I agree with the proposed…

I agree with the proposed adjustments to the points based moose tag allocation process. If we want to get more tags in the hands in moose hunters we need to encourage moose hunters to claim their tags in the second chance draw. I agree that hunters who fail to claim their first choice tags should lose their points. I also agree that we need to reallocate unclaimed second chance tags before the moose season starts through a 3rd draw.

I would also suggest that you may still have unused tags at the end of the new process. One reason appears to be that a lot of moose hunters don't agree with the allocation of tags to harvest cow moose especially in WMU's that are showing declines in moose populations. In the case where you have a lot of unclaimed tags you should consider allocating a portion of those tags to the tourist industry. At least that way you get some economic benefit from use of the tags. Of course, this assumes that in the case of cow tags that the management rationale for the allocation of large numbers of cow tags is actually correct. I'm not sure that this is always the case especially when you look at continued declines in certain moose populations. Ticks and climate change can't be the sole reasons for those declines but habitat destruction due to caribou habitat management and an over allocation of tags sure could be.