Monday marked the opening day of the bull-only moose hunt season in Maine, which runs through Saturday.
For many hunters, this highly anticipated opportunity is years in the making, and several were fortunate to claim success on the very first day.
One of the first to bag a moose was Caleb Lewis, who guided his father Jonathan and brother Jared in Zone 1. Within just 30 minutes of the season’s opening, Jonathan and Jared shot a bull with distinctive palmation. This was his brother’s first moose, and his father’s second. Lewis suspects the moose, which had a missing eye, had likely been injured in a fight with another bull earlier in the month.
The successful hunt took place in a remote area, deep in an old harvest near the edge of a bog. Despite being 500 yards from the nearest road, the group spent roughly five and a half hours quartering and packing out the moose, hauling it through blowndowns and slash all the way back to their truck.
Also taking advantage of the opening day was Wyatt McCarthy, who called in his bull from just 25 yards away at 6:30 a.m. McCarthy, a first-time permit holder, had previously hunted as a subpermittee.
His moose, taken in Zone 11, had a 44-inch antler spread and weighed 941 pounds. He was joined by his father, Kirby, who acted as his subpermittee, as well as his cousin Russ Linscott, girlfriend Sarah Thornton, and mother Babetta.
In Zone 6, Taylor Smith also had a successful hunt, shooting a bull with a 47-inch spread and weighing 813 pounds. Smith was guided by Lance Garrish of North Country Lodge in Patten.