scooter
05-27-2008, 08:23 AM
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Moose licence deadline draws near in N.B.
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For those planning to apply for a moose licence, the application must be in by June 13. The results will be available July 7.
To apply by telephone and have the application fee charged to that number call 1-900-565-1500. More than one person can apply from that same number. To apply and have the fee charged to your Visa or MasterCard credit card the number is 1-888-922-3729. The application fee is $9.04 (tax included).
One can apply from Monday to Friday, 8.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. In either case if one has a problem while applying, stay on the line and an operator will come to your assistance.
If however, while applying an error has been made that is only realized later, call 1-506-453-2440 during business hours. One can also apply in person at a Natural Resources or Service New Brunswick Office, but here the application fee is $13.56.
Applicants now have the option of applying via the Internet. Go first to http://www.gnb.ca/0078/index-e.asp where one can obtain further information, and then log onto the online application site where the $9.04 application fee is paid via your telephone number. That phone number is required as part of the application process.
Regardless of how one applies they must have their Medicare card handy, and have decided on which zone they will be applying for. If born on or after January 1, 1981 or are a first-time hunter you must have completed the Firearm Safety and Hunter Education courses. Or, if you are a bowhunter, one must also have completed the Bow Hunter Education course.
This year the season runs Sept. 25-27 with 3,350 licences available.
Those that have applied every year for several years but have not been drawn (Group A) stand a one in six chance of being drawn while those in Group B have a 1 in 22 chance and those in Group C, a 1 in 42 chance.
The above Internet address will also provide an opportunity to download the 2007 N.B. Big Game Harvest Reports. Although the report is not yet complete (in progress), moose hunters in particular will find this report more than a little interesting.
One page of that report shows the registered moose harvest per square kilometre in each Wildlife Management Zone. Here we find that the lowest number of moose harvested per square kilometre on the mainland is in Zone 22 (.007) that includes the Sussex area, while the Zone with the highest number harvested per square kilometre is Zone 3 with a rating of .063. Zone 3 is located in the northwest of the province and borders on Quebec.
Now here is where it gets really interesting. If we turn to the page of the report showing the registered deer harvest per square kilometre in each zone we discover that while the hot spot for deer on the mainland of the province is Zone 22 with a rating of .59, in Zone 3 there is no rating at all, as this zone is closed to all deer hunting due to so few deer in that zone.
Why is it then that Zone 22, with the highest mainland deer harvest yet, has the fewest moose harvested, while Zone 3, with very few deer, has the highest moose kill per square kilometre of the entire province?
The answer is likely due to a small parasite called brain worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis), which is carried by deer, but does not affect them, yet will kill a moose when the animal becomes infected.
As a result we could surmise that where deer are found in relatively large numbers we can expect to find relatively few moose, and vice versa, all due to a small worm.
Another factor to consider is that when the first settlers came to this province only moose were found, with deer only spreading into all areas of the province within the last 100 years, a time in which moose had been hunted almost to extinction. In 1936 the moose season was closed and only reopened in 1960 when a very limited hunt resulted in 174 moose being harvested.
Yet it's also interesting that Zone 23, located adjacent to Zone 22 on its northern border and on the south by the Bay of Fundy, had a deer harvest per square kilometre of .30, and a moose kill of .050, which appears to be a balancing act between the deer and the moose.
We could go into more detail on this, but suffice to say that biologists are well aware of this, and can only wish that a method of eradicating brain worm could be found. It's also a fact that the moose populations on the mainland of Nova Scotia are in decline, and that this may in part be due to the relatively large numbers of deer in that province as compared to New Brunswick. Part of that is due to Nova Scotia being further south and having less severe winters, and thus has less winterkill.
In the early spring 2008 edition of the Eastern Woods and Waters magazine Jack MacAndrew wrote about the efforts being made to determine what factors are contributing to the decline in Nova Scotia's moose herd, and details much of interest concerning the history of the moose in that province.
Turning briefly to the 2007 bear harvest, we find in the Big Game Harvest Report that last fall residents in New Brunswick harvested 347 bear while non- residents harvested 1,517. Another 148 were reported killed by motor vehicle, poaching, or being killed due to becoming a nuisance to the point of presenting a hazard to people.
Our current spring season for bear runs until June 28.
Anyone that has been out in the woods the last week or two is well aware that black flies are now out in force, and that anyone in a tree stand overlooking a bear bait better have fly repellent, a mesh head net, and be wearing clothing and gloves that the little critters cannot bite thru.
Although bear are said to have relatively poor eyesight, anyone in a tree stand that is swatting and/or scratching stands a very good chance of being spotted by the bear.
Not only do non-resident bear hunters contribute to the economy of this province, in the process they eliminate a number of animals that play a major role in the predations of fawns in early spring.
Everett Mosher is a Sackville-based writer and avid outdoorsman. His column appears on Tuesday.
