Moose Research Team Completes Winter Collaring Effort

Northern Michigan University Biology Professor Diana Lafferty and some of her students recently concluded efforts to capture and collar moose as part of cooperative research team that also involves members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Michigan DNR. The team focused its winter work on the core moose population area in the western Upper Peninsula.

There are an estimated 300 moose in the state of Michigan, according to a 2025 DNR biennial aerial survey in Marquette, Baraga and Iron counties; a major decrease from the 426 moose found in a 2023 survey.

"Our intent is to investigate and uncover the factors that might be limiting moose population growth across the Upper Peninsula," Lafferty explained. "Getting an idea about how many animals within the population are resident versus migrants is also really important."

A total of 41 new moose were captured and collared this winter. They included 20 adult females, 10 adult males and 11 calves. Combined with the first effort last year, the team has now deployed 56 collars.

Anthony Clyne, a master's student in Lafferty's Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Science Lab, participated in the recent project. He was responsible for coordinating with the ground crews traveling by snowmobile and directing them to locations where moose were being captured.

"We mapped moose sightings and captured locations in real time while communicating with both the ground crews and spotter aircraft to help position teams for capture opportunities," said Clyne. "Overall, the operation ran very smoothly, although it was sometimes challenging to anticipate where moose would be located each day."

The GPS collars will help provide insight on how the moose are using the landscape. Researchers are also collecting swabs for disease surveillance, searching for ticks and collecting fecal pellets to better understand diet.

The team described this as a successful capture event, with effective collaboration helping to exceed the goal. These moose, and the biological samples and collar data they provide, will be invaluable in helping researchers better understand moose survival and factors that are impacting their population in the western Upper Peninsula.