Moose were at the top of our list years ago when we were looking for a piece of land on which to build a camp. We knew moose were in northern Maine, but until our first road trip to Western Maine, we weren't sure what to expect. Since then, we have seen dozens of moose right from our deck; a cow, calf and young bull in love provided us a "National Geographic Moment" one evening. Another day, a browsing bull moose was chased by an eager yearling who was likely recently abandoned by his mother and starving for companionship. One fall, we were fortunate to see a large, antlered, bull moose with four lovely ladies on one side of our field, and a smaller bull on the other side, keeping his distance. These encounters all occurred just below our deck. We also had a young bull ambling out of the woods to the salt lick, at the same time every evening, so often that he earned the name, "Five-o'clock Charlie". Another episode included two bulls competing for the salt lick, by approaching each other with heads swinging side to side. This affair ended peacefully with the smaller bull disappearing quietly into the brush.
We've seen moose many more times, both driving on the pavement and on our ATVs and snowmobiles, and also hiking. As a matter of fact, our favorite hobby of shed hunting began with a hike that stumbled upon two large shed moose antlers (a matched set), found about 100 yards apart. This particular area, located up high between two mountains, yielded us many, many antler sheds over the years. See related blog on antler hunting.