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Moose licence deadline draws near in N.B.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those planning to apply for a moose licence, the application must be in by June 13. The results will be available July 7.
To apply by telephone and have the application fee charged to that number call 1-900-565-1500. More than one person can apply from that same number. To apply and have the fee charged to your Visa or MasterCard credit card the number is 1-888-922-3729. The application fee is $9.04 (tax included).
One can apply from Monday to Friday, 8.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. In either case if one has a problem while applying, stay on the line and an operator will come to your assistance.
If however, while applying an error has been made that is only realized later, call 1-506-453-2440 during business hours. One can also apply in person at a Natural Resources or Service New Brunswick Office, but here the application fee is $13.56.
Applicants now have the option of applying via the Internet. Go first to http://www.gnb.ca/0078/index-e.asp where one can obtain further information, and then log onto the online application site where the $9.04 application fee is paid via your telephone number. That phone number is required as part of the application process.
Regardless of how one applies they must have their Medicare card handy, and have decided on which zone they will be applying for. If born on or after January 1, 1981 or are a first-time hunter you must have completed the Firearm Safety and Hunter Education courses. Or, if you are a bowhunter, one must also have completed the Bow Hunter Education course.
This year the season runs Sept. 25-27 with 3,350 licences available.
Those that have applied every year for several years but have not been drawn (Group A) stand a one in six chance of being drawn while those in Group B have a 1 in 22 chance and those in Group C, a 1 in 42 chance.
The above Internet address will also provide an opportunity to download the 2007 N.B. Big Game Harvest Reports. Although the report is not yet complete (in progress), moose hunters in particular will find this report more than a little interesting.
One page of that report shows the registered moose harvest per square kilometre in each Wildlife Management Zone. Here we find that the lowest number of moose harvested per square kilometre on the mainland is in Zone 22 (.007) that includes the Sussex area, while the Zone with the highest number harvested per square kilometre is Zone 3 with a rating of .063. Zone 3 is located in the northwest of the province and borders on Quebec.
Now here is where it gets really interesting. If we turn to the page of the report showing the registered deer harvest per square kilometre in each zone we discover that while the hot spot for deer on the mainland of the province is Zone 22 with a rating of .59, in Zone 3 there is no rating at all, as this zone is closed to all deer hunting due to so few deer in that zone.
Why is it then that Zone 22, with the highest mainland deer harvest yet, has the fewest moose harvested, while Zone 3, with very few deer, has the highest moose kill per square kilometre of the entire province?
The answer is likely due to a small parasite called brain worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis), which is carried by deer, but does not affect them, yet will kill a moose when the animal becomes infected.
As a result we could surmise that where deer are found in relatively large numbers we can expect to find relatively few moose, and vice versa, all due to a small worm.
Another factor to consider is that when the first settlers came to this province only moose were found, with deer only spreading into all areas of the province within the last 100 years, a time in which moose had been hunted almost to extinction. In 1936 the moose season was closed and only reopened in 1960 when a very limited hunt resulted in 174 moose being harvested.
Yet it's also interesting that Zone 23, located adjacent to Zone 22 on its northern border and on the south by the Bay of Fundy, had a deer harvest per square kilometre of .30, and a moose kill of .050, which appears to be a balancing act between the deer and the moose.
We could go into more detail on this, but suffice to say that biologists are well aware of this, and can only wish that a method of eradicating brain worm could be found. It's also a fact that the moose populations on the mainland of Nova Scotia are in decline, and that this may in part be due to the relatively large numbers of deer in that province as compared to New Brunswick. Part of that is due to Nova Scotia being further south and having less severe winters, and thus has less winterkill.
In the early spring 2008 edition of the Eastern Woods and Waters magazine Jack MacAndrew wrote about the efforts being made to determine what factors are contributing to the decline in Nova Scotia's moose herd, and details much of interest concerning the history of the moose in that province.
Turning briefly to the 2007 bear harvest, we find in the Big Game Harvest Report that last fall residents in New Brunswick harvested 347 bear while non- residents harvested 1,517. Another 148 were reported killed by motor vehicle, poaching, or being killed due to becoming a nuisance to the point of presenting a hazard to people.
Our current spring season for bear runs until June 28.
Anyone that has been out in the woods the last week or two is well aware that black flies are now out in force, and that anyone in a tree stand overlooking a bear bait better have fly repellent, a mesh head net, and be wearing clothing and gloves that the little critters cannot bite thru.
Although bear are said to have relatively poor eyesight, anyone in a tree stand that is swatting and/or scratching stands a very good chance of being spotted by the bear.
Not only do non-resident bear hunters contribute to the economy of this province, in the process they eliminate a number of animals that play a major role in the predations of fawns in early spring.
Everett Mosher is a Sackville-based writer and avid outdoorsman. His column appears on Tuesday.
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