01x01 - Episode 1

[bunniefuu]

(gentle music)

- Moose,

the tallest of all the

deer species in the world.

(tender music)

Uniquely adapted to

life in a habitat

where deep snow is

the norm in winter,

and swamp takes over in summer.

(water burbling)

A large meat bearing animal,

(tender music)

this species is intertwined

within the culture

and tradition of our ancestors.

And its future is dependent

upon the humans of today.

(tense music)

Hunting has become a

controversial practice

in modern times.

My name is Dan Cabela, and

I'm traveling the globe

to explore the true impact

that hunting is having

on our remaining

wild landscapes.

(tribe chanting)

This practice goes as far back

as human history can remember,

but does it have a place

in modern conservation?

(lioness roaring)

(bright music)

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Moose are the largest

of all the deer species.

They have a dewlap, or bell,

and palmated antlers

instead of dendritic,

like the branched antlers

of all the other

North American deer.

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Moose are also the tallest

of the deer family.

Their long legs enable them

to wade deep into

the water in summer,

and walk through the

deep snow in the winter.

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Moose were plentiful in New

England during the 1600s.

They were described as

more numerous than deer.

By 1900 moose

populations in Maine

had declined to around 2,000.

This decline was attributed

to unrestricted hunting.

Increasing populations

of white-tailed deer

and deforestation for farming

also contributed

to their decline.

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Laws to restrict hunting and

improve habitat conditions

allowed for a gradual

population increase.

In the year 2012,

it was estimated that there

were 76,000 moose in Maine.

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Moose can survive in

a variety of habitats.

And in fact, even

where humans reside,

moose often become

completely habituated.

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But moose prefer

large open habitats

with sufficient food and cover.

They tend to thrive in

areas with mature vegetation

that serve to provide

shelter and nutrition.

Like many wildlife

species across the globe,

moose are under pressure,

varying from region to region.

In 2006 there were

nearly 9,000 moose

in northeastern Minnesota.

(tender music)

Current numbers

estimate around 3,500.

(gentle music)

I'm headed to

northeast Minnesota

where moose numbers

have been on the decline

in recent years.

And we're gonna dive

into what the reasons are

that the moose

numbers are falling.

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Local state and tribal

officials are working together

to study the effects

that climate change,

winter ticks, brain worms

that are transferred

from white-tail,

and predation are having on

the declining population.

(bright music)

I'm joining Seth and his team

to collar several moose.

- Yeah, today we're

gonna go out and capture

hopefully 10, 11 moose.

We wanna get some bulls,

we wanna get some cows,

we wanna get some cow-calf

pairs to try to identify

what's causing mortality

in the moose population.

And then ultimately we'll

try to apply management tools

to try to improve

the moose population.

(tender music)

- Let's get airborne from here

and then you just

follow us in there.

The spotter plane

will direct us.

He's gonna fly a

bit higher today.

So we're gonna try work the

moose into like an open area.

(indistinct radio chatter)

(upbeat rock music)

- If you can just

hold that tight.

So I got enough to

get this plate on.

So I'm just making

sure that we don't,

essentially don't choke her out.

There's not nearly as

much concern as a bull.

The bulls necks swell

quite a bit in the rut.

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- Data that is gained is

used to better understand

the reasons for

population decline

and to try to come up

with long term solutions

to reverse the

current projections.

- [Seth] It's the first

time I've laid my hands

on a live moose in my life,

so that was pretty amazing.

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(bright upbeat music)

- [Seth] This cow went

down a lot easier.

It's approximately

five years old.

(moose huffing)

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- Just because she's

working a little harder

than we prefer for breathing.

So what we do is we

give these reversals

and then we do as much as we can

until she's ready to stand up.

It's pretty fast.

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- [Harry] 458.

- [Steve] Thank you.

(bright upbeat music)

(indistinct)

(bright upbeat music)

- Today, we're gonna go out

and capture hopefully

10, 11 moose.

(indistinct radio chatter)

(indistinct)

So this is one of

my tick transfers,

actually there's six ticks in

about a 10 centimeter stretch.

And the hammer in the calf

is even worse, actually.

- [Dan] Winter ticks are

the leading cause of death

for moose less than

one year of age.

It also reduces adult

cow reproduction.

