The first wave of moose hunters will head into the woods on Monday in what has become one of the state’s most popular hunts.
In all, 1,050 permit holders — along with their designated “subpermittees,” or co-hunters — are permitted to hunt during the first six-day session of the season.
The state’s head moose biologist, Lee Kantar of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said he expects hunters to enjoy their experiences. One key reason: The first week of the season regularly coincides with peak activity of “the rut,” or mating season.
Hunters who like to set up and call moose are apt to have their best success with that activity during the state’s first hunting session.
“September is clearly a world-class [moose-hunting] opportunity,” he said. “Next week is going to be unbelievable for calling, because it’s right in the rut … so next week you’ll be out there in northern Maine and have an opportunity to call in a big bull.”
The breakdown of this year’s hunting sessions, with Kantar’s synopsis on what sets that particular season apart, is as follows:
— Sept. 22-27: 1,050 bull permits in eight Wildlife Management Districts in northern and northeastern Maine.
Kantar’s take: “September is a world-class bull hunt. … We would like to open up additional management zones in September … [in order to] increase the opportunity for people to experience a September bull hunt in districts that didn’t have that before.”
— Oct. 13-18: 1,290 bull permits, 125 antlerless permits, in 19 Wildlife Management Districts covering the northern two-thirds of the state.
Kantar’s take: “A good portion of cows have been bred by that point, but there’s still some opportunity to do some calling and have some cows that are receptive as well. You may have a different advantage because all of the leaves are off the trees. And you get to bird hunt. It’s got pluses as well.”
— Nov. 3-8: 500 antlerless permits in five Wildlife Management Districts.
Kantar’s take: “November is really a cow hunt in limited areas. These are some areas where, based on our [management] goals and objectives, we can still harvest some level of cows.”
— Nov. 3-29, including Nov. 1 for Maine residents: 130 any-moose permits in six Wildlife Management Districts farther south than moose hunting normally takes place.
Kantar’s take: “There’s a very low density of moose [in these districts] and very challenging places to hunt. But there is a limited amount of any-moose permits for those areas.”
DIF&W biologists will continue their research into winter ticks and their role in moose mortality, and they will conduct sampling of moose during the October and November seasons to determine how many ticks are on each moose that biologists see at tagging stations. That research began in 2006; winter ticks are thought to compromise a moose’s ability to survive during harsh winters.
“We’ve always [studied the moose in] October because ultimately you want to do it as late in the fall as possible because that’s when those ticks are questing and looking for moose,” Kantar said.
At tagging stations across the northern tier of the state, crowds of people will show up on Monday — and throughout the week — to watch as moose are tagged and weighed.
Kantar took part in a limited “controlled hunt” last week, during which 25 disabled veterans tried to fill their tags.
Those moose proved popular, even though they arrived at tagging stations a week earlier than many people anticipated.
“We brought some moose into Ben’s Trading Post [in Presque Isle], and just one moose coming in starts to draw a crowd pretty quickly,” Kantar said. “There’s something awesome about moose when they come in [to tagging stations]. It’s a sight to see.”
Kantar said he feels that same sense of awe when he sees a moose out in the woods, on the hoof.
“We’re lucky to live in a state that’s got so many moose,” he said.
Kantar emphasized that the DIF&W has again included information on its web page about field-dressing and quartering moose in the field.
Many hunters like to bring the entire field-dressed moose to the tagging station, but Kantar said quartering the animals in the field is often the best option.
“It would be nice to see people work on quartering moose, especially on those hot days, and doing everything they possibly can to get that moose cooled down and salvage all that meat,” Kantar said. “The onus is on the hunter.”
Moose meat can start to spoil rapidly, he said, and choosing to quarter the moose can make an enormous difference.
“It’s critical,” he said. “We’re talking about temperatures above 50 degrees [being too warm to expect meat not to spoil]. I’d be very cautious of temperatures between 40 and 50. You’ve got an animal that, inside, is 101 degrees. … It’s got to be opened up, and that hide’s got to come off, and that animal and that meat’s got to be cooled down.”
