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MHF US Northeast => Hunting Maine => Topic started by: Darby on Jun 30, 2021, 08:31:46 AM
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Well, one of my friends didn't check the Bull Only, like I suggested, and he has been drawn for the 4AS Adaptive Hunt. Zone 4 is my favorite Zone, and have hunted there since the mid 1990's. Unfortunately, I usually hunt the East portion of the zone. I understand what IF&W is trying to accomplish, and I hope it is effective. That said, there are going to be 75 hunters in a 500 sq mile area on the adaptive hunt, and another 100 cow hunters that can go anywhere in Zone 4 that week. I would hope that the 100 would not hunt in the designated Adaptive area, I'd avoid it like the plague. I fear that the ones that do hunt that small area by choice, will have no idea what they are doing. State is discouraging "Road Hunting", but I have a feeling that if two trucks come to a moose on a corner, it could be a "Duck or bleed situation." :-\ I'm not a shooter this time, but will be "guiding" for my two friends. I'm 10 for 10 on moose hunts (8 as a shooter) so hoping for 11 in a row. Good luck moose hunters
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I’d rather not get picked then pull a Cow tag, prob why I’m still trying and am racking up those bonus points. I need a September Bull or I’m not going. To each there own. I’ve still been on many
Be nice if the bulls still stayed roadside for extraction purposes. Only kidding it’s more fun that They push further back every year. Now it seems like it’s always the 3 clear cuts back from the one at the road etc.
I should put in for 7 and 9 for trade purposes. Huge racks just don’t want to deal with the people. 1-5 are more my style
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I WILL put a 50” or bigger down when I pull a tag
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Being a new Hampshire hunter I've been drawn twice so far just a question what is the adaptive hunt? i used to put in for Maine 20 years ago but never heard of an adaptive hunt.
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Being a new Hampshire hunter I've been drawn twice so far just a question what is the adaptive hunt? i used to put in for Maine 20 years ago but never heard of an adaptive hunt.
In a nutshell it’s like a big zoned off area to see if taking out more moose will help flatten the curve of winter Tick kill off etc. it’s just a more managed area of a moose hunt for the Builigists to attempt to gain more info
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It will be interesting to see how the results pan out in a few years.
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In a nutshell it’s like a big zoned off area to see if taking out more moose will help flatten the curve of winter Tick kill off etc. it’s just a more managed area of a moose hunt for the Builigists to attempt to gain more info
Sorry was on vacation thanks for the info sounds pretty lame to me!!
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Neither of the shooters have ever shot a moose, so they're pretty stoked. Hopefully I can find a small area scouting in September and October, and end it quick. I've done the end of October cow hunt twice, and I know for sure we'll be shooting the first one we see. Good luck everybody
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Maine DIF&W... I'm old enough to remember when this group attempted to reintroduce Caribou into Northern Maine. They harass bears when they're in their den for the winter. Even started a partridge study as of late. If they don't spend the monies allocated to them, they won't receive as much the following year.
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If I remember correctly, didn't a bunch of the Caribou die on the boat being shipped down, and then the rest of them walked back to Canada🤦♂️. I ice fish a lot up North, and I have seen moose that are ravaged with winter tick. Probably should have put one out of it's misery coming back from Ross, but was too worried about warden or judge saying I didn't know what I was doing. Only time will tell if this plan works. Either that or we bring back DDT......Kidding of course
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Just found out that another friend of mine has a regular cow hunt in Zone 4 that week, so my camp will have 2 sets of hunters for a total of 8-10 people. A kid could do pretty well on a bottle drive at the end of the week ;D Hopefully I'll have plenty to report after the trip
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Nice! Always fun at Moose camp!
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That will be a fun time !
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Well, we're headed to camp in an hour to hunt/scout Saturday. Very nervous about the amount of hunters in such a small area. 75 restricted to 4A South, and another 100 that can be anywhere in Zone 4. I really hope someone doesn't make the news with a close call, or God forbid an actual hit. I think the State should have made the Adaptive Hunt it's own week, but what do I know. Good luck to everyone, and be safe. Crap service at cmp, but hopefully a load of pics after the hunt
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Good luck and be safe…
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Good luck stay safe hopefully you get a monster!!
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Agreed, too many people.
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That was a very, very long week. For the first 5 days, we had seen zero moose, except 2 traveling in the dark. We had a 2 hour ride from camp to the zone. Saturday at legal hunt, I picked one out of the woods, but the guys couldn't get a shot. WAY to dark since we were so far west, and the book times are based on Bangor for legal hunt. Came back through an hour later, and she was 85 yards in the woods. Permittee could only see her forehead and let it fly. Dropped her in her tracks with an amazing shot through the brush! Great way to end a difficult hunt. That makes me 11 for 11 as a shooter or "guide" on moose hunts. Comments about the actual hunt after pics
(https://i.postimg.cc/9zC1qLMw/20211026-130255.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/9zC1qLMw)
(https://i.postimg.cc/fkCC7Yt2/20211028-204522.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/fkCC7Yt2)
The birds were out finally, and we had a few for breakfast every day
(https://i.postimg.cc/SjgLYq3H/20211029-123359.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/SjgLYq3H) this guy wasn't scared of us at all. This one really shows how accurate the shot was through the brush
(https://i.postimg.cc/PvJwQp99/20211027-162431.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/PvJwQp99)
(https://i.postimg.cc/cK6GZsqZ/Screenshot-20211101-104050-Messages.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/cK6GZsqZ)
A guy stopped to give us a hand, and took a group phot
(https://i.postimg.cc/k2XkFng8/Screenshot-20211101-104127-Messages.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/k2XkFng8)
And then the real work began
(https://i.postimg.cc/Js2dNZgV/Screenshot-20211101-111221-Messages.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Js2dNZgV)
Glad we got one, so this doesn't sound like I'm bashing the adaptive hunt. There always used to be a week in between hunts. Now you have the 2nd week that's mixes cow and bull o er the State, immediately followed by 3 adaptive hunts in a row. I can't tell you how many people we saw hadn't seen a moose in 5 days. They're not very smart animals, but that small of an area means a lot of traffic. I feel really bad for the people that started today. Luckily, I didn't hear of any close calls. Ran into 2 groups that could hunt anywhere in Zone 4, but were in 4A South. Nice guys, but had no idea the amount of hunters in that area. Hopefully they took my advice and recommendations on where to go. Anyway, I hope the State's plan works. She dressed at 512lbs, so guessing a 2 1/2 year old. Tenderloin was fantastic. Now to find a deer. Good luck everyone.
