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Success! My father and mine's moose hunt was last week in Maine. I had gone up to the family cabin in August and September to scout and found some likely spots with good sign. I had narrowed it down to 2 logging roads to start out at. On Sunday before the season started on Monday my dad and I went for a final look. The road we settled on to start the season had a couple of moose rubs that I found in September, but now had lots of fresh clippings on the alders with lots of fresh droppings.
The weather for the week was unseasonably warm but Monday started out ~45 degrees. We set up on the edge of an old logging cut and had a calling session lasting about 3 hours with no sign. Because it was near the end of the rut I only used a cow mating call, hitting it about every 15 minutes. We broke for lunch and came back in the afternoon but the temp had risen to ~70 degrees and the bugs were bad so we only toughed it out for a couple hours. We went back on Tuesday but unfortunately other hunters beat us to the spot. The land is all private timber lands but with open access. There were quite a few moose hunters around. So we went to another road and set up in another cut, calling for another 3 hours with no results. Tuesday afternoon was even hotter topping out around 75 degrees, so we took an afternoon off to do camp chores.
On Wednesday we went back to the original spot and started calling around 6:30 with a temp at 48 degrees. After about an hour I heard a twig snap off to my left. I decided to hit the "hyper estrous" call and waited and listened. After about 10-15 minutes I caught some movement to my right. It was a bull working his way around us but heading off into the woods. Unfortunately for my dad, we were sitting about 15 feet apart but facing different directions, with him having no view of the moose. Having previously discussed this situation (shoot if you see a legal bull), and with a small window, I stood up and shot. At the shot, the bull moved off out of sight but within a few seconds I heard it crash to the ground. We found him quickly. The .338 win mag 250gr core-lokt entered the right shoulder and passed through behind the off shoulder lodging in the hide and was recovered. He's not a giant, probably around 2.5-3.5 years old and about 800 lbs.
With the temp rising we got to work quickly, getting the hind and front quarter off one side before our helped arrived. Four finished quartering the moose, and removed the back straps, tenderloins and neck meat. It took about 2 hours total to get the meat out. All the meat weighed in at 340lbs at the butchers, including legs bones. We are expecting about 275 pounds of steaks, roasts and burgers! We started working on the moose at 8:00 and had it registered and to the butchers by 1:30 on a day that topped out at 80 degrees!
Despite not doing the shooting my father was ecstatic. We had a blast hunting together. Even with the crappy warm weather it was a great week. We finished the week catching some smallmouth and hunting grouse, though the latter were hard to find this year. Because it was my father's permit, he can't apply again for 3 years. I'll keep applying with him as my sub-permittee. I hope to draw one more tag and let him do the shooting next time! 😁
The weather for the week was unseasonably warm but Monday started out ~45 degrees. We set up on the edge of an old logging cut and had a calling session lasting about 3 hours with no sign. Because it was near the end of the rut I only used a cow mating call, hitting it about every 15 minutes. We broke for lunch and came back in the afternoon but the temp had risen to ~70 degrees and the bugs were bad so we only toughed it out for a couple hours. We went back on Tuesday but unfortunately other hunters beat us to the spot. The land is all private timber lands but with open access. There were quite a few moose hunters around. So we went to another road and set up in another cut, calling for another 3 hours with no results. Tuesday afternoon was even hotter topping out around 75 degrees, so we took an afternoon off to do camp chores.
On Wednesday we went back to the original spot and started calling around 6:30 with a temp at 48 degrees. After about an hour I heard a twig snap off to my left. I decided to hit the "hyper estrous" call and waited and listened. After about 10-15 minutes I caught some movement to my right. It was a bull working his way around us but heading off into the woods. Unfortunately for my dad, we were sitting about 15 feet apart but facing different directions, with him having no view of the moose. Having previously discussed this situation (shoot if you see a legal bull), and with a small window, I stood up and shot. At the shot, the bull moved off out of sight but within a few seconds I heard it crash to the ground. We found him quickly. The .338 win mag 250gr core-lokt entered the right shoulder and passed through behind the off shoulder lodging in the hide and was recovered. He's not a giant, probably around 2.5-3.5 years old and about 800 lbs.
With the temp rising we got to work quickly, getting the hind and front quarter off one side before our helped arrived. Four finished quartering the moose, and removed the back straps, tenderloins and neck meat. It took about 2 hours total to get the meat out. All the meat weighed in at 340lbs at the butchers, including legs bones. We are expecting about 275 pounds of steaks, roasts and burgers! We started working on the moose at 8:00 and had it registered and to the butchers by 1:30 on a day that topped out at 80 degrees!
Despite not doing the shooting my father was ecstatic. We had a blast hunting together. Even with the crappy warm weather it was a great week. We finished the week catching some smallmouth and hunting grouse, though the latter were hard to find this year. Because it was my father's permit, he can't apply again for 3 years. I'll keep applying with him as my sub-permittee. I hope to draw one more tag and let him do the shooting next time! 😁
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