Moose Move In -- March 9, 2017

My brother always talked about seeing moose along the river bottom on the south side of the Missouri, southwest of Williston, after crossing the Lewis & Clark Bridge. I looked often but never saw them. Maybe I need to go back and look again. The Williston Herald is reporting that the moose are moving in; the population increase has led to more hunting licenses.

A photograph at the link shows a calf in the backyard of a home on Sixth Avenue West in Williston in late January. Sixth avenue west? Depending on which cross street, that's pretty close to where I lived when growing up in Williston. We lived on the corner of 17th Street and 9th avenue, a development that grew with the first of several North Dakota oil booms.

Apparently moose populations are declining in northeast North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, for which there is no explanation provided. And we're not talking a few numbers. In one "block of aerial surveillance" more than 220 moose were counted. In some areas, surveys revealed an 86% increase in moose populations.

Hunting area M10 (Moose-10) was divided into two sections:

• M10: Divide, Burke and portions of Bottineau, Mountrail, Renville, Ward, and Williams counties north of Highway 2. 
• M11: portions of Dunn, McKenzie, Mercer, McClain, Mountrail, Ward, and Williams counties, south of Highway 2.

I wish they would have used the south side / north side of the river as the dividing lines for the two hunting areas. Natural boundaries, when it comes to hunting, always seem more "natural."

Tags for the "big three" -- moose, elk, and bighorn sheep -- are "once-in-a-lifetime tags" in North Dakota. This year's deadline to apply is March 22.