Ontario moose regulations are focussed on the harvest of calves as part of the over-all management process.

Based upon the Scandinavian model, harvest is directed toward calves with a limited harvest of the reproducing members of the herd - being bulls and cows. About 50% of all calves die during their first year, so its believed that whatever the calf harvest, the hunting pressure on them only removes half their number from the population of juvenile animals that will survive the winter.

An Ontariomoose licence is valid for calves only. It's purchaser may apply for an adult validation sticker if he enters a draw specifically for bulls or cows and in specific WMUs.

The number of applications in some zones has reached a point where the chances of being drawn for an adult animal is miniscule. Last year in the WMU I hunt, the chances of successfully drawing a bull tag was 26:1, and the chances of getting a cow tag was 18:1.

For this reason I've switched the main focus of my moose hunting from firearms to archery. In the WMU I archery hunt the odds of getting a bull is 1 in 4 and the chance (recently) of getting a cow tag has been 100%.

The government is supposedly conducting a "study" to review the system we have in Ontario, and the "results" are expected in the spring. Most of us are anxiously awaiting the report. I've put quotes around a couple of words because its strongly suspected in the hunting community that the decisions have already been made and this "study" is merely window dressing to try to give the changes some air of legitimacy.