Spokane County Moose Research Shows Population Growth
By Woody Myers, Wildlife Research Biologist

For the past two years, WDFW has been learning that the Spokane County area moose population is growing more rapidly than previously estimated.

A moose census was conducted using a method of counting moose from a helicopter developed in Idaho and Wyoming. It divides the study area, (which includes part of Idaho, with Mount Spokane as the center), into quadrats that are sampled at different rates based upon moose densities. This method helped us determine that the study area has about 180 moose – more than double other estimates based on anecdotal information. It also shows a ratio of 28 bulls per 100 cows and 48 calves per 100 cows ratio; the cow-calf ratio is another indicator of a growing moose population.

Based on this new information, we were able to add 15 antlerless only moose hunting permits to the Mount Spokane unit this year.

With help from Inland Northwest Wildlife Council volunteers and Eastern Washington University graduate students, we’ve also equipped up to 26 moose in the area with radio telemetry collars to monitor their survival and movements. About 14 are still on the air in the area, with others lost to death (one poaching in Idaho and one legal harvest by a Washington youth hunter), shed radios, or movements outside the monitoring area.

The information we gained from the radio monitoring includes an annual survival rate of 95 percent for cow moose (not enough bull moose are radioed to calculate a survival rate.) We also learned that most radio-marked cows are giving birth to twin calves, and many move into lower-lying areas near water to do so.

Dozens of moose that have wandered into the city of Spokane have also been marked with ear tags when they inevitably require relocating to more appropriate habitat. Although not as precise as radio tracking, the ear tags may begin to give us a picture of movements or repeated behavior by individuals over time.

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