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Not 1 Moose hunt but 2!!

DroptineKrazy

DroptineKrazy

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Messages
3,050
Location
Brunswick, Maine
Looks like a couple of moose are gonna get in the way of my first year saddle hunting this fall. My wife and my sister in law have both been drawn for our annual Maine moose hunt this year. We have to fill a bull tag for my sister in law the second week of October and then my wife will be filling a cow tag the last week of October. Unbelievable! We always hope someone in the family gets drawn for a tag but man this is gonna be a lot of work. The tags are in different zones so we will be hunting a remote area for my wife's cow but luckily our other tag is where my brother's camp is in the western mountains of Maine. We have also hunted my wife's zone twice before so we're familiar with the area. Best thing is I've been on about 6 of these hunts(1 was my tag) and some of my best hunting memories are when I was hunting moose with my family. About 8 years ago we even took my 4 year old grand daughter with us and had a blast. Looking forward to a couple of freezers full of prime eating too. Can't wait. Anybody wanna be in my shoes right now ?:)
 
DroptineKrazy said:
Looks like a couple of moose are gonna get in the way of my first year saddle hunting this fall. My wife and my sister in law have both been drawn for our annual Maine moose hunt this year. We have to fill a bull tag for my sister in law the second week of October and then my wife will be filling a cow tag the last week of October. Unbelievable! We always hope someone in the family gets drawn for a tag but man this is gonna be a lot of work. The tags are in different zones so we will be hunting a remote area for my wife's cow but luckily our other tag is where my brother's camp is in the western mountains of Maine. We have also hunted my wife's zone twice before so we're familiar with the area. Best thing is I've been on about 6 of these hunts(1 was my tag) and some of my best hunting memories are when I was hunting moose with my family. About 8 years ago we even took my 4 year old grand daughter with us and had a blast. Looking forward to a couple of freezers full of prime eating too. Can't wait. Anybody wanna be in my shoes right now ?:)
Click to expand...

Looking to adopt another family member? I’m sure my family won’t mind
 
Moose is a once-in-a-lifetime one-and-done draw here in Utah. Usually takes many years to draw. I got extremely lucky and drew out with only 4 bonus points several years ago. Wasn't expecting it. Bagged a bull just before dark on the last day of the hunt. I was alone, and stayed up all night deboning and packing out the meat. What a job to do alone, especially in mountain terrain! Luckily I could get a motorcycle up a trail to within about 1/2 mile of kill site, and hiked each large backpack load out to the bike then rode it to my truck another mile or so away. Took 6 trips as I recall. Finished about 10:00am the next morning. Never felt so dead in my life! I was literally laying down on the ground on my side while carving off the last load because I felt as though I could no longer stand or sit up. Good thing it's only once-in-a-lifetime. Don't think I could pull that off again at my current age. But man, that was an experience, and by far the best wild game meat we've ever eaten. Cut the whole thing into family sized roasts for the slow cooker, and after wrapping I counted 66 packages. Had to buy a new freezer. It lasted us about 2 - 3 years cooking a roast every other week or so. Also gave some away. Moose meat is fantastic! Great memories...
 
No we don't want to be in your shoes. In fact we all hate you. Well.. maybe the other folks who drew moose tags don't hate you but we all hate them too. lol

Congrats man! Looking forward to hearing how this goes!
 
Thanks. Already paid for the licenses and have secured a camp near our zone so we are well on the way to a successful hunt. We only have a few short months to get our plan together including doing some pre season scouting. There is a lot that goes into this type of hunt as far as gear goes but like I said this ain't our first rodeo so we have a pretty good handle on things. One good thing is moose hunters in Maine have a better than 70% success rate. I'll keep you all updated as we get closer to the hunts and fill you in on the details of the hunts to let you know how we make out.
 
Well guys. Brother and I have been up “North” to our first hunting area to scout twice now and we have several pretty nice spots picked out. I got the old 7 mm mag sighted in and some game cameras set too. Just 12 days left before the first hunt. Can’t wait Tougher than it used to be years ago. Used to be great big clear cuts everywhere from the paper company operations making them easier to find on but the tree huggers put a stop to that and now you can’t see 10 feet in most places. Super grown up and thick now. Tough to even walk through at all much less quietly. I actually found several different moose beds within 20 or 30 yards from the road but you would never know that they were there as it is so thick you would drive right passed them and not see them. I’ll try to get some pics up for you guys(and gals)if we get any moose on my cameras.


