Zec Bas-Saint-Laurent maintains its reputation and retains, in 2021; no offense to some, its status of “zec orignal” in Quebec, with a harvest of 530 moose, as of October 29th.
None of the 62 other zecs in the network displays such a table. And at the end of the two periods of bow and crossbow hunting, and hunting with a firearm, the general manager of Zec Bas-Saint-Laurent, Peter Camden, confirms this permissive harvest of 530 moose, but remains however provisional, as long as all checks on animal records, such as those done online, will not be completed. The black powder hunting period was held from October 26 to 29. For the same reason, the management of the ZEC-BSL is not able to specify the distribution of the sexes.
In 2019, during the same permissive year that authorizes the harvesting of the three segments of the herd, the Zec Bas-Saint-Laurent posted a hunting table of 540 harvested male, female and calf moose. And two years earlier, in 2017, another permissive year, hunters had taken 548 moose.
As in 2019?
So with a provisional permissive harvest of 530 moose in 2021; which could join the record of 540 animals in 2019, the result of catches is surprising, especially with a week with the firearm which was not on the side of the hunters with a lot of rain and strong winds, unfavorable conditions for the fans who were even more numerous than in 2019.
The number of members reached a record 2,368 in 2021, compared to 2,000 in 2020. There were also 1,774 caches, 10 more than last year in 980 km2 of “huntable” territory, with the exception of lakes, roads and campsites. This gap of 368 hunters would be attributable to the permissive year which allows the harvest of male, female and calf, and which attracts more opportunistic hunters who see more chances of harvesting a moose.
“With the same harvest as in 2019, but with more hunters in 2021, the moose harvest would have reached its maximum. When we have all the numbers, and the segmentation of the herd, we will quickly go into situational analysis mode, ”said DG Peter Camden.
Research with blood dogs
During the last hunting season on “LA” zec orignal in Quebec, there were 72 searches with blood dogs during the bow and crossbow, and 28 were positive. With a firearm, we are talking about 10 to 15 searches. Do the ZEC-BSL managers intend to put in place measures to promote the practice of shooting for all types of hunting gear, in order to protect the herd by avoiding questionable shots?
Remember that an air-to-ground inventory; cameras and helicopter, carried out in the summer of 2020 and in February 2021, revealed a declining winter population with 1,000 moose, including 120 adult males, or 12% of the herd, which is half the safety ratio of 25% so as not to weaken the population. The density of moose would have increased from 14 to 10 moose per 10 km2, not only in the ZEC-BSL territory, but also in the other territories under management south of Rimouski.
Other inventory in 2022
Another inventory is planned for winter 2022. The results could change the future Moose Management Plan 2024-2031, which will surely bring its share of modifications. Next year, in 2022, will be a restrictive year for the male only, wearing a plume of 10 cm or more, and the protection of the female and the calves on the zec, should allow a favorable respite for the recovery of the herd. who was possibly undervalued. . The results of the two ground-to-air inventories could also be reviewed.
Note that the last big game hunting season on the Zec Bas-Saint-Laurent, that of white-tailed deer, will be held from November 6 to 14.
