Sunday, September 24, 2006 
Staff photo by Doug Jones
A doe watches the wildlife-watchers, who have no
guarantee of seeing a moose but have northern Maine scenery to enjoy.
Staff photo by Doug Jones
Dan Donahue uses a birch-bark megaphone to mimic a
moose call in hopes of attracting one of the big creatures while leading a
wildlife-watching safari near Bingham last week.
Staff photo by Doug Jones
Dave and Teresa Schultz of Pennsylvania look with
Donahue toward a spot where moose often feed on plants by a pond. A guided
moose-watching trip in Maine costs from $30 to $50.
Staff photo by Doug Jones
Teresa and Dave Schultz and Dan Donahue head out of the
woods toward their van while tracking moose in the Bingham area. On hot
days, moose may not move around much.
GETTING TO KNOW MOOSE
BIRTH: In May, cows give birth to one to two calves. Cows rarely have
more than two calves.
SURVIVAL: Harvest and road kills account for about 2,500 moose deaths in Maine a year. Predation of adult moose is low, because predators capable of killing adult moose are rare or absent from Maine. The average life expectancy is eight years for a cow and seven years for a bull. Moose may live into their late teens, but rarely live past 20.
FOOD: Moose subsist on browse, the leaves and twigs of woody plants. Sodium is also important to moose. Aquatic plants, such as pondweed and water lily, have a higher sodium content than woody vegetation and are an important part of a moose's diet.
SIZE: A full-grown moose can measure 9 to 10 feet long, 6 to 7 feet tall at the shoulder. During Maine's fall hunting season, the average adult cow weighs 600 pounds (dressed) and the average adult bull weighs 800 pounds (dressed). Large bulls weigh more than 1,000 pounds dressed.
MATING (RUTTING) SEASON: Mid-September to mid-October.
SPEED: Up to 35 mph on land, about 6 mph in water.
ESTIMATED MAINE POPULATION: 25,000
SOURCE: Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
- Compiled by staff researcherBeth Murphy
BINGHAM - Two hours of daylight and 35 miles. What are the chances of
finding a moose? In Bingham, evidently, the chances of finding one with a
guide on a "moose safari" are usually pretty good. With fair weather, you
can usually find one more than half the time.
Master Maine Guide Dan Donahue has led dozens of tourists to see
Maine's gangly, unassuming, unabashed woodland character.
"Jim (Murton) called me in. He said the pressure was on," Donahue
said Monday before a moose safari for North Country Rivers, which Murton
owns.
Maine's 25th moose-hunting season opens Monday with the first week of
a two-week, split season that continues Oct. 9. But hunters are not the
only ones looking for moose in the fall.
There are so many binocular-carrying moose, deer and eagle fans here
that wildlife-watching brings in an estimated $514 million annually to
Maine, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A guided moose trip in Maine costs between $30 and $50.
This is not why Donahue guides these kinds of "hunts."
"I meet a lot of nice people," said the Master Maine Guide, who leads
both wildlife-watchers and hunters during the fall. "They get to learn
about moose, which is good. They're an amazing creature."
The state estimates the moose population at roughly 25,000.
But four years ago, when the state changed the format of the
moose-hunting season, it took measures to increase the population in areas
where moose safaris are enjoyed, like Bingham, Rangeley and around
Moosehead Lake.
By creating two kinds of permits - one for bulls and another for cows
- state biologists hoped to leave more cows in certain areas, to help the
population grow where people wanted to see moose.
"We realize, as a department, the value in moose (for)
wildlife-watching as well as hunting," said Mark Latti, spokesman for the
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
"We implemented a program, the antlerless permits and the bull
permit, in order to manage the population closer. With the any-moose
permit (allowing hunters to take either a bull or cow), we felt we
couldn't get the population growth in those areas."
Donahue and other guides at North Country Rivers lead
wildlife-watchers a few times a week this time of year through Moscow,
Caratunk and Bingham.
But finding moose, even in high-moose density areas like these, is
not easy.
You can find deep, fresh tracks, as Donahue did, along with areas
where they feed, like ponds and bogs. Then, the weather can throw a wrench
in the works.
"It was hot today, wasn't it?" Murton asked Donahue after he found
dozens of moose tracks, but none of the tall, regal animals last Monday
evening.
YOUNG ONES HEAD TO TOWN
Bingham and The Forks, surrounded by active timberland that offers
great moose habitat, have their share of moose.
This is why Donahue, who used to work at Bath Iron Works, moved up
here to live on Old Bluff Mountain, overlooking Bingham.
With his stories of 40-pound beavers, prankish otters and bulls
swimming hard across Wyman Lake, Donahue is his own natural science
theater, a veritable backwoods bard.
"Every spring a yearling walks down Main Street. When a cow gives
birth, she kicks him out. He hasn't a clue because he's always been with
mom. I think they're looking for friends," Donahue said.
He has story after story of leading family and friends to find moose,
and then calling them in to him.
"I'm teaching my 4-year-old grandson to call moose. He loves it,"
Donahue said.
With his shellacked birch-bark megaphone, Donahue amplifies the
imitated grunts and cow calls that are "full of theatrics."
To find a moose, clearly, you have to think like a moose. This
Donahue does.
He looks in recent clear cuts, where saplings offer an easy meal, or
bogs, where moose seek the salty aquatic plants.
Being big and black and furry isn't easy. Bulls have a thick black
coat, the cows a brown one. Either way, in the summer and fall moose sweat
a lot.
The heat will slow moose activity, so will cold rain.
But the harder you look, the more you see.
Taking out Teresa and Dave Schultz of Pennsylvania last week, Donahue
found a doe. Posing like a runway model against the backdrop of a
red-orange sky and changing leaves, she stood in the field for several
minutes.
"If you turn off the engine, she'd scare. Anything different" will
scare her off, Donahue said, admiring the tall doe.
The Schultzes have seen plenty of other whitetails and elk in
Pennsylvania. This was their first moose safari. But they didn't complain
there were no moose to see. The panorama of Sugarloaf and the surrounding
peaks outlined against a pink, marble sky was memorable.
'IF THEY LET US'
Not finding moose happens, although Donahue has one ground
rule.
"The only thing I ask, is that everybody think positively, because we
are going to see a moose," he said, from beginning to end.
