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Stalking the Maine Moose

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In the tradition of including a guest artist from time to time, this is an early Calli mixed media collage.
(click to enlarge)

In the tradition of including a guest artist from time to time, this is an early Calli mixed media collage.

Google Places and Platypie

Pursuit of the Moose

September 26, 2013

Pursuit of the MooseMuch as I have enjoyed the moose-burgers, moose steaks and moose sausage that Fred the Foodie at the hatchery has been gracious enough to share with us, I have been longing for a real live moose. True, a head with at least a 50” antler spread hangs over our office door, but it doesn't really count as a moose. Its a deadhead.

Gift shops, bookstores and visitor centers in and around Acadia abound with gorgeous moose photographs, calendars and postcards, but in truth moose really do not inhabit this area. They especially don’t stand around close to the road in shimmering pools of water as their publicists would have me believe.

So, determined to see a moose we hired a guide in Greenville, Maine and drove up to the north-woods into the Moosehead Lake Region... sounds promising doesn’t it? At 5:30 Saturday morning our guide, Mark Patterson (Lone Wolf Guiding Services), bearing travel mugs of steaming coffee, picked us up for the hunt. 

We headed north into a red morning, but took no warning.

Within the hour we had spotted our first moose...two actually. It was rutting season so a large bull was hunkering along after a cow. They were at least 200 yards away but we were able to get a few photographs. Easy, peasy... we’ll do much better with the next moose.

Pursuit of the Moose

And so for the next four hours we bounced along old logging roads, planning to capture fabulous moose pictures.

There were frequent stops, as we searched from field to woods. Each time we quietly pulled over, Mark would slip out of the truck and give his quite credible, horny female moose calls and grunts. (In my moose imagination, I could feel the hairs raising all along my spine.)

Switching to moose bull mode, Mark would beat the bushes with an oar meant to simulate a moose’s antlers woking its way through the brush. He was prepared to assume a submission posture with his oar/antler if a moose came within 50 yards. Holding our cameras at the ready we stayed behind him blending our human silhouettes with the truck.

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At one point, we canoed around a remote pond in the still early morning light, hoping for a glorious sighting of a moose looking into the light, with lily pad roots dangling from his mouth.

A beautiful morning’s hunt, but alas, more moose were not to be. (And all the while in my head, that old Mason William chestnut, Moose Goosers, was bombing my brain.!)


1 Go ahead, listen and try to get it out of your brain. Mason Williams, Moose Goosers.

Does this mean the moose in the office is a fanatic fan of a 70’s rock band?

Bob and Jimmy

As I recall, very popular during the fifties and early sixties

Bucky

Have fun with looking for moose. That is one of the last things I would want to do.

I did not know that they ate moose meat. There are a lot of things I do not know. I grew up so long ago that things were different then. I grew  up during the great depression. I can tell you all about that.

Enjoy your selves and remember where I live.

Luv Mom

Be verrry careful goosin' those Mooses. :>)

Don

The photos are terrific, and I am so happy to have met you and suggested Mark Patterson for your Moose Safari around Moosehead Lake, Maine. It has been a pleasure to have met you and helped you in your quest.

Sheila Kelley Glavine
FIORE Olive Oils & Balsamic Vinegars
Bar Harbor, Maine

We saw several female moose in Alaska but nary a guy - will send a pic of a lady munching grass by the highway - I did not know (hate to be so ignorant) that moose and deer shed their antlers every year and grow a new better set - so there have to be a lot of antlers hanging around the wilds?

Cindy

Cool!

Ilo-Mai

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