If it were possible to order a day such as Monday served up for the opening of Maine’s moose hunt, the cost would be prohibitive.

At 6:30, dawn was peeking from beneath a blanket of blue-gray clouds as I arrived at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Greenville office on the shore of Moosehead Lake. At the float-plane dock near the Stobie Hangar, which serves as a checking station during the annual one-week hunt, warden-pilot Alan Rider was preparing his float plane for a patrol over the Chamberlain Lake country. Regretfully, because of time constraints, I had to decline Rider’s offer to accompany him for a bird’s-eye view of the hunt.

In the office, game wardens and wildlife biologists were busy making ready for the day’s activities. Warden-Lt. Pat Dorian, recently appointed supervisor of Division D, explained that a checking station would be in place at Kokadjo for the first time this year.

“It’ll take some pressure off this station and eliminate a lot of traffic,” said Dorian. He also said Warden-Sgt. Pat Devlin, newly appointed to Division D, and Warden Don Annis would conduct road checks at the Kokadjo station.

Shortly thereafter, Bob Tufts of Stockton Springs, a member of the legislative Fisheries and Wildlife Committee’s Task Force, arrived. He and several other members, including Katie Damren of Belgrade and John Rosebush of Millinocket would, guided by representatives of Bowater-Great Northern Paper Inc., visit several of the company’s fisheries and wildlife management areas.

Speaking of fisheries, I don’t know if fisheries biologists Paul Johnson and Scott Roy were in a hurry to get to work or to vacate the office area, which would soon would be busier than the midway at a state fair.

It didn’t take long. The first moose checked at the Greenville station arrived at 7:45 a.m. The 850-pound bull was shot in the Katahdin Iron Works area by Francis Hardy of Deer Isle, who was hunting as subpermittee with his father, Ralph Hardy. The prime bull was on a clear cut at a distance of about 60 yards when the young hunter dropped it with a shot from his scope-sighted .30-06.

Since the average time to get a moose off a clear cut is two hours, and legal shooting time was 6:08, I asked the hunters how they managed to bring the moose in so quickly.

“No problem at all,” said the senior Hardy. “There was a trail almost to it. We just got into the truck and drove out and loaded it on.” This marks the second time the Hardy freezer will be filled with moose meat. Ralph Hardy tagged a moose a few years ago.

Allowing that it would be awhile before other moose arrived, I accompanied Paul Reynolds, the DIFW’s director of public information, to the Kokadjo checking station.

There, an “ol’ swamper” shot near First Roach Pond by Scott Stearns of Vassalboro was being weighed and checked by department biologists. The 966-pound bull with an antler spread of 61 1/2 inches was about 100 yards away when, at 6:30 or thereabouts, Stearns centered it in the scope sight of his .270 Remington.

He was hunting as subpermittee with his wife Deanna, whose name was drawn in the moose lottery. It was their first moose hunt and a memorable one, for sure.

Another husband-wife team registering a moose at Kokadjo was Colin and Maxine Smith of Trenton. As a first-time permittee, Mrs. Smith appointed her husband subpermittee hunting partner and official gun. Opening day was scarcely more than seven hours old when, while hunting near Number 4 Mountain in Frenchtown Twp., he dropped a 458-pound cow moose.

No sooner were that critter’s weight and measurements recorded when young Christopher Plummer of East Corinth and his subpermittee father, Philip, showed up towing a heavyweight contender that weighed in at 961 pounds. As you might imagine, it was the younger of the two who tagged the bull after dropping it with two shots from his .30-06.

By late morning there wasn’t a wisp of cloud in the cerulean canopy of sky and an inferno of foliage was raging through the hardwooded hills. When Reynolds and I arrived back at the Greenville checking station, cars owned by onlookers were lined along the main drag all the way to Blair Hill and successful moose hunters were arriving in a steady stream.

If the weather on opening day of Maine’s moose hunt had a fault, it could only be that it was too good, warm and festive. But I didn’t hear anyone complaining about it.

1995 moose tally

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Total

Greenville (Bulls) 55

(Cows) 5 60

Kokadjo (Bulls) 38

(Cows) 6 44

Ashland (Bulls) 37

(Cows) 9 46

Houlton (Bulls) 12

(Cows) 1 13

Eagle Lake (Bulls) 15

(Cows) 4 19

Medway (Bulls) 32

(Cows) 5 37

Enfield (Bulls) 8

(Cows) 4 12

Wesley (Bulls) 9

(Cows) 1 10

Is. Falls (Bulls) 6

(Cows) 3 9

Solon (Bulls) 29

(Cows) 2 31

Eustis (Bulls) 23

(Cows) 3 26

Rangely (Bulls) 13

(Cows) 6 19

Jackman (Bulls) 27

(Cows) 3 30

Total (Bulls) 304

(Cows) 52 358

Overall Total 356