The Chilkat Valley’s moose population appears to be stable, according to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game survey conducted last month.

State wildlife biologist Carl Koch counted 191 moose from an airplane Nov. 8 and Nov. 18.

That’s slightly above the average of the last 10 minimum counts (188) and slightly below the average of all counts since 1982 (193), Koch said. This year’s survey was the first completed since 2016; none was conducted in 2017, and partial ones were done from 2018 through 2021, Koch said.

Based on last month’s count and the proportion of collared moose observed, the state’s estimate of the Chilkat Valley’s total population is 352 moose, plus or minus 94. Koch called that number “pretty good.” The state’s objective is for the minimum post-hunt population to be at least 200.

While the state has been surveying moose in the valley for more than 60 years, it only recently began calculating total population estimates — by using the minimum count and the proportion of collared moose seen during the survey, Koch said. Fish and Game first collared moose to help with population estimates in 2019. (Some residents have spoken out in opposition to collaring animals due to concerns about health impacts on the population.)

“You don’t know how many moose you didn’t see, unless you have marked moose out there,” Koch said.

Koch said biologists collared 39 moose in 2019, none in 2020 or 2021, and five this year. Eight have died (two caught in snares, six by natural causes) and one collared moose hasn’t been detected in several surveys.

Koch said he saw 19 of 35 collared moose during the November survey. The survey included 90% of areas near Haines where moose normally are found — most of the upper Chilkat and the lower valley, including Kicking Horse and Takhin valleys. He didn’t survey the Klehini River watershed or around Chilkat Lake, which combined have historically accounted for less than a tenth of the valley’s moose, Koch said.

Poor weather conditions constrained last year’s count to the lower valley, Koch said. The state’s 2021 population estimate was 252 moose plus or minus 114.

The highest minimum count of the past decade was 221 moose in 2016, when deep snow was conducive to spotting moose, Koch said. But the state hadn’t collared any animals at that point and didn’t come up with a total population estimate.

This year’s bull-to-cow ratio — 34 bulls per 100 cows — was well above the state’s objective of 25 per 100, Koch said. But the calf-to-cow ratio — 16 per 100 — was near the lower end of the historic range. This year’s fall hunt ended with 25 moose harvested, meeting the state’s goal.

“We’re hitting all the objectives. It seems like things are going well,” Koch said.

He added that there were “no major red flags that would cause me to make major changes to the next (hunting) season.”

The state’s highest-ever minimum count for Game Management Unit 1D (which includes the Chilkat Valley) was 380 in 1968, according to Fish and Game historical data.