated: 06/27/2010 06:35:53 AM EDT

News from New Hampshire is all about the big drawing held this week for the moose hunt this fall.

Some 395 people have been offered permits to hunt moose in New Hampshire this October. The names of the winners are posted on N.H. Fish and Game's website at www.huntnh.com. Hunters whose names were selected in the drawing will be notified by mail.

Winners were randomly selected by computer from a pool of more than 14,000 applicants. They will be offered permits to hunt moose during the October 16-24 season. Each winner is allowed to enlist a guide and one friend or relative to help on the hunt as a "sub-permittee."

It's the 16th year entering the New Hampshire moose hunt lottery and the first win for Robert Rioux of Nashua, who says he's been hunting "since he was born." He and wife Carol were there to hear his name read for a permit.

Winners hailed from throughout New Hampshire, as well as Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, Virginia, Mississippi, Ohio and Florida

Thanks to the recovery of moose populations, New Hampshire has had an annual moose hunt since 1988. That year, 75 permits were issued for a three-day hunt in the North Country. The availability of 395 hunting permits this year, with some issued for every area of the state during the nine-day season, has been made possible by careful management of moose populations.

The resulting sustainable annual harvest of moose helps to regulate moose numbers and provides a unique recreational opportunity.

In 2009, New Hampshire hunters took 341 moose, for a statewide success rate of 65 percent.

Several local people were drawn for a permit: Jim Bagni of Billerica, Vincent Balboni of Billerica, Henry Finch of Winchendon, Keith Lambert of Nashua, Herbert Capron of Boxford, Armand Caron of Chelmsford and Jean-Claude Poulin of Nashua.

Northeast and Central District staff of Mass Wildlife are looking for territorial loon pairs on Massachusetts lakes and ponds. In addition to Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, loons are known to use at least eight other bodies of water in Worcester County for nesting. Reports of loons observed during the months of May and June should be made to District Wildlife Biologist Bridgett McAlice.

Loons have recently been observed on Heywood Reservoir in Sterling and Leominster, which is owned by the Town of Clinton and part of their Wekepeke watershed over which MassWildlife holds a Conservation Restriction. Also noted were loons in Baddacook and Long Lake in Littleton.

Massachusetts anglers are reminded that lead restrictions on fishing gear will be adopted statewide beginning in 2012. No longer will you be allowed to have lead split shot or any other form of sinker made of lead on your line. The reason is the fear of waterfowl and others species swallowing the lead and dying from lead poison.. Lead shot has been banned for waterfowl hunters for some 20 years now. This new law is long overdue...

There is no hard and fast numbers yet for the turkey kill for this past spring but I am hearing through the grapevine the hunt was very good and the harvest could be about 3,000 for the first time. These will of course be all bearded males. A second season will happen in the fall when one bird of either sex is allowed as long as you have a permit.

If you missed the Friday FishFinder let me just give you a bit of news: the striped bass action is fabulous, the flounder fishing is unbelievable, cod and pollock for both bait and eating is great, haddock are filling coolers, whales are on the prowl, bluefish have made their presence known and New Hampshire and Maine are doing very well catching some great fish. Now if you had read the paper on Friday you would know where the fish are!

Any one draw a moose tag in Maine, if so for where? I will do what I can to help anyone out with there planning, it truly is an great hunt, but no where as easy as it once was and many expect.-Steve