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Vermont Allocated 85 Moose Permits to Limit Winter-tick Impacts

A bull moose standing in shallow water at the Nulhegan Basin in Vermont
Conservation · Management

Vermont, USA approved 85 moose hunting permits for Wildlife Management Unit E (WMU E) in the northeastern part of the state for 2026. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board voted on 1 April to make 65 either-sex permits and 20 antlerless permits available, and the decision was announced the following day. The department expects the hunt to result in a harvest of about 40–50 moose, or roughly 6% of the current population in the unit.

The management goal is to keep moose (Alces alces) numbers lower in WMU E and thereby reduce the abundance and impact of winter ticks. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department says moose density in the unit remains substantially higher than elsewhere in the state, and ongoing health monitoring shows that winter ticks are still affecting the population. Birth rates remain low, and many calves do not survive their first winter.

The department links the problem to host density. Moose project leader Nick Fortin has explained that lower moose densities leave winter ticks with fewer available hosts, reducing the number of ticks on the landscape. The 2026 recommendation aims to keep the population near the department’s target density of about one moose per square mile rather than begin another broad reduction.

The 85 permits are fewer than the 180 approved in each of the previous three years. The smaller allocation reflects a shift from stronger population reduction toward trying to stabilise the herd near the target density, while continuing to use hunting as one part of the state’s response to winter-tick impacts in WMU E.

Sources and image credit

  1. Vermont Allocates Moose Hunting Permits for 2026Primary Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department announcement published 2 April 2026 after the Fish and Wildlife Board vote on 1 April. Confirms 65 either-sex permits, 20 antlerless permits, the expected harvest of 40–50 moose (about 6% of the WMU E population) and the winter-tick management objective.
  2. Fish and Wildlife Proposes 2026 Moose Permit AllocationOfficial 19 February 2026 proposal and biological-management context. Used for ongoing health monitoring, low birth rates and calf survival, the density–winter tick mechanism, the target of about one moose per square mile and comparison with 180 permits in 2023–2025.

Image: A bull moose standing in shallow water at the Nulhegan Basin in Vermont. Photo: David Govatski / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · Public domain (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) · Source

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