By Alain d’Epremesnil
Moose season is ending right now in the Chilkat Valley. Although the conditions were particularly wet, it has been a good year for both hunters and moose.
As of Friday morning, 25 bulls had been shot, which is in the upper range of the yearly objective for the harvest. Carl Koch, wildlife management biologist with Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates this will translate to between 7500 and 9500 pounds of meat in Chilkat Valley freezers.
The age distribution of the harvested bulls points to a healthy moose population, of the 25 animals killed, 12 had spiked fork antlers. This means almost half the harvest were yearling bulls, and suggests many calves were born last year and survived. Fish and Game harvesting rules are meant to protect bulls 2 to 5 years old. The latest surveys assess the moose population at 252 for the lower Chilkat Valley, south of the Wells bridge. Bulls can live to 14 or 15 years old, cows up to 17 or even 20 years old.
As of Friday morning, the biggest rack brought in this year was measured at 58 and 1/4 inches, Koch says it is one of the biggest racks he has seen in his time at Fish and Game
