For the past nine months a University of Saskatchewan research group has been monitoring 17 adult female moose that live in the area along Highway 11 between Dundurn and Chamberlain to try to gain a better understanding of their tendencies.

Ryan Brook, moose project director and assistant professor in the U of S College of Agriculture and Bioresources, said there has been a “few hiccups” with some of the GPS collars they put around each moose’s neck last February, but they have still been able to keep tracking those few with VHF radio signals. He said the research group also went on the ground in June and September to check on each female to see if she had calves.

“We saw in the spring there was on average 0.85 calves per cow,” said Brook. “It’s a little less than one-to-one on average, but we did see a number of twins as well and a few that had none.

“These animals can live for a long time. If they’re producing almost one calf per female then that certainly suggests a potential for real growth in the population.”

Brook said these moose are up and moving around a lot right now due to harvest activities, hunting season and the rut. He said with the moose breeding season males are paired up with females making these animals mobile and active, which is pretty consistently the time when the most moose-vehicle collisions occur.

“Because we only have adult females we don’t have a representation of the whole population and, of course, we only have a small sample of what’s there,” he said. “Some of the animals that we are monitoring have been crossing the highway quite regularly. We (have) one that is crossing almost every second day for the last little while…and is currently sitting probably about 200 metres from Hwy. 11, so that one is obviously a very risky one.

“That one is just north of Bladworth and hasn’t gone more than 300 metres away from Highway 11 in the last two weeks, so that one is a very heavy concern.”

The majority of the moose crossings happen at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. when visibility is at its lowest. Moose are also especially hard to spot from a vehicle because they have long legs, are a dark brown or chocolate brown colour and don’t always look at a vehicle so a motorist wouldn’t see their eyes.

Brook said one of the things the group is interested in looking at further is why moose are sticking around the highway. He said they think the main things are moose are attracted to road salt, there is lots of wetland, shrubbery and tree cover along the highway and staying close to the road helps them avoid hunters.

“They’re right near Hwy. 11 with all the traffic and you’re not allowed to discharge a firearm across a road or a highway, so being close to a highway may be a partial safety factor from hunters,” he said. “Predators in this general area between Saskatoon and Regina are probably not much if any wolves and very few bears, so we’re not sure if predation really plays a role here. The only predator of significance is coyotes and it’s not clear as to whether coyotes play any kind of real role or impact for moose. Predation risk may not be a real concern for these moose, but certainly hunting pressure is.”

To read more please see the October 28 print edition of The Davidson Leader.