Gunning for moose

The state Department of Environmental Conservation estimates that five hundred moose live in the North Country. Since moose tend to avoid census takers, the figure involves some guesswork, but it seems clear that the population is growing.

 Do we have enough moose to start shooting them? Apparently, some hunters think so.

Dennis Aprill, the outdoors writer for the Plattsburgh Press-Republican, reports that the Onondaga County Federation of Sportsman’s Clubs is proposing that the state initiate a lottery in which the winners would be given a permit to kill a moose.

Aprill is not against hunting, but he writes in his outdoors column that this is an idea whose time has not come.

Moose are hunted in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and the time may come when DEC will seek to establish a moose season in the Adirondacks. I’m guessing this will be controversial no matter how many of the animals we have.