(bright music)

- I'm sorry, sweetie.

So all this hair loss on this

animal is from winter ticks.

What happens is the ticks

just cause intense itching

and the animals will

rub their hair off.

Calves are particularly

susceptible.

And sometimes you'll see calves

that are nearly

completely hairless.

They're called ghost

moose or ghost calves.

But this costs

them energetically,

they're eating a diet

that's really low nutrition,

really low calories.

Then they rub their hair

off, then you get a cold snap

and they're hypothermic.

The natural population

control for winter ticks

are two things.

One of which is wildfire,

the other of which is

deep snow in early spring.

Nowadays with warming

climate, we're seeing less

and less deep snow

in early spring.

So when the pregnant

female ticks drop off,

instead of hitting deep

snow, which kills them,

they hit the ground and

populations explode.

- [Rachel] Nice job.

- And, Dan, can you

just write down, neck

74 centimeters

then up at the top,

it should say transmitter.

Under that it will be 165.

Now I've just got to look

and see we need to

advance anything,

but I think we are

going to be done.

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- [Dan] Samples were drawn

from every moose

that we collared.

(upbeat music)

(indistinct)

(upbeat music)

- [Seth] Well, that's good.

That's what it's

supposed to look like.

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(tender music)

(bird tweeting)

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- Collars communicate

with satellites

to indicate where the

animals spend time.

And this becomes useful data

when determining habitat

use and movement.

That in turn informs the

conservation of the species.

(tender music)

(birds tweeting)

- Yeah, we had a

mortality signal

on one of our collared moose

and so we're going

to investigate.

The mortality

signals that we get,

really help us to identify

what is causing the

moose population decline.

So we look at moralities like

this, this one's a wolf k*ll.

(tense music)

- So here's where the

animals stopped moving.

It was picked

apart and consumed.

Not a lot left over, they've

gnawed on this one pretty good.

You can see that there

was a struggle here.

We have a bunch of

broken branches,

there's blood up here

on these branches.

There's hair up in here too.

It's indicative that the

moose was moving around

trying to get away.

When the wolves took it down

the moose was

standing and alive.

So this is a predation event

and not a scavenging event.

- What we learn from this is

what proportions of animals

are dying of what causes,

and then as from a

management perspective

we can manage things.

We can manage predators

on the landscape

if predation is a major factor.

We can manage brain worm by

managing deer populations.

To some extent we can

manage winter ticks

by using prescribed burns or

different forestry practices.

So that's why we do this,

and it helps us

shift our management

so that we can try to

improve moose population.

(gentle music)

- [Dan] Seth's, focus on

research of the Eastern moose

of the Grand Portage Band

or Chippewa, is critical.

(tender music)

His work is crucial to

gain and analyzing data

to better understand the

current moose population.

(tender music)

- Climate change is affecting

not only the the

physical environment

that moose are

occupying and living in

through temperature and

changing aquatic habitats

and vegetation,

but climate change is also

allowing other species

on the landscape

to do much better.

So animals like

white-tailed deer,

that ends up being in

competition with moose.

Not because they're

consuming the browse

that moose would be eating,

but because that

they're transmitting

and passing on brain

worm into moose range.

(bright music)

- While brain worm

is fatal to moose,

it has no measurable

impact on its host,

the white-tail deer.

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The winter ticks and brain worm,

are both benefiting

from shorter winters.

(bright music)

- Yeah, I work for

the Grand Portage Band

of Lake Superior Chippewa,

and moose are the primary

subsistence species

used by the band and have

been for all of history.

So I focus most of my work

on trying to maintain

subsistence species,

subsistence hunting

into perpetuity,

to help to maintain the culture,

to help to maintain nutrition

for the tribal members.

(bright music)

- Hunting moose has been part

of the Ojibwe

people's existence,

as long as they can remember.

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It is an important source

of healthy subsistence food,

and continues a long

cultural tradition.

(tender music)

Their right to hunt is

deeply meaningful to them.

In my opinion, the biggest

role that hunting can play here

is to try and reduce the bare

wolf and white-tail numbers

that are increasing and causing

moose decline in the state.

I also believe it is important

to keep indigenous hunting

traditions in place,

but all the species

in the ecosystem.

