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Finland Released Regional Tools for Planning the 2026 Moose Harvest

Wild moose crossing a forest road in Lappajärvi, Finland
Conservation · Management

Finland released regional tables, maps and calculators for planning the 2026 moose (Alces alces) harvest on 13 March. The Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke, published the package to help local and regional managers translate the latest population assessment into harvest plans for individual management areas.

The tools work at both regional and local levels

Finland has 59 moose management areas, each with objectives for population density and structure. Luke’s package provides data and recommendations for those larger areas as well as separate material for local game-management associations. An online harvest calculator, a downloadable spreadsheet and a map of post-hunt density are included.

The calculators allow managers to compare the estimated starting population, desired density and the effects of alternative harvest levels. They do not replace the objectives adopted by regional wildlife councils or the local decisions made by associations and hunting teams.

The release uses the February population estimate rather than creating a new one

The planning material is built on Luke’s 27 February assessment, which estimated about 88,000 moose after the 2025 hunt and documented large regional differences in density, sex ratio and calf production. The March release therefore represents a management step based on those results, not a separate population estimate.

The underlying assessment combines hunter observations and harvest reports with aerial and ground counts, road collisions and estimates of large-carnivore abundance. The new tools provide a common way to use that information when deciding how many moose of different age and sex classes should be harvested in each area during 2026.

Sources and image credit

  1. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). (2026, March 13). Tietoja hirvikannan verotuksen suunnitteluun 2026.Primary management release. Provides the 2026 regional tables, harvest recommendations, online and spreadsheet calculators, and post-hunt density map used for moose harvest planning.
  2. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). (2026, February 27). Hirven kanta-arvio 2026.Underlying 2026 population assessment cited by the management release; estimated about 88,000 moose after the 2025 hunt and provides the regional population data used in planning.

Image: Dariusz Kowalczyk — Eurasian moose cow with calf on Carska Droga near Osowiec Fortress, Poland, photographed 18 February 2006; Wikimedia Commons; representative species image, not animals from the Finnish management data · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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