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Nice successful hunt. Congratulations to all..👍
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Nice job!! Congrats!
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Great job!! Nice write up looks like you had some fun. Good luck in the search for whitetails.
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Way to get it done looks like it was a fun time. Sounds like shes going to be good eating
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Way to keep at it! Congrats to all involved and thanks for the pics. I get what you’re saying. I only put in for September season zone 1,2,5 myself
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Congratulations. It was an interesting hunt for sure.
I also drew a 4A north tag for the first week. Killed the 8th moose we saw (Wednesday AM). We saw calves, cows, and bulls including one absolute giant any-day any-season any-zone bull. We tagged her at Thorofare Brook late Wednesday afternoon and were #2 for the week. When I stopped in Saturday on the way out, there were 3 total and two very bored biologists.
I'll give you my thoughts.
As you know, we were required to take a mandatory class from IF&W. It is my humble opinion that IF&W overstated a number of things BUT there were a few nuggets of truth. 1) treat this like a deer hunt and 2) you might be sadly disappointed if you wanted to road hunt. They also thought that it might be a good idea to keep party size down. Apparently many did not heed IF&W's suggestions.
Not sure if you took the class but the comments from permitees in general were moronic and asinine. It got to the point where one person wrote that "if this is the quality of the hunter going into the zone, he'd decline the tag." It was unbelievable and honestly embarrassing as a hunter. He wasn't wrong and it is no real big surprise that half of the clowns had issues. We saw it the first week. Guides road hunting at 5 MPH and not letting anyone pass, old couples in mini-vans, people complaining about no moose.
The area of the north zone we hunted was interesting. Not a lot of roads and what was there was one road in and one road out. I'll tell you how we did it. Walked 8-10 miles a day, got off the road, and worked fairly hard. Had a quality hunt and stayed completely out of the shitshow known as roadhunting. Granted we did not have to contend with the entire zone being open or a large number of extra permits.
I personally wouldn't do that hunt again but you could have a decent time and see moose if you think outside of the box.
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Great post JDK, great insight
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JDK, you make some very good points. We did walk some during the day, with a small group of 3. Saw some sign, but nothing real fresh. I have been on several moose hunts, and the last thing I wanted was to shoot a moose 2 miles from access, and have to quarter it up and carry it 2 miles. 2 years ago, we got a 681lb cow. That would be a nightmare, and probably half of a daymare, to get her out. Last year our bull (estimated at 650) ran downhill through typical North brush/thick stuff about 450 yards. 3 of us, including a 17 year old girl, spent 7 hours in a monsoon, blew up one winch, one battery, and had to carry it uphill in 5 pieces. I know it can be done, I'm not that guy. I agree with you, that there are people that just shouldn't be out there, and a guide should definitely have better etiquette. I've enjoyed road hunting for 30 years, and probably always will. There used to be a lot less people, but that's life. I really enjoy it up there in November. WAY less people, with the moose and bird hunters being gone.
I agree that I would never sign up for that hunt. After this year, IF&W may find it difficult to get people to sign up for this hunt. Those that do, probably won't have the experience, or will, to hunt like it's a deer hunt. Personally, I like calling in bulls, even if it's just for fun. Congrats on your hunt JDK
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I have no issue with people hunting the way they wanted to hunt. The portion of the zone we hunted was not real condusive to road hunting. I spoke with one guy who hunted the way we did and he also had no issues seeing or killing a moose.
Our moose came out in pieces. Shot at 8:50AM and everything loaded in the truck by noon. Alaska game bags were well worth the money.
I have to laugh, IF&W wants you to find lima bean sized ovaries but apparently don't trust you to pull a tooth. Bringing the head out was the biggest pain in the arse of the whole operation.
I do think that IF&W is overstating the moose population in that area.
added in edit
We had a good time. I was able to hunt with my brother, we told stories, ate like kings, killed a boatload of birds after the moose, and generally unwound.
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The Moose themselves have changed habits in the last 30 years as well, they know not to stay on the roads anymore, specifically Bulls. It’s a different game now that they have been educated in us as predators over the last 30 years. Before that they knew it wasn’t a danger.
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Besides it hurts like hell getting hit by a silverado!! ;D
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A fellow GM owner, good man!
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We had a zone 3 cow last week and got this one Tuesday afternoon:
(https://i.postimg.cc/TpKYb96K/BAA80-C15-905-B-4-D27-855-A-7-DD768-FBEB39.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/TpKYb96K)
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Nice job teampar... Thats some good eating ....
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Congrats!
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congratulations good looking cow!!
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Congrats, never hunted zone 3