Originally published on Sept. 29, 1980, following the completion of Maine’s first modern moose hunt.
Seven hundred resident hunters and another 700 permittees (39 of the latter being out-of-staters invited through possessors of Maine hunting licenses), ended a rather historic moose hunt Saturday afternoon after culling 635 moose from a population estimated to number somewhere in the range of 18,000 to 22,000 animals.
The tightly supervised hunt was the first for Maine since 1935, some 45 years past. It marked the initial chase in 91 years that allowed the legal taking of moose in either sex — bulls, cows and calves.
Hunters downed 292 of the animals, considered the largest big game species on the North American continent, in an area compacted within a 50-mile radius of Greenville.
Prime hunting grounds attendant to Greenville, one of six weighing and scientific study stations, included Lily Bay, Spencer Bay, Kokadjo, Larry Tom Bog, Smithtown, Bowdoin land grants and others.
Next in line to Greenville was the station at Medway.
Hunters paraded 162 moose into the checkpoint for registration, weighing and post-mortem study by teams of wildlife biologists.
Ashland, Jackman, Littleton, Eagle Lake checkpoints provided the remaining carcasses number, finally, 635 after six hunting days.
No fewer than 10 moose bested the magic 1,000-pound field-dressed marker.
Saturday, two fisheries biologists, Roger Auclair and Kendall Warner, Orono, returned after a week’s hunt in the Baker Lake region with a 1,000-pounder and registered the kill at Greenville.
Auclair’s bull weighed 1,065 quartered, minus innards and tongue. It was a 21 pointer (prongs one inch and more) and marked the 10th bull in the six days over the 1,000-pound figure, field dressed.
At least two hunters succeeded in bettering Maine’s antler record of 57 1/8 inches. This figure has held since 1895 but was beaten at least twice last week, once by John Cobb of Ashland and Robert Simmons, Washburn.
Cobb cropped a bull with a spread of 63½ inches in Ashland, while Simmons traveled from his Aroostook home to Kokadjo and nailed a giant male with a 63-inch rack.
So Sunday, some 24 hours after the state’s widely publicized moose hunt, wildlife technicians were modestly proclaiming that the weeks’ experimental season put no less than 200 tons of quality meat on the tables of no fewer than 10,000 Maine residents.
It’s accepted that several thousand hard-pressed Maine families gained from an estimated 415,000 pounds of meat that came from the 635 animals shot on Maine soil.
Wildlife researchers made a determination of 415,000 pounds of meat after spot-checking weights of 20 moose in a single registration book.
The 20 moose — bulls, cows and a yearling — averaged 664 pounds each. Multiplied by 635, students of math will come up with 210-plus tons of first-class tablefare.
One hunter with a 630-pound cow went out of his way last week to seek out Glenn H. Manuel, the fisheries and wildlife commissioner.
He told Manuel, “Commissioner, I want to thank you for this. It was an experience I never figured on getting. I got laid off a month ago and this meat will help keep my family through the winter.”
Off last week’s observation, although hunting is one of man’s oldest pastimes, the sport is in trouble.
There is a strong, well-financed movement in existence, whose sole aim is to outlaw hunting and, to achieve this end, its leaders are more than willing to slant the facts to suit their purpose.
The 700 State o’ Mainers got their permits through a public drawing and then were wrongly depicted by the Bullwinkle Media as everything from latent psychotics to individuals who have not grown up and the sole reason for hunting is to prove their masculinity.
The attacks came via newspaper, radio, television, smug intellectuals, town managers, ministers, housewives and, most dangerous of all, misled schoolchildren.
The hunt ended Saturday, but bet that you have not heard the last of it.
Last week’s experience, a matter of 700 law-abiding citizens and an invited guest, was offered as a unique and unusual experience — hunting America’s biggest game animal for a pittance with respect to a cash outlay. They were as Maine residents privileged and accorded a $2,000 hunting experience for less than $50.
But, unfortunately, there is growing evidence a small segment of our society seems to be out of touch with the basic rules of survival, forgetting animals must die to provide steaks and chicken legs for the barbecue.
The ones who protest and call last week’s hunt a “slaughter,” take their meat wrapped in cellophane; the squeals of pain, fear, blood and guts are far away, hidden in the abattoir.
No one who eats meat has a right to criticize the 635 who filled their permits last week.
A bullet through the heart of a 600- to 1,000-pound moose is, I assure you, as merciful as abattoir slaughtering techniques.