The DNR said the steepest decline in their core survey area came in a spot that was considered a low-density moose area during the last survey: The estimate dropped from 143 moose in 2023 to just 43 moose this year.<\/p>\n
This drop in the count could be due to habitat change and more moose moving out of the core survey areas, which is in the central Upper Peninsula, the DNR said at the meeting, according to TV6. <\/p>\n
They also noted that moose roam over a larger area of the U.P. than what\u2019s counted in the survey area. <\/p>\n
![\"Winter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/53352ULFV5DH5KJEREKWSN6GYM.jpg\"\/)
A GPS-collared bull moose shows 25-30% hair loss in this photo. The hair loss is a visible sign of winter tick infestation, which can impact moose health and survival. Michigan DNR<\/p>\n
A New Study<\/p>\n
Figuring out why Michigan\u2019s moose population has hit a wall instead of expanding like wildlife scientists believe it should have in the last 40 years is at the crux of a new study that is fitting tracking collars onto dozens of the huge animals in the next two years.<\/p>\n
The new study, announced earlier this year by the DNR, started by sedating and collaring about 20 moose. Spotter planes, low-flying helicopters, snowmobiles and ground crews worked to accomplish this in the wildly beautiful Michigamme Highlands area in the western Upper Peninsula, where most of the state\u2019s mainland moose population lives.<\/p>\n
Numbers remain stagnant<\/p>\n
While the big animals with their paddle-like antlers once roamed across Michigan, by the early 1900s their numbers had grown sparse and were limited to the Upper Peninsula. An attempt to reintroduce them in the 1930s went nowhere, according to the DNR. It took the famous \u201cMoose Lift\u201d of the 1980s for any real population to take hold. This involved fitting 59 of these big animals into carrying slings and airlifting them by helicopter, then transporting them by truck from the Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, to the U.P.\u2018s Marquette County.<\/p>\n
The goal was to have a 1,000-strong moose population in that area by 2000. But now the latest numbers show around a third of what DNR researchers thought we\u2019d have by now.<\/p>\n
Captures, Collars and a Close Eye<\/p>\n
What is this study zeroing in on with Michigan\u2019s moose? Tracking the big animals\u2019 movements via the collars\u2019 signals is providing data about the animals\u2019 lifespan, pregnancy rates and births.<\/p>\n
The collars were put on the moose in February and by June, the DNR said the study had already collected more than 50,000 GPS points from the collared animals. This tracking had also tipped off researchers to the births of nine moose calves – including three sets of twins.<\/p>\n
While the study is focusing on the moose in the western half of the U.P., there is a smaller moose population on the eastern side of the peninsula. There, they roam over Alger, Luce, Schoolcraft and Chippewa counties, the DNR said.<\/p>\n
The study is expected to continue through 2028 and involve 60 collared moose. <\/p>\n
A separate moose population lives on Isle Royale<\/a> in the northern reaches of Lake Superior. There were an estimated 840 moose living on the island archipelago when surveyed last year. They live in a national park wilderness and are not part of this study.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MICHIGAMME HIGHLANDS, MI – Recent aerial surveys show Michigan\u2019s estimated moose population to be down in two areas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[5710,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-220081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-moose","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}