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We discuss outcomes of hunting moose by coordinated drives by various-sized hunting groups withinthe Kirov region. We report the optimum measurements of a hunting brigade, its advantages overhunting by individuals or by small groups, along with the potential for selective harvest by age andsex classes.

Keywords: moose hunting, forest-taiga, hunting brigade, hunting season, licensed harvest, selectiveharvest

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Inside the forest-taiga zone, the most important trouble with moose management will be theselective harvest in the optimum quantity of moose instead of the population as a whole. Vastforested hunting grounds within the northern parts of Russia and, especially, roadless servings ofSiberia make it extremely difficult to handle moose for sustained yield. Access by helicopters toremote moose hunting grounds continues to be considered in the press by game and conservationmanagement organizations, but is cost-prohibitive.

The Kirov region is positioned in southern and central taiga and broad-leaved forest zones. Onlysmall islands of forests appear in southern portions of the Kirov. Partly, as a result of better habitatand forest roads, moose hunting is a lot more successful there compared to the northern areas.Access is actually difficult and harvest quotas are not achieved, though in the northern regions,moose numbers are greater. Within the forest and forest-taiga zone of Russia, moose hunting is oneof the most prestigious and http://www.last.fm/music/Sniper favorite activities.

In addition to the sporting interest, hunting provides a chance to generate income and harvestquality meat. Moose are hunted under sporting and commercial licenses. A sporting license costs

150 rubles (l US$ 29 Russian rubles) for hunting a bellowing male and 75 rubles for virtually anymoose after 1 October. A professional license costs 40 rubles for the adult 20 and moose rubles toget a calf.

All ages of animals are hunted and calves compose 20% from the harvest. Meat of moose takenunder sporting licenses is among the hunter. Beneath a commercial license, moose meat is deliveredto a trading network at a price of 1.5-1.7 rubles per kg. In particular regions, a hunter may sell meaton the list price of three.5 rubles per kg. Specifically for urban ones because meat is scarce inRussia, those terms are incredibly appealing to hunters. Just one hunter or small teams of 2-3hunters get 1-2 licenses for moose hunting. It would appear that this type of approach makes moosehunting accessible to most hunters but brings about undesirable harvest selection. Most hunterswith 1-2 licenses try to take large animals, especially healthy adult females. If you have no license toadopt calves, then 1 or even 2 orphaned calves might not exactly survive. Glushkov (1985) estimatedthat each and every year right after a hunting season within the Kirov, at the very least 400 moosecalves were orphaned and a lot had died by the end of winter.

Hunters use private or rented vehicles for transportation to moose hunting areas. All-terrain vehiclesare essential because it is often impossible to achieve hunting grounds by car. Hunters usually usevehicles like "Niva," "LuAZ," "UAZ," or "GAZ-66" and "Ural" for brigades. When you are travelingalong snowy areas, hunters use "Buran" and "Icar" snowmobiles.

STUDY AREA

Our study area was located on the research-experimental hunting grounds (65,800 ha) of your All-Union Research Institute of Game Management and Fur Farming in Kirov. You can find 60 membersof our institute's hunters collective. In the hunting season, an average of Three hundred- mooseinhabit our hunting ground. Typically 61.7 animals are taken per season; approximately 1 moose per

one thousand ha. On our hunting ground there are actually 40,000 ha of forested areas suitable asmoose habitat and approximately 5,000 ha of brushwoods in the river flood plain.

A forest area is split into quarters of 1 x 2 and 2 x 2 km in size. The hunting grounds are crossed by2 highways: one of those for timber trucks is included with ferroconcrete slabs, other one a partiallyasphalted earth road that becomes almost impassable in autumn. Dirt roads and roads for timbertrucks that branch from these highways become impassable for motor transport in deep snow.

Hunting seasons typically ran from 1 October to 15 January (188 days). Over 9 years, 556 moosewere taken (range 46-80 a year). Hunters were transported by a "GAZ-66" truck and through tractor.They hunted in 1-2 brigades, which ranged in proportions from 9 to 55 persons.

METHODS

Hunting is carried out on permanent sites. Most hunters are set as shooters and lots of people (4-6)drive moose on the shooters. Usually, shooting lines are invariable. Hunters use smooth-bore guns orcarbines of 7.9 and 62 mm caliber. Shooters with guns stand near overgrown moose paths with littlefield of vision. Hunters with carbines hunt in open sites, clearings and glades small meadows, andfields. They might shoot only within the fixed sectors following strict accident prevention rules.Moose drivers wear orange waistcoats.

Needless to say, not every drive is successful. Sometimes you can find no moose. At in other cases,moose go through open areas within the drivers' chain, rush between shooters, or run in which thereare no hunters. In view on this, it would appear that the greater the brigade, the greater thepossibility of shooting a moose. The best results were in brigades of 9-15 (an average of 12) hunters,however. Moose harvest fell 1.2-1.5 times just because a small brigade is far more mobile and willmake more drives daily, when hunter numbers approached the most. Control of a big brigade is anissue and takes much more time for sniper scope every drive because the dimensions of the regioncovered increases. The main advantages of loading and dressing harvested animals do not makeamends for lost hunting time. Since daylight has limitations, hunters in smaller brigades might usetwilight hours for dressing, loading, and transporting carcasses.

The best amount of moose is taken in November (198 moose per 38 times of hunting). It will take 11man-days to shoot 1 animal. Although the indices of man-days when planning on taking mooseusually do not greatly differ in the other months (13.3-14.1), November is definitely the preferredmonth for hunting moose in the Kirov region. Shallow snow depth and frozen ground permit huntersto use transport vehicles successfully. In October hunting is hampered by the absence of moosetracks, and then in December to January by deep snow, hard frosts, and disturbance from previoushunting.

DISCUSSION

A brigade is preferred over individual hunters or hunting by small groups in the forest-taiga sectionof the country. By using a brigade assists you to join the hunters' collective, strengthens cooperativespirit among hunters inside the forest, serves to obtain hunting skills, regulates the harvest old andsex groups, and makes renting transport vehicles easier. With this type of hunting, we harvest 22-32% calves, in comparison to a 20% average from the Kirov region. That permits us to maintain post-harvest moose numbers at a level of 300-400 individuals as well as a steady high yield of moose perare