MN moose problems...

[WAcoyotehunter]

http://news.msn.com/us/minnesota-cancels-moose-hunting-as-population-plummets   

[Special T]

It would be funny if it wasn't real.    NOWHERE did they say wolves may have an impact on it!      Guess they have no basic logic either.

[NWBREW]

Just a matter of time before it happens here. 

[AspenBud]

Wolves were never extirpated from Minnesota. There has been a sizeable population of them there for forever. The Minnesota DNR is probably right in that other factors are at play in the moose decline there.

My understanding is they're also finding a lot of the carcasses and they generally show no evidence of predators as the cause of death.

Hopefully their efforts at collaring and tracking moose will shed some light on the matter.

[AspenBud]

This is what I hate about the wolf reintroduction the most. Any decline in ungulates is automatically blamed on the wolf instead of disease and habitat loss. That's not to diminish what they're doing out there however. But they distract from other causes of animal mortality, some of which could be as or more worrisome.

[Special T]

Guess they reap what they sow... If they give us no reason to trust them who is gona give them the benifit of the doubt?

[bearpaw]

Minnesota's wolf population has exploded in the last 10 years, I suppose it's just a coincidence that the moose declined at the same time. 

[AspenBud]

Minnesota's wolf population has exploded in the last 10 years, I suppose it's just a coincidence that the moose declined at the same time. 

True, and the same DNR that says they aren't the cause of the decline opened up hunting and trapping of wolves there, a far sight better than what's going on here. Sounds to me like they have a pretty rational approach to things out there.