Maine’s experimental moose hunt to reduce winter ticks shows some serious promise.

When it comes to Maine and moose, there is perhaps nothing more synonymous with the pair than the mention of brain ticks. Having plagued moose populations for decades, biologists have been working tirelessly to help reduce the effects of brain ticks and bring back moose populations to historic levels. 

One such effort was an experimental moose hunt that was introduced four years ago aimed at deliberately using moose hunting permits to drastically reduce moose densities while (hopefully) simultaneously reducing winter tick populations. As populations have been suffering since the 1990s, biologists were desperate for a solution after the winter of 2021 resulted in the death of 87 percent of collared calves due to tick infestations.

Known as the Adaptive Unit moose hunt in Wildlife Management District 4, the experimental hunt is actually more of a cull. With a large number of available tags, the idea was to make a noticeable dent in the moose population and more importantly, density in one particular area. 

Now four years down the road, biologists finally seem to have the data to back up their original hypothesis. With last year’s numbers officially in the books, the results are staggering. As of spring 2024, the moose calf mortality rate in WMD 4 is a mere 8 percent according to data from 71 collared calves.

“Eight percent is phenomenal, given the last decade of impacts from winter tick and some very poor survival during some years.” state moose biologist Lee Kantar said. “This should equate to some positive population growth across the moose core range. It also demonstrates that when winter tick numbers are low, survival can be very high. It is also likely that given a lackluster winter with very little snow, especially January through March, that (energy) drain was minimal for moose, helping to keep winter mortality low overall.”

While Kantar and his colleagues aren’t quite ready to take their victory lap just yet, the early data remains encouraging. Given that the winter of 2023-24 was a bit more mild than the previous year, that is something biologists are also taking into consideration. 

But let’s not forget where we came from. Any such improvement from an 87 percent mortality rate is a win and should be regarded as so.