The Alaska Department of Fish and Game counted 22 moose taken during the Haines area moose hunt this year. Two of them were illegal and later given to the local school districts for processing.
Of the legal moose, five met the spike or forked antler configuration requirements, six had three or more brow tines and nine had racks more than 50 inches wide, according to state data.
That number of moose with large racks is uncommon but not unprecedented according to regional management biologist Carl Koch.
“I know it has hit eight before, but I think that’s the most I’ve seen,” he said.
In this case, Koch said a number of the moose that had 50-inch racks also had three brow tines, so hunters were likely choosing to shoot them for that reason.
The general thinking is that moose with larger racks like that tend to be older.
“We tend to think they’re going to be at least 5,” Koch said, though there are exceptions. “I talked to a hunter in a meeting who told me that his son’s moose the year before [had a rack that large] and was only three years old.”
He said for moose to grow antlers that big, they need to have the genetic potential and good nutrition.
“So that’s hopefully one indicator that they’re not necessarily overrunning their habitat,” he said.
There are other indicators that the population is healthy as well.
Koch said via email that hunters reported seeing lots of sublegal bulls, cows and calves “which are all good signs that the population is probably doing well.”
One hunter, who did not end up taking a moose this year, said they saw 16 or 17 bulls in their camp.
A new area management biologist, Hannah Manninen, will likely conduct aerial moose surveys in the late fall weather permitting, he said.