PORTLAND, Maine – Sportsmen hoping to bag a big moose are seeing increased competition from a tiny parasite that’s cutting down moose populations in New England and across parts of the northern United States, prompting some states to offer hunters fewer permits or halt hunting altogether.

Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are all issuing fewer moose hunting permits this year, citing the impact of winter ticks on their moose populations. In Minnesota, where ticks are among several factors that have cut the population by more than half in less than a decade, there will be no moose hunting season at all.

Thousands of ticks are sometimes found on a single moose, and the parasites can bleed the animals and cause anemia and death.

Many biologists tie the surge in tick-related moose deaths at least in part to warmer temperatures. Warm fall temperatures and early spring snowmelt improves conditions for winter ticks to thrive, biologists say.

The largest wild animal in the northeast, moose can tip the scales at more than 1,000 pounds and are prized for their meat as well as their enormous antlers.

Maine’s moose season kicks off Monday but the state is coming off a peak year for winter ticks, which have helped reduce the moose herd from 76,000 in 2012 to between 65,000 and 70,000, state officials said.