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One down and one to go! We tagged out on the first day of the hunt. I dropped off my brother and sister in-law just before daybreak in our #1 spot and headed out to do some scouting. They were sitting in a small swale where we got a small bull on camera a few days earlier. 28 degrees and crystal clear skies. They sat until about 8:30, did some calling but nothing showed. We had a scent rag hanging at that location saturated with cow in heat urine but the bull on camera evidently wasn’t in the area that morning. They roam a lot during the rut just like a whitetail.
Meanwhile, I’m down the road a few miles and I climb an old skidder trail up the side of one of the mountains and I find what looks to be a great spot. Sign wasn’t great there but we have been experiencing a drought for the past couple of months and even as heavy as they are the moose leave surprisingly little sign on the rocky terrain. I had found a good trail crossing the road through the poplars in an old chopping and some small trees shredded. I knew there was at least one bull in the area.
After picking my brother and his wife up I took them up to check it out and they liked the setup. The wind was coming down the mountain and we had a great little clump of fir trees to hide in. We also had a 30 ft. shooting lane for 200 yards up the side of the mountain.
After lunch and a nap I dropped the 2 of them off and headed back out to scout. They got comfortable and it was quiet for the first couple of hours. About an hour before dark my brother did some calling and a big cow pops out at 50 yards and stares at them. She could see them but couldn’t smell them. They watched her for several minutes until she turned and went back in. 10 minutes later he calls a little more aggressively and another cow, this one with a calf beside her step out at about 100 yards and then another big cow comes out behind them. My brother is looking frantically for horns to no avail when my sister in law says “there’s a bull.” Brother can’t see it at first but tells her if she has a clear shot to take it. At this point my sister in-law is pretty shaken up and can’t find it in the scope and the bull takes off up the trail. Just a few seconds later another bull steps out in the same spot and stands there broadside at 150 yards. My brother gets his wife to settle down and her first shot drops him. Moose are tough and he tried to get up so she shoots again. Down he goes but he tries to get up again and brother puts him down for good with a finishing shot. 6 and a half hours later we are back at camp and very tired and hungry but very, very happy. Her bull weighed 657 pounds at the tagging station the next morning and we were home by 4 pm yesterday afternoon. Brother and his wife are meat hunters more than trophy hunters so we were actually hoping for a smaller one cause they eat better but we’ll take it.
Now all I have to do is repeat this success again in 2 weeks when we go on my wife’s moose hunt.
 
DroptineKrazy said:
One down and one to go! We tagged out on the first day of the hunt. I dropped off my brother and sister in-law just before daybreak in our #1 spot and headed out to do some scouting. They were sitting in a small swale where we got a small bull on camera a few days earlier. 28 degrees and crystal clear skies. They sat until about 8:30, did some calling but nothing showed. We had a scent rag hanging at that location saturated with cow in heat urine but the bull on camera evidently wasn’t in the area that morning. They roam a lot during the rut just like a whitetail.
Meanwhile, I’m down the road a few miles and I climb an old skidder trail up the side of one of the mountains and I find what looks to be a great spot. Sign wasn’t great there but we have been experiencing a drought for the past couple of months and even as heavy as they are the moose leave surprisingly little sign on the rocky terrain. I had found a good trail crossing the road through the poplars in an old chopping and some small trees shredded. I knew there was at least one bull in the area.
After picking my brother and his wife up I took them up to check it out and they liked the setup. The wind was coming down the mountain and we had a great little clump of fir trees to hide in. We also had a 30 ft. shooting lane for 200 yards up the side of the mountain.
After lunch and a nap I dropped the 2 of them off and headed back out to scout. They got comfortable and it was quiet for the first couple of hours. About an hour before dark my brother did some calling and a big cow pops out at 50 yards and stares at them. She could see them but couldn’t smell them. They watched her for several minutes until she turned and went back in. 10 minutes later he calls a little more aggressively and another cow, this one with a calf beside her step out at about 100 yards and then another big cow comes out behind them. My brother is looking frantically for horns to no avail when my sister in law says “there’s a bull.” Brother can’t see it at first but tells her if she has a clear shot to take it. At this point my sister in-law is pretty shaken up and can’t find it in the scope and the bull takes off up the trail. Just a few seconds later another bull steps out in the same spot and stands there broadside at 150 yards. My brother gets his wife to settle down and her first shot drops him. Moose are tough and he tried to get up so she shoots again. Down he goes but he tries to get up again and brother puts him down for good with a finishing shot. 6 and a half hours later we are back at camp and very tired and hungry but very, very happy. Her bull weighed 657 pounds at the tagging station the next morning and we were home by 4 pm yesterday afternoon. Brother and his wife are meat hunters more than trophy hunters so we were actually hoping for a smaller one cause they eat better but we’ll take it.
Now all I have to do is repeat this success again in 2 weeks when we go on my wife’s moose hunt.
Click to expand...
 
