Number of moose shooting permits granted for this autumn’s hunting season is a third smaller than last year

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The moose or Eurasian elk (Alces alces) continues to be Finland’s most significant game animal. So says Lauri Kontro, chairman of the Finnish Hunters’ Association chairman and editor-in-chief of the Maaseudun tulevaisuus daily.
      Other Finnish hunters’ objects of interest include the grouse, hare, bear, and various waterfowl.
     
This year, however, some moose hunters will end up with the short end of the stick, for at 36,800 the number of granted shooting licences is a third lower than a year ago. In some areas in Northern Finland, the figure is only half of that of 2011.
      “In the last two to three years a great many moose have been shot in Finland”, Kontro explains.
      Last year, nearly 60,000 moose were hunted and killed. According to a Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute estimate, after the autumn 2011 hunting season there were 85,000 Eurasian elk in the country.
     
In the last twenty or so years, the number of moose ending up prematurely despatched by hunters has varied greatly.
      For example in 2002, around 85,000 individuals were killed, whereas in the worst years in the 1990s only just over 20,000 moose were felled.
     
But even if there are fewer Eurasian elk up for grabs this year compared with previous seasons, the Finnish hunters still have plenty of game animals to choose from.
      The hunting season for certain species took place already in the early part of the year or in the summer, and for example for the Common Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus) the season began on Friday of last week.
      The hunting season for the bear and for ducks will start on August 20th.
      The moose-hunting season will not begin until the end of September.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Plastic tape along roads found to reduce collisions with elk in east of Finland (12.8.2011)

See also:
  Alces Alces, Finland´s most dangerous animal (23.1.2007)

Links:
  Moose (Wikipedia)
  Hunting in Finland (.pdf file)

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