The first week of the Maine moose hunt is under way, with less than desirable weather for moose hunting, as the thermometer hits 70°! The mornings should be rather cool, which brings some hope, although it has been bringing heavy fog as well. There are lots of trophy bulls being tagged despite the warm weather. One of my co-workers and his girlfriend were able to harvest a nice trophy bull, first thing of opening morning. My dad’s cow tag remains unfilled at this point and time, but I will keep you posted on their progress. They really struggled with the heavy fog this morning. Below is the story and associated picture of my co-worker Bud and his girlfriend Sarah’s hunt.
The trio walked silently along the old road, and just as their wristwatch showed legal shooting, a cow moose materialized out of the early morning fog. She was walking out of an old logging yard, and their presence startled her as she turned to trot down the old road. The trio froze, and they remained surprisingly calm even though the anticipation of a bull following her was high. They hardly waited any time before a second moose appeared, and hopes soared high as their eyes fought against the fog to distinguish antlers, but there were none. This moose was also not fond of their presence, and also began to trot down the road. Bud left out a soft, guttural grunt to mimic a bull, and the sound had no sooner crossed his lips than the third and final moose appeared. His location, a mere 75 yards away allowed for them to instantly determine this was definitely a “shooter” bull. Bud muttered under his breath to Sarah, “Take Him!”. She wasted no time in setting her shooting sticks in position, and resting her .308 on the sticks. Bud readied his rifle for the “just in case” shot and watched the scene unfold through his rifle scope. Sarah brought the crosshairs to rest on the bull’s shoulder, and calmly squeezed the trigger. Bud saw the bull flinch and he could tell from the bull’s reaction he was hit hard. Sarah chambered another round, and the bull started to take a step, so they decided to both fire an insurance shot, and as the guns barked, the moose reared and fell to his final resting place. Another glance at the wristwatch showed that it was only five minutes past legal shooting time, and their hunt was over. Looking at each other in disbelief that it was really over, they walked cautiously up to the downed beast, and after admiring the animal in all of its’ magnificence, offered each other congratulations. Then the work began, which was minimal due to the location of the moose, which was only about 5 feet from the old road. The final statistics on the trophy bull was 907 lbs. field dressed with a slightly non-typical 52” spread rack. See the preliminary pictures below.
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