One down and one to go! We tagged out on the first day of the hunt. I dropped off my brother and sister in-law just before daybreak in our #1 spot and headed out to do some scouting. They were sitting in a small swale where we got a small bull on camera a few days earlier. 28 degrees and crystal clear skies. They sat until about 8:30, did some calling but nothing showed. We had a scent rag hanging at that location saturated with cow in heat urine but the bull on camera evidently wasn’t in the area that morning. They roam a lot during the rut just like a whitetail.
Meanwhile, I’m down the road a few miles and I climb an old skidder trail up the side of one of the mountains and I find what looks to be a great spot. Sign wasn’t great there but we have been experiencing a drought for the past couple of months and even as heavy as they are the moose leave surprisingly little sign on the rocky terrain. I had found a good trail crossing the road through the poplars in an old chopping and some small trees shredded. I knew there was at least one bull in the area.
After picking my brother and his wife up I took them up to check it out and they liked the setup. The wind was coming down the mountain and we had a great little clump of fir trees to hide in. We also had a 30 ft. shooting lane for 200 yards up the side of the mountain.
After lunch and a nap I dropped the 2 of them off and headed back out to scout. They got comfortable and it was quiet for the first couple of hours. About an hour before dark my brother did some calling and a big cow pops out at 50 yards and stares at them. She could see them but couldn’t smell them. They watched her for several minutes until she turned and went back in. 10 minutes later he calls a little more aggressively and another cow, this one with a calf beside her step out at about 100 yards and then another big cow comes out behind them. My brother is looking frantically for horns to no avail when my sister in law says “there’s a bull.” Brother can’t see it at first but tells her if she has a clear shot to take it. At this point my sister in-law is pretty shaken up and can’t find it in the scope and the bull takes off up the trail. Just a few seconds later another bull steps out in the same spot and stands there broadside at 150 yards. My brother gets his wife to settle down and her first shot drops him. Moose are tough and he tried to get up so she shoots again. Down he goes but he tries to get up again and brother puts him down for good with a finishing shot. 6 and a half hours later we are back at camp and very tired and hungry but very, very happy. Her bull weighed 657 pounds at the tagging station the next morning and we were home by 4 pm yesterday afternoon. Brother and his wife are meat hunters more than trophy hunters so we were actually hoping for a smaller one cause they eat better but we’ll take it.
Now all I have to do is repeat this success again in 2 weeks when we go on my wife’s moose hunt.
 
Thanks. We are heading back up into Northern Maine on Saturday for our next hunt that will start on Monday. My brother and I went up scouting last weekend and we saw 4 moose and found a couple couple of good spots to set up. My 12 year old grand daughter will be the shooter and my wife will be backing her up. Yes, you always have a back up shooter when moose hunting. They are tough to put down and you don't wanna have to chase them. We have a cow permit to fill and I'm very happy with that because my wife already has a 44" bull on the wall and the cows/calves are much better eating in my opinion.
 
DroptineKrazy said:
Thanks. We are heading back up into Northern Maine on Saturday for our next hunt that will start on Monday. My brother and I went up scouting last weekend and we saw 4 moose and found a couple couple of good spots to set up. My 12 year old grand daughter will be the shooter and my wife will be backing her up. Yes, you always have a back up shooter when moose hunting. They are tough to put down and you don't wanna have to chase them. We have a cow permit to fill and I'm very happy with that because my wife already has a 44" bull on the wall and the cows/calves are much better eating in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Good luck man! I wish I could get drawn, 19 years and counting for me. I was a sub-permittee for my dad and put the finishing shot on his back in 2018.
 
HuntNorthEast said:
Good luck man! I wish I could get drawn, 19 years and counting for me. I was a sub-permittee for my dad and put the finishing shot on his back in 2018.
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Yeah I hear you. I got drawn back in 1982 or 1983 (too long ago, can't remember) and I shot the first moose taken with a bow since the season was re-established. For those who don't know Maine closed their moose season way back in like 1945 due to over harvesting and didn't re-establish it until 1980 or 1981. I shot a 610 lb. dressed cow on the first day of that season and that is the first year they allowed archery gear to be used. Way back then the bow hunters of Maine had to fight to be allowed to hunt with archery gear because state officials had to be convinced a moose could be taken down with bow and arrow. Still waiting to be drawn again. If I do get drawn though I will be using my bow and saddle :)
 
The moose are starting to establish in the Adirondacks but probably will not have huntable populations during my life time.
 
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