I was pleasantly surprised…

I was pleasantly surprised to hear the points base moose allocation system was going to be enhanced. Although the aforementioned amendments would just be a start to a failing system.
In the units I reside in all of my hunting friends who are in the 60+ age range realize we will never hunt moose in these units , 40-42, again as the points required, over 20, almost guarantee that.
I would also admonish the MNR for issuing substantial amounts of archery cow tags, to increase there numbers of “adult” tags issued knowing the low success rates, and increasing new hunters hopes of harvesting an adult moose knowing all well this is a strict money grab. Any serious archery moose hunter knows the harvest possibilities for a cow moose during the rut is less than 5%, and issuance of these archery cow tags increase the chance for unethical hunters to be in the woods and harvest a bull or interfere with ethical archery hunters with a archery bull tag by knowingly or unknowingly interfere with their hunt. I hear of many groups travelling great distances with there archery cow tag, returning unsuccessfully and not understanding the predicament the MNR has stuck them in.
Having been an employee of the MNR for over 35 years, and performing moose surveys for many winters , I also have problems with the methods used with the modern day surveys and the accuracy, especially the fact that the number of plots has been greatly reduced, and the inconsistency of surveyors has not contributed to accuracy.
The numbers of moose tags could certainly be increased in wmu 40-41-42, as I hunt these units regularly. I realize the he MNR has to incorporate the Indigenous harvest into the tag allocation, but until accurate data can be obtained from the First Nations, the tag allocations are “best guess” and could certainly be increased. The initial tag allocation for WMU 41 when the tag system commenced was 800 bulls and 400 cows!!! I know that was unreasonable but certainly the numbers could be increased from the 2023 numbers which are menial!
I hunted in Wmu 41 for an archery bull this fall and was successful in harvesting one, we observed 3 adult bulls all active during the rut. I then hunted in Wmu 40 and our group harvested a cow, we observed 11 moose in this unit. Hunter numbers were significantly decreased in both areas. We had a great hunt season but this will be our last moose hunt for many of us as we have aged and pointed out of the current system. I understand we need young hunters to keep the tradition going but there must be a compromise for the older hunters who have maintained the tradition for more than 40 or 50 years. Perhaps a weighted system where older hunters pick up extra points with age similar to the Northern resident point, would be a suggestion from a 65 plus age hunter.
Perhaps another solution would be to allow parties to pool points together in the pursuit of an adult tag, perhaps 2 or 3 persons from a group could pool points together to qualify for an adult tag.
The allowing of calf hunting on your moose licence had the disadvantages of the harvest of too many calves, but the advantage of at least to be out there hunting, which is a thing of the past now.
I agree that the unclaimed tags should be utilized, and hunters should be penalized for not taking the allocated tags, the last 2 years we have seen this in a unit we hunt in northwest Ontario and are flabbergasted that we were unsuccessful and saw tags unclaimed in our unit!
In finalizing again I must reiterate that serious hunters are aware of the fallacy of issuing all these archery cow tags to bump the adult tags issued and please consider the aging hunting population when reviewing the tag allocation system, we don’t want a system that looks good on paper, we want a system that is effective in increasing the moose population and also creates viable hunting opportunities for the residents of Ontario.
Thank you for your consideration