AN EVALUATION OF TROPHY MOOSE MANAGEMENT ON THE ALASKA PENINSULA

Abstract

An experimental trophy management program was initiated on the Alaska Peninsula in 1976 with the implementation of a regulation requiring that all harvested bull moose (Alces alces gigas) have antlers with at least a 50 inch spread. The regulation was designed to protect bulls under 5 years of age, to test the capability of hunters to comply with minimum size requirements, and to determine the potential for maintaining trophy class bulls in the population through this approach. The first two objectives have been accomplished. Nearly 70 percent of the harvested bulls have been 5 or more years old and only 4 percent of the bulls taken were illegal. Adequate survey data are not available to determine current proportions of trophy bulls in the herd. In view of the declining nature of the population and increasing frequency of 5 year olds in the kill, however, it seems likely that current harvests maybe curtailing recruitment beyond age 5. Although this may not further affect average trophy size, availability of trophy class animals could eventually be limited to the size of the 5 year old cohort.