HOULTON – Dave Perry waited nearly 20 years to hunt a moose. When he finally had the chance Monday, the experience already had been tainted by the fact he had won a permit that forbade him to shoot a bull moose. The flavor of the hunt soured further when the cow moose he bagged was weighed at Brown’s Trading Post.

As 12-year-old Britney Wells worked the electronic scale outside her grandparents’ tagging station, it seemed appropriate that the small, dainty hunter should be the one to weigh Perry’s moose. Compared to the others tagged at the store that day, his appeared as diminutive as the seventh-grader.

State biologist Allen Starr estimated that many of the bull moose tagged in Houlton that day weighed between 700 to 900 pounds. Perry’s cow moose checked in at just 327.

“You’re kidding me,” the Belfast man said glancing up. “I’ve shot deer bigger than that.”

For people like Perry, who wait years to get drawn in the moose lottery, which 65,000 Mainers enter annually, the experience is a rare and celebratory event. But for Perry and many of the other 495 people who received antlerless-only permits, being forced to hunt a female moose is not the kind of adventure they envisioned for their first and possibly only moose hunt.

A deer hunter of 50 years, Perry said he’s no trophy hunter. So not going home with a rack was not an issue. The aggravation, he said, was seeing so many bull moose and not being able to take one, and then, after finally seeing a cow within range, having to shoot a quarry half the size of what others killed.

Cow moose are generally smaller than bulls and harder to find and identify.

“You don’t want to talk to me,” Perry said, not unkindly, after tagging his moose. “I wasn’t happy I got a cow permit. We scouted Friday, Saturday and Sunday and saw 16 moose. Everything we saw was a big bull.”

Antlerless-only permits are awarded in the lottery after the allocation of the any-moose permits, those that let a hunter take a bull or a cow. The antlerless-only permits are given in hunting zones where state biologists see a need to cull the moose population.

This year 495 of 3,000 permits were antlerless-only, and 300 of those were allocated in the corridor from Fort Kent to Lincoln and over to the New Brunswick border, near where Perry was hunting.

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife moose biologist Karen Morris said that’s an area where many people have complained about moose-related automobile accidents, so most of the permits requiring hunters to take cow moose were given there.

“If hunters stop being so selective, there would be no need to force people to shoot a cow,” Morris said. “As long as people are very selective, shooting over 80 percent bulls, we need to require people to harvest cows, if we want to reduce the population in some areas.”

For those who lack Perry’s expectations, an antlerless-only permit is a fine introduction to Maine’s moose season.

Charlie Hamel of Gorham put in for a permit just two years before winning an antlerless-only permit this spring. The 14-year-old said he was looking forward to the hunt and was satisfied with his experience after he tagged his moose Monday. It was also the first time Hamel had shot an animal, so he was not fussy about the size of the one he brought home.

At the same time, even a sheer novice like Hamel can relate to Perry’s displeasure.

“There was a huge bull that our guide called in to us,” Hamel said. “He was a keeper. He made me wish I had an any-moose permit.”

Jenni Goodell of Peaks Island was also out hunting big game for the first time Monday, but Goodell had an any-moose permit that allowed her to shoot a bull, and she happily did so, taking one that had a vast 26-point rack.

“My family just bought a camp that had a rack on the wall which the owners took with them,” Goodell said. “There was a little pressure on me to replace it and put something up there.”

Even when Wells, the youthful moose weigher, went hunting her first big-game animal two weeks ago, she held out for a bull moose.

“I didn’t want to take a cow or a calf,” she said. “It wouldn’t be no good to me. I wanted something I could mount.”

Raymond Poole of South Bristol tagged his cow moose Monday in Houlton with little enthusiasm. Poole said his antlerless-only permit made it difficult to hunt because cow moose are hard to locate.

DIF&W biologist Allen Starr said that during mating season, bull moose are moving more, and they can be cajoled in with a moose call, because they are looking to compete for cows. He said this cannot be done with cows.

But Starr said a great benefit in hunting cow moose is that their meat is more tender.

Mark Swain, who was helping Andrew Chase of Kingfield hunt his bull moose Monday, said that’s true. Swain has eaten 800-pound bulls and a year-old cow, and he said the female moose tasted better.

“You could cut her with a fork,” Swain said. “And she was better as far as flavor. The bull was so strong. It was wicked tough.”

But for the seasoned hunter out for the thrill of the hunt, a small cow moose amounts to little more than a disappointment.

As Perry left the tagging station Monday, he tried to forget his misfortune and focus on the bird hunting he would do before driving back to Belfast. But before heading off, he looked at the state biologist and voiced his disappointment one last time.

“Do you get to hunt again next year if your moose is under 400 [pounds]?” he asked.

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.