Moose in western washington?

[Boar]

Not exactly a hunting question, but I'm curious why Western Washington doesn't have a viable moose population?  You hear of them occasionally popping up in the North Cascades, but there rare as far as I know, and obviously there is no hunting opportunity over this way.  Is it just a matter of establishing a breeding population in an area they were run out of, or is there a more fundamental reason the Cascade/Olympic habitat isn't suitable to hold good numbers of moose?

[Ridgeratt]

I think you need a viable wolf population before you import moose.

[Flyfisher9]

I think you need a viable wolf population before you import moose.

Don't forget grizz

[Boar]

I think you need a viable wolf population before you import moose.

Don't forget grizz

Pardon my ignorance, new here…is this a dig at WDFW prioritizing predators over other game animals?

[MADMAX]

I think you need a viable wolf population before you import moose.

Don't forget grizz

Pardon my ignorance, new here…is this a dig at WDFW prioritizing predators over other game animals?

No trout about it

[millerwheeler]

Several years ago maybe 10 I saw one of west side of white pass.

I have always thought some of high alpine swampy areas would be prime for some moose, don’t know what or why they don’t stay west  I’m sure they’re  a few that stay but who knows

[dub870]

Did moose ever have a population in western WA?

[powderbounder]

Are you new to Washington too?

[addicted1]

They occasionally make their way as far south as Mt.Rainier. We have seen them not too far from Government Meadows. It’s not super common, but sightings every other year are normal recently.

[jason stevens]

There are a few in western  Washington.  But you don't  hear about it on line haha.

[Kingofthemountain83]

It would be cool! In Alaska they attack more people a year than grizzly!  Keep you on your toes on a hike through the Hoh!

[hunter399]

I think you need a viable wolf population before you import moose.

Don't forget grizz

Pardon my ignorance, new here…is this a dig at WDFW prioritizing predators over other game animals?

Most likely the wolves will follow the last moose over there.....lol 🤣😅🤣

[BigredRusch]

Let’s helicopter moose and wolves to the peninsula!


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[Boar]

Are you new to Washington too?

No, just an ignoramus when it comes to moose

[kball4]

There's a picture on here somewhere of a moose crossing the Wynochee River allegedly.

[Okanagan]

In the Fall bull moose travel incredible distances, presumably looking for a cow.  In about 1990 a bull moose hung out around the town of Blaine, WA.  It made the local news and I saw his tracks by the football field. 

A friend who grew up on a farm in the lower Skagit Valley said that twice over the years they had a bull moose in their pasture.   

Maybe they will eventually establish a resident population in Western WA.  Moose have been extending their range southward for the past 80 years or so.  (A factor is apparently logging which opens much more browse.)   Old timers in the Canadian Okanagan Valley said that there were zero moose there in the 1950s, but now there are enough that the area has a general open season for moose.

[Mtnwalker]

I've wondered the same thing in the past, seems like western WA would be great moose habitat but when you look at distribution maps they don't really inhabit the coastal region much until you get up close to the Yukons

[Okanagan]

That moose distribution map is a little bit stingy with moose territory.  While generally accurate, there are quite a lot of moose farther west than it shows in British Columbia.  I'd say the same for WA based on some we've seen west of the Crest Trail, though not far west.

Of course, if I had my choice, I'd stay out of the wet as well.  It would probably take a moose population high enough on the east side to push some out into new territory, even if the territory is not quite as hospitable.

[kball4]

Correction the pictures are of a moose crossing the Skagit river in 2010.  There was rumored to be feral pigs by Wynochee.

[mountainman]

Marseille on Christmas?