“More people come to view live moose than to hunt them.” says Chris Young, 47, owner of Young’s Guide Service of Moosehead Lake.
Chris Young drives north at 5 a.m. seeking moose. “They don’t think like other animals, they don’t act like other animals, they don’t look like other animals. They look like an animal that’s made up of multiple other animals. They’re just their own unique thing.”Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Now is the best time to see moose. It’s breeding (rut) season and the foliage is ablaze. Bullwinkle has one thing on his mind, and it’s not posing for photographers . . .
A great moose caller can lure a moose out of the deep woods and into focus, with a promise he obviously can’t deliver.
Young’s fascination with Maine’s official state animal began when he was 4 years old, when a giant bull moose stood tall, blocking the road.
“How is there an animal so big that they can keep my dad from driving down the road in a big truck?” he recalls wondering. “And I was hooked. All I wanted to do was go look for moose.”
He won the Maine Moose Calling Championship in 2013 when his friends entered him without his knowledge.
A bull moose wanders away from the other moose after answering grunts from Young.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Young mimics a cow moose in an attempt to call a bull.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Greenville, located on the southern banks of Moosehead Lake, is the state’s unofficial moose capital. The local Chamber of Commerce once claimed it had three moose for every person. Tourists come from all over the country and pile into vans for 3 1/2 hour moose viewing safaris.
For this private 5 a.m. tour into the Great North Woods, Young makes no guarantees. This year, he has seen less moose than ever.
“When I was a kid coming down this road right now, you could not drive 45 miles an hour without having multiple close calls with moose,” he says as an owl swipes by the headlights. “We had too many moose, they were everywhere. It was dangerous.”
Not so much anymore.
Sunset over Moosehead Lake. The area still posts moose warnings along the road but no longer boasts having three moose for every person.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
At Lazy Tom Bog, a well-known spot for spotting moose, tourists feed Canada jays who eat sunflower seeds out of their hands. “We’re not leaving ’till we see a moose in the wild,” says Monica Platt of Philadelphia on her fourth day in the woods. “It’s a bucket list thing.”Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Despite having the largest moose population in the 48 contiguous states, Maine has steadily lost the animals, state data show.
Last year, the state had an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 moose, compared to 76,000 in 2012, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
“Winter tick is far and away the most prominent cause for that decline, and we’ve documented over 12 or 13 years of work,” says Nathan Webb, the state’s director of wildlife division.
The state has outfitted “hundreds and hundreds” of moose with neckbands containing radios “to understand what’s happening with the moose population here in Maine,” he says.
An avid hunter, Young has a freezer full of moose meat. His living room has two stuffed moose, shot by him and his wife, Beth, a former vegetarian.
Beth and Chris Young in their Greenville home.
“The moose above Beth and I is the one I shot. 54 inch spread, 900 pounds. The moose coming out of the wall is Beth’s moose. 56 inch spread, 886 pounds.”Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Still, this year he started the Maine Moose Coalition because he says moose population is being “annihilated” by overhunting and inadequate management by the state.
Webb disagrees.
“Absolutely not, no,” he says of overhunting. ” Under hunted, if anything.”
The state believes cutting the density of moose will reduce the tick problem.
This year, they have reduced the number of moose-hunting lottery permits by 400, but they still allow antlerless hunting.
Young believes this is a mistake.
“The killing of cow moose in the moose hunt leaves the calves abandoned to die,” he says.
“Stop hunting pregnant cow moose. If we don’t do that, we are going to lose our moose herd.”
Young checks for moose on Spencer Pond near Big Spencer Mountain.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
The view of Moosehead Lake, a gateway to moose hunting.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Last year, community pressure stopped a proposed second week of hunting in the Moosehead area, but later this month a new proposal will be revealed.
“I’m fighting to save something that doesn’t have a voice,” says Young.
After 45 minutes driving north, we arrive on a overgrown path off a private logging road. No power lines, no sign of anything that gives a hint we are in the 21st century.
Before he opens the door of his Toyota Sequoia, Young’s face gets all serious. Do not slam the door, he says. Do not run.
“I just want you to know when I get out, I won’t be talking.”
We walk in silence for 10 minutes.
As daylight beckons, he spots a pair of moose 100 yards away and does a long high-pitched cow bellow.
No response.
Young thrashes a moose shoulder blade against the brush to imitate a bull moose.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Then he tries a bull call, a series of short grunts that sound like he’s channeling a drunk John Belushi. A bull moose grunts an answer from somewhere. Young moves closer and rakes a moose shoulder blade against the brush.
“It sounds just like his antler when he’s raking them,” he explains later. He grunts again and the bull answers, but this time it’s 20 feet closer.
“You’re imitating another bull coming aggressively saying, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take your cows.’ And that bull says, ‘no, you’re not gonna take my cows, I’m gonna come kick your butt.”’
The brush 40 yards away shakes violently, like bait fish scrambling in the water to flee bluefish.
Suddenly there he is: a wide eyed 3-year-old, nearly 700-pound bull moose heading right at us.
A startled bull moose heads toward Young after hearing his call.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
“When he comes in, his heart’s just pumping. He’s not thinking clearly,” Young recalls later.
Moose are nearsighted. Young holds the shoulder blade up over his head, like he’s waving a cross to Dracula.
“So, when he comes out …all he sees is another moose. He just rolls his eye back like a shark. Like he’s gonna come after me. And then he smells the human scent. He’s like, ‘Whoa, what’s not right with this picture? Like, oh my goodness, those are people.’ And then he’ll turn around and just leave.”
Young laughs. It’s still a rush for him even after all these years.
“That was fun, I could hear your heart. I could hear your heart going” he says.
“It’s a huge blessing to come out here and witness something that should be here for our kids and our grandkids to see”
“Is this not heaven on earth? Look at what you’re looking at.”
A moose heads back to the woods after finding out that a moose call was from a guide and not another bull. “We’ve depleted this area of big mature bulls so bad,” says Chris Young.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
Stan Grossfeld can be reached at stanley.grossfeld@globe.com.