In this photo provided by the Nevada Department of Wildlife, a collared cow moose and her calf are spotted in Elko County, Nev., in 2022. In what will be a very tiny hunt for some of the biggest game in North America, Nevada is planning its first-ever moose hunting season during fall 2024. State officials expect thousands of applications for the handful of hunting tags and, with an estimated population barely topping 100, it's already controversial.
Only a few Nevada moose, perhaps just one, will be killed across an area larger than Massachusetts and New Jersey combined. But state officials expect thousands of applications for the handful of hunting tags, and it’s already controversial. “I believe the moose story is one of `ghost' habitat or `ghost' range expansion. By that I mean, these animals are expanding into habitat that may not be suitable in 50 years due to climate change," Bird said.
Six feet tall at the shoulder and up to 1,000 pounds , moose live in riparian areas where they munch on berry bushes and aspen leaves along the edges of mountain forests native to the northern half of Nevada.The Nevada study documented moose spending nearly half their time in areas where that “thermal threshold” was exceeded about 150 days a year, while climate change models suggest the threshold will be surpassed by another 14 days annually by 2050, Blum said.
“There’s a lot of speculation and questions about why they are here, given concerns about the changing environment and how it’s probably getting warmer and dryer," McKee said."Why is it that our extensive drought cycles haven’t seemed to be affecting the moose population?"have oscillated for more than a century. Several states, from Idaho to Minnesota and Maine, have dramatically reduced hunting quotas at times to allow populations to recover.
Aerial surveys are now backed by radio-tracking collars biologists have fitted on four bull moose and nine cows since 2020. In some spots, males significantly outnumber females. Removing a bull or two might improve herd dynamics, he said.