WMU 540 Moose

[newfieredneck]

Well, let's just say, lesson learned about this zone.
First of all, let me back this talk up a couple of months to when I got a undersubscribed antlered moose for WMU 540 and my wife got one for WMU 542.
Beautiful country up the after the 8.5 hour trip from Sherwood Park on the beginning of the Thansgiving Weekend.
In a 3 day hunting trip,we covered lots of ground on both the North and South ends of the zone; we also saw at least 100 chickens. That is ruffies, spruce and sharpetails.
There is a few whitetail deer around there, lots of both bear sign and beer sign but I digress just a little. It wasn't even unusual to see several groups of wolf tracks.
When it came to moose tracks; I thought they were fossils, they were so old. I am sure the Tyrell dinosoar museum should be carbon dating them.
I never did see not even 1 moose, and the freshest moosetracks noticed were what appeared to be a cow moose by the West side of the Wabasca river.
If you are thinking about crossing the river, either a boat or Argo will be needed.
To get back to why I am writing this, I would like to know where have all the moose gone?
I keep hearing that the year round hunting by the "keepers of the land" and large numbers of wolves have decimated the populations to where they are now.
I am not looking for this to turn into a rant about natives, wolves or anything else but why does "sustainable resources" keep issueing hundreds of tags for
moose that no longer exist? :test:

[dale7637]

I would love to hear the answer to that question.

[tromaniuk]

I hunted those two zones for 10 years. The moose are in little pockets. If you find the pockets you can do well. We found the wolves were taking their toll and the under subscribed tags made more and more people show up. It finally got to busy and to thin a population for us. Time to move on.

[Traps]

Those zones are not that productive, they give out a lot of tags so that there is more opportunity for people to get out but really it's mainly to generate revenue for the government.

[Elkaholic523]

Someone posts this about those zones on here every year saying the same thing it's just not good moose area lots of skeg not enough food coupled with crazy amount of hunting pressure they have no chance
Doing research on the area u plan on hunting is key everyone thinks beacause they give out so many tags there must b lots of moose but it's actually the polar opposite with a lot of northern zones.

[riden]

I live in the peace country and I am so sick of people blaming natives for the moose numbers going down.

Everyone and their dog is hunting moose here, the pressure is phenomenal now. Take into account everyone is hunting with their wife's/son's/daughter's tag in their pocket and no chance of being caught. I have never been stopped by a CO ever moose hunting.

It wasn't that long ago you were almost guaranted a moose in your freezer every year, and a pile of guys think they are still entitled to it and are illegally party hunting 1st and 2nd season----because they need their moose. Way too many guys think the end will always justify the means .

No future in moose hunting here, it really is depressing.