On Monday morning – the opening day of the first week of moose season – hunters headed into the woods … stalked their burly prey … and (theoretically) bagged a few animals.

I say “theoretically,” because as an outdoors columnist, one of your jobs on the opening day of moose season is to drive around, find a successful hunter, and generate a story.

Some years, that’s easy. You drive to a tagging station. You see a pickup truck with a massive moose in the back. You say “Hello,” introduce yourself, and end up with a tale to tell.

But sometimes, it’s not that easy (thus, the “theoretically”). Sometimes, you drive around in circles … check the tagging stations … and eventually decide that you may have to chase down the first moose-carrying truck you find and flag down the unsuspecting driver, just to end up with the column you set out to write.

Monday was one of those days. Unfortunately, I never even saw a truck with a moose in it. I never got to chase down a driver and beg for a story. All I got was an opening day wild moose chase.

That, and a fast-food lunch, eaten on the fly … and a couple hundred more miles on my already weary truck.

Simple math, I figure, was working against me (much as it did when I was in school). After all, only 435 permit-holders are allowed to hunt during the first week of the season. Another 2,150 permit-holders hunt in October.

Dave Hanson, the owner of Old Town Trading Post, one of the official moose-tagging stations, felt my pain.

Last year on opening day, he showed up at work at 7 a.m., figuring he’d be up to his eyeballs in moose by 8. I know this because last year, he and I talked about this … and I decided that a trip to Old Town might be a good idea.

And last year, when I stopped by his place at about 8, I found out that the expected stampede of moose hunters had yet to materialize. Instead I headed north, to Medway … then Millinocket … and finally Ashland, where I found the moose I’d write about.

This year, Hanson told me I’d be in luck: A year’s experience had shown him that he wouldn’t be up to his eyeballs in moose until about 11.

So I showed up at 11.

No moose.

At this point, I headed to Medway again … and then over to Springfield … with no moose to show for my efforts.

Then I headed back to Old Town, and found out that I’d missed out on the only moose Hanson had tagged as of 3 p.m.

“Sorry,” he said. “You just missed him.”

Luckily for me, Hanson is good-natured, and found some humor in our situation. And luckily for me, it’s hard to remain frustrated when someone’s laughing with you … not at you.

For the record, I can tell you that the lucky hunter (as far as my unscientific survey is concerned, perhaps the lone lucky hunter in Maine on Monday) was Doug Libby of Old Town. He bagged a 503-pounder. And he probably has an interesting story to tell. After several calls to Libby’s home to find out, all I can surmise is that he’s out … telling his friends the tale I wanted to share with you.

Hanson said the reason hunters weren’t flocking to his store on Monday was simple: The hunting zones that were open on Monday were well north of Old Town.

“We’re the most southerly of all the tagging stations,” he said.

Hunters are advised to tag their game at the nearest tagging station, but Old Town Trading Post’s location – it’s just off Interstate 95 – makes it a convenient tagging spot for hunters looking to head south and get their moose on ice as soon as possible.

During the first week of the moose season, Wildlife Management Zones 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, and 19 are open. If you’re a Wildlife Management Zone junkie, you know what that means.

If you’re not (like the rest of us), just picture this: Up north … they’re moose hunting. Over to the northeast … they’re moose hunting. And everywhere else (even in such moose-y locales as Greenville and Jackman and Millinocket), they’re not. Those hunts take place three weeks from now.

Between now and then, I’m sure I’ll hear a few moose stories … and a few more stories about wild moose chases. I promise I’ll keep you up to date.

Coming up later this week, I’ll take you on an electro-fishing excursion with Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife personnel as they look for more hard evidence of an illegal stocking of northern pike in Pushaw Lake.

Biologist Nels Kramer and I will spend the day on Pushaw today, and I’ll tell you what we find out.

As you may recall, one of the toothy critters was caught in Pushaw a few weeks back, and DIFW officials are understandably concerned.

Also, I’ve got some information on illegal stocking from another longtime DIFW biologist that should clear up confusion on illegal stocking. Paul Johnson’s explanation will tell you exactly why the actions of “bucket-stockers” are ill-conceived in addition to illegal.

In addition, I’ll fill you in on the fund-raising banquet hosted by the Bangor-area chapter of Ducks Unlimited last Thursday night. Thousands of dollars were raised, and Ernie Boynton has checked in with some info I’ll pass along.

Finally, in the days to come, you’ll likely hear about bear hunters … moose hunters … and eventually I’ll share a couple more tales from Grand Lake Stream.

Oh. One more thing. I’ll tell you about a deer that was shot on opening day of the Penobscot Nation’s sustenance hunting season on Saturday. Everybody’s got a “big buck” story, it seems. There’s one woman out there who has a “big doe” tale that you’ll want to hear.

As you can see, my plate’s full, and it may take more than a week to get through the pile of information I’ve accumulated. With that said, if you end up with an interesting moose tale of your own … or anything else I may be interested in, I hope you call. There’s always room for one more good story.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.