(bright music)

Hunting also puts financial

value on the species,

The area we are hunting is

a pristine vast wilderness

with boreal insidious forests.

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The time that I get to

spend in pristine habitats

is very special to me.

And to me there with a purpose,

in this case the pursuit

of a moose, is exceptional.

Moose are excellent to eat

and a harvest will provide

up to a year's worth

of pure protein.

(tense music)

It is a difficult but

rewarding task to take a moose.

- You ready?

- Oh yes.

(tense music)

- Really the biggest

thing with moose hunting

isn't the temperature,

it's the wind.

They're such a subtle giant,

you gotta hear that stick snap,

that low grunt, that

little cough, snort.

And there's probably

gonna be about

30 moose around us

as we're walking in.

(lilting music)

- We're getting ready to

hike into the woods here

and they've been seeing a

couple good bulls in this area,

so hopefully we'll

get on to something.

And if not I am sure it'll

be a great morning anyway.

(tense music)

- What's that?

- Bull urine.

- Oh, good.

- Smell it.

- When quotas are carefully set

and your quest is

for an old bull,

this has the least

impact on the population,

given that they are

of least importance

at that time of their lives.

(lilting music)

From a hunter's perspective,

it's the old bulls that also

have the largest antlers.

- Okay guys.

So let's just talk about,

So just try to avoid things

that you know you're

gonna make noise going by.

And ultimate quiet,

if we're calling.

(moose call)

- [Dan] Hunting moose

is an all day affair.

You cover a lot of ground,

do a lot of culling

bull calling,

rack the trees and brush,

as well as do some

tracking and glassing.

(moose call)

(dramatic music)

Much of the hunt you are

tying to lure in an old bull,

by using all of these methods.

(moose calls)

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

(moose antler rustling)

(dramatic music)

- I said I could hear him

turn his head in there,

a couple of times.

(dramatic music)

- This particular hunt

was unseasonably warm,

making for very

difficult conditions.

(suspenseful music)

There was still quite a lot

of foliage of vegetation,

so the moose were deep in

the shade of the forest

as they did not need to come out

into the cuts and

valleys for food.

(suspenseful music)

To have a great moose hunt

or any other memorable hunt,

doesn't always necessarily

involve making a harvest.

(suspenseful music)

Success is ultimately found

in what is learned along

the way, and the experience.

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Of course, in every hunt,

one hopes to be successful.

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We have hunted

hard for five days,

and haven't managed to

find a worthy old bull.

(gentle music)

(birds chirping)

(bright upbeat music)

Exposure to nature and wildlife

have always had a core

meaning to my existence.

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I enjoy the disconnect

from modern society,

and find that in nature

there is greater clarity,

and better understanding.

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Hunting is a tool

that helps to keep

large ecosystems intact.

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Maine's moose population

is the largest

of all the lower 48 states.

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The Maine moose hunt is among

the most coveted in the nation

with an average of

50,000 applications,

for the 2,500 or

so from education.

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There is an off take of only

about one and a half percent.

This off take of moose generates

an enormous amount of money

that flows directly

back into conservation.

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As a hunter, I believe

that sharing food

is one of the most

significant things

that we do as a community.

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This meal was

particularly meaningful

because it was the

result of a bull moose

my mother harvested the

previous year's hunting season.

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- There's a perfect

landscape for moose here

but it needs to be preserved

through hunting practices.

It needs to be preserved

through management.

I've been doing this

now for almost 20 years

and made up my life,

it's my passion.

Moose, especially is my passion.

I just, I love the animal.

I love it every day of the year.

And I love to watch 'em and

see how things are changing.

And it's given me an opportunity

to really analyze changes.

We see a population of moose

that was maybe heading in a

direction that was unhealthy

to them becoming more

of a healthy population.

Something that's sustainable.

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Moose in the State of Maine

is it's a cherished species.

So the first reaction

is to stop hunting.

Well, it may not always

be the right reaction.

- My time in Maine

has been enlightened.

And I've learned a lot about

what successful management

of this ecosystem takes.

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In North America,

much like Africa,

where conservation is concerned,

there is no one size

fits all solution.

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The species faced

with different threats

in different landscapes,

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And science is the best hope

to find the answers

for their survival.

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