Parks Canada planning bigger Gros Morne moose hunt

Parks Canada is expanding the moose hunt that began in western Newfoundland's Gros Morne National Park last year.

Five hundred moose licenses were issued in the park in 2011. This year, hunters will be allowed to take up to 900 animals.

Park Resources Manager Peter Deering said the larger cull is necessary because moose are still damaging the area’s vegetation.

"What we are trying to do here is get the population down to allow the recovery of the forest, so it’s a bit of a different approach," he said.

The hunting area will also be larger in 2012. It will include everything below the Long Range Mountains.

Deering said snowmobiles will be permitted inside park boundaries during the cull because animals will be taken from a large, remote area.

"As long as snow conditions are suitable for snowmobiling, it will be allowed," he said.

Furthermore the coming season will also be longer. It’s set to begin in mid-October and run until Jan. 27.

Increasing the number of moose licences to 900 doesn’t guarantee that 900 animals will be killed — Deering said fewer than 200 moose were removed from the park last year, even though 500 moose licences were issued for hunting within it.