Planning put to test as moose hunt opens

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The months of planning are finally over for 1,120 lucky hunters, and this weekend many of them will begin heading to hunting camps in hopes of bagging a moose. In October, another 1,705 permit-holders will head out for their own special session.

Yes, it’s moose season again.

For several years, I have eagerly awaited this season’s arrival for a simple reason: When you’re a writer assigned to cover the opening day of moose season, you’re sure to find plenty of interesting stories to share.

This year, at least one of those stories will be my own.

In June, my name popped out of the electronic hopper during the moose-permit lottery, and since then I’ve done everything I can to get ready.

Mostly, that means just one thing: I asked questions. All kinds of questions. And (hopefully) I listened to those of you who shared your advice.

People like Mark Kingsbury, who my hunting party will be staying with during our adventure in Wildlife Management District 4.

People like Game Warden Jim Fahey, who gave me several tips, including this one: Don’t even think of missing out on the opening hour of legal hunting time each day.

And people like Peter Brown, one of the founders of Extreme Dimensions Wildlife Calls in Hampden, who told me he thought one of his digital moose calls might help us in our quest to lure a big bull.

On Sunday morning, my hunting party (which, I found, continued to grow even after I thought it had reached maximum capacity) will head out for the Golden Road. On Monday, we’ll be out there.

You may not hear much from me in the week to come. But in a week, I’ll be back … with a story to tell.

Maybe that story will involve a big bull. Maybe not. But I can assure you this: With the hunting party I’ve assembled, we’re sure to eat well, laugh a lot, and have a fantastic time in the Maine woods.

I’m looking forward to taking you there when I return.

Moose droppings …

Roland “Danny” Martin, the commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, calls it “the hunt of a lifetime for those lucky enough to get a permit.”

None of the moose hunters who’ll head into the woods on Monday morning will likely disagree with that assessment. Many of those hunters have been applying for permits for years, and many more have applied every year since the lottery began and have never been lucky enough to go on a hunt.

Here are a few tidbits – moose droppings, if you will – about the yearly hunt, culled from DIF&W publications:

. Maine’s modern moose hunt began in 1980, with a one-year experimental season. After a one-year hiatus in 1981, the hunt returned in 1982 and has been held every year since.

. Maine wildlife biologists estimate the state’s moose herd at 29,000.

. There are two separate hunting seasons for moose in Maine. The first runs from Sept. 25-30, and the second from Oct. 9-14. The 2,825 permit-holders are assigned one of the seasons, a Wildlife Management District they are allowed to hunt, and are told whether they can shoot a bull or an antler-less moose. There are 1,120 permits (960 for bulls, 160 for antler-less moose) for the September season and 1,705 (1,125 bulls, 580 antler-less) permits for the October session.

. Permits for the September season put hunters in eight Wildlife Management Districts in northern and eastern Maine. The October hunt is more widespread, with 19 WMDs across the northern two-thirds of the state open.

. In order to receive one of those permits, you had to be lucky. 65,181 people applied for those licenses, including 18,268 non-residents.

. When the hunt began, hunters were limited when it came to tagging their moose. Nowadays, tagging is much more convenient, as many more tagging stations have come on board.

In all, there are 36 tagging stations. Spectators often flock to some of those locations to see the moose and hear the stories of hunters. An important note: The popular Greenville station is only open during the October season.

Of the 36 tagging locations, 18 are equipped with scales to weigh the moose as they arrive.

. The state provides hunters with an estimate of how much meat they can expect from their moose.

According to the DIF&W, if there’s no loss from bullet damage, spoilage, dirty meat, and experienced butchers do the cutting, an 850-pound moose will provide about 455 pounds of meat, including a whopping 196 pounds of mooseburger.

Another moose hunt reminder

I mentioned this travel advisory in Thursday’s column, but think it’s important enough to announce again to make sure as many hunters as possible avoid a potentially frustrating situation.

If you’re one of the lucky moose hunters heading north this weekend to begin your adventure, you’ll want to make sure your trip doesn’t include crossing the Umsaskis-Long Lake Thoroughfare on the American Realty Road.

That bridge is under repair, and won’t be passable, according to Albro Cowperthwaite, the executive director of North Maine Woods Inc.

All is not lost, however: Cowperthwaite says access to Wildlife Management Districts 1 and 4 is still available via Churchill Dam or Henderson Brook Bridge.

Have a great hunt, and let me know how your adventures turned out!

Salmon season continues

One of the most encouraging things about the experimental Atlantic salmon season that is being conducted on the Penobscot River is that it seems to be drawing a lot of attention.

And not all of that attention is coming from those who are actually participating.

On Wednesday evening, I stopped by the Eddington pool to see if anyone was having luck, and ended up having a nice conversation with t a couple from Massachusetts.

The couple are avid salmon anglers, but didn’t come to Eddington to fish. Instead, they were on their way to Nova Scotia for a fishing adventure on the Margaree River.

But since they were in the neighborhood, they decided to stop by the Penobscot and see how things were going.

The husband told me that he’d actually bought a two-handed spey rod back in 1999, just so that he could use it when he headed to Bangor to fish the Penobscot.

As you may recall, later in 1999 all of Maine’s salmon rivers were closed to fishing, and the man told me he was still looking forward to wetting a line in the Penobscot with the spey rod.

Another angler we chatted with that evening was a young medical student who admitted to feeling a bit guilty about fishing that afternoon.

His six-month rotation at Eastern Maine Medical Center was ending later this week, and he was due back in Boston to take end-of-rotation exams that he should have been studying for, he said.

That didn’t stop him from picking his way down the rocky embankment and wading into the cool waters of the Penobscot, of course.

Can’t say that I blame him.

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