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Preliminary figures from the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources for the 2007 moose hunt show a 10 per cent decrease in the number of moose bagged over last year.
The 2007 moose harvest is higher than average for recent years, and preliminary figures indicate that it was the second best season ever with respect to hunter success. About two thirds (66 per cent) of about 3,200 licensed hunters were successful in bagging a moose.
There were 2,115 moose registered this year, compared with 2,362 last year. The average for the past five years is 1,985.
Dwayne Sabine is a big-game wildlife biologist with the department, and explained the number of animals taken was largely due to the hunt coinciding with the moose mating season, and the weather conditions faced by hunters.
"As in 2006, moose season was a bit later in the month this year, and seemed to have coincided well with the rut," he said. "However, the weather was less than perfect over the three-day hunt, so hunter success was a bit lower compared to last year, when there were excellent hunting conditions."
Biologists will spend the next several weeks compiling the data to determine the number of hunters there were, the length of time they hunted, in which zones the animals were harvested, and the age and sex of the animals, before final figures are released.
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