Fall moose hunt wraps up fast

Nome’s moose hunting season wrapped up fast. Good weather in the first few days of September may have contributed to the fast harvest in Game Units 22C and 22D Kuzitrin/Southwest.
Hunting in Game Unit 22D remainder opened August 10 and closed August 28. Game Unit 22D Kuzitrin/Southwest opened September 1 and closed September 3. Game Unit 22C opened the same day and closed on September 2.
Game Unit 22B west of the Darby Mountains opened on September 1 and closed September 13 at 11:59 p.m.
In GMU 22C, the quota was 30 and the harvest was 37.
In GMU 22 D Kuzitrin/SW, the quota was 27, the reported harvest was 34.
In GMU 22D Remainder, the quota was 17 and the reported harvest was 16.
In Unit 22 B west of the Darby Mountains, the quota was 30 and the reported harvest was 26. Alaska Fish and Game Area Biologist Sara Henslee said in a Facebook post that she expected the quota to be met by September 13 at 11:59 p.m.
Recent surveys on the Seward Peninsula point towards a healthy moose population. In an abundance survey of Unit 22C and 22B last year, ADF&G found that the population had grown from 1,400 moose four years before to 1,700 moose. A survey of twin calves showed good numbers, too. “This year it was 81 percent twinning rate. So that is as good as you could ask for,” Henslee said. “Cows that are in really good condition can produce twins, and to see as many cows as we are cranking out twins is it’s a great sign.”
GMU 22 C, which includes the area immediately surrounding Nome, had a reported harvest of 37 to a quota of 30. Henslee said that’s okay by her. “We had both a population increase from our spring survey we completed last March, and then we also had a big crop of yearlings when we did our twinning survey this year,” she said. “I think there’s lots of calves out there, lots of bulls recruited into our population. That all translates into greater harvest, which we’re seeing this year.”
The reported harvest in Unit 22C is greater than the three-year average of 27 bulls. 
“The going over quota is totally okay this year because all of the signs that we saw with the increased population, the recruitment rate from the springtime, the twinning rate from the summertime,” she added. “All those signs point to a healthy, growing moose population, and I do think it is sustainable to be harvesting the amount of moose we are in 22C and even in 22D Kuzitrin as well, because of the amount of yearlings we recruited this year.”
RM840 permits are due by September 30. For questions, reach the Nome Alaska Department of Fish & Game office at (907) 443-2271.