NEW MOOSE DETAILS

A new point-based system will be implemented and replace the former draw system for the 2021 moose hunt. The MNRF will look at a hunter’s data as far back as 1993. A point will be awarded for each year that a hunter applied, unsuccessfully, for an adult moose tag. The points will be awarded beginning with the last time a hunter received an adult moose tag. If you received such a tag through a transfer, that will count as having been awarded an adult tag.

Once you claim a tag beginning in 2021 your points will be reset to zero. Tag transfers will be exclusively for exceptional circumstances such as illness, injury or the death of the tag holder or an immediate family member. In 2021 the MNRF will manage the moose harvest with bull tags, cow/calf tags, and calf tags with Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) specific calf tag quotas throughout the province.

Cost

A bull tag will cost – $15.00 application fee, $35.00 licence fee and $200.00 bull tag fee for a sum total of $250.00. Cow/calf tags will cost $150; calf tags $30.00. The prices reflect the demand. If a hunter claims a tag through this new point-based allocation system s/he will be required to purchase the $35.00 licence and then the tag. Bull and cow/calf tags will be season-specific to bow or gun season whereas calf tags can be used for the entire season within a specific WMU.

Non-residents will pay a higher licence fee but the same tag cost. The MNRF said a more detailed description of this process will come later.

The ministry said it plans to continue aerial moose surveys each winter to help estimate moose numbers and trends in order to continue to foster a sustainable moose herd in Ontario.