Phil from Maine

I never got a moose permit but… I saw a post where a bull moose was hit by a truck if anyone wanted it. It was currently still alive but couldn’t get any officers to dispatch it. So I took a drive around 7 miles from where I live. Yes, the moose was there and still alive but was getting weaker. So I asked the 2 people there if anyone had wanted it and was told no. So I messaged the local warden and asked if I went and got my trailer if I could have it. He said go for it which led for a long night. I got it trailered and had to take it out in my back field to dress it. That was no easy task when I started this at midnight. By 3:00 I had down to my driveway beside the house. I ended up packing the ice to it as our temps are unseasonably warm. This morning I had to message the warden and locate a butcher to take it in. Due to the time of year I found one that’s almost a 100 miles away. So off I went and got it hung in his cooler. The butcher said that’s a big moose you have. I am not sure as he doesn’t have the scales. I estimated it to be between 650 and 700 pounds and he said it is easily that. So without a permit I got one tagged.. I don’t exactly how it was hit but guessing maybe a broken back? It was a trailer truck that had hit it is all I really know and I wasn’t about to let it waste. Our temps to today average between 99 and 100 degrees out.. I am just glad to be getting it taken care of..

Champlain Islander

Hopefully some good eats there Phil

Phil from Maine

Thank you CI and the butcher said that I will be getting a lot of meat of it. So we will see. I had a young fella stop and asked it I wanted him to go get his Kabota to load it for me. He only wanted half of it to do that. I just laughed and said that I was all set..

Champlain Islander

How did you load it? Winch or break it down into pieces?

Phil from Maine

I put a rope on it and another vehicle hooked onto the rope and slid it up on a trailer. Then at home out back I tied the back legs to a tree and drove ahead while using a chain to help keep the front half on the trailed and drove ahead to pull a little better than half off the trailer. Once there I untied the legs and drove out to where I was planning on dressing it out. Once done I used my ATV to haul it back on again.

hunters_life

Hey Phil, Good on ya for not letting the poor guy suffer longer. And if it was only 700 or so pounds, that certainly wasn't a big bull. More like a year and a half max. Average adult bull weighs in at least 1000 pounds in good feeding grounds. Granted thats on the small side in comparison to what Dad always took me for in the Yukon where a 3 year old bull will weigh in around 1300+. Little tip for if you run into another one, pun was not intended there. Quarter it out right there. Much easier to deal with and get hung in a cooler.

Phil from Maine

Thank you hunters life and for a moose here in Maine a moose that’s 700 pounds is an average bull. A 800 to 900 pound bull is a big bull with very few exceptions of one reaching up to 1200 pounds. So it was still a big bull just not as big as those up around Alaska and the like. But yes it’s not going to waste or having someone using it for coyote bait..

Bocajnala

It's hard to beat moose meat.

Glad it's not wasted.

Champlain Islander

Here in Vermont we have a lot of moose and they often post weights after the weigh in at check stations. Like Phil said 700 to 800 pounds is a decent dressed weight for a shooter bull moose in this area. The moose in New Foundland and Quebec seem to run a little heavier but arent as large as the Yukon or Alaskan moose. I used to go watch the weigh in in our North East Kingdom towns and most were brought out of the vast swamps by draft horses dragging them. There were a few horse trailers parked at the check in and when hunters came back they would follow them back to the kill site and use the horses to get the gutted moose back to a road and the awaiting trailer. It was always a fun time to see that by following the horse trailer. In Vermont checked in game has to be whole. In New Foundland the moose were quartered and taken out by Argo or boats. I never hunted them but did hunt 3 times for Woodland Caribou and they often are around 350 pounds dressed and were taken out the same way. After filling my tag I often went out with the outfitter on a retrieval just to be in on the fun. The outfitter also did moose hunts so they always had a few hanging.

Oldtimr

A general rule is the further north you you go the larger the bodies of members of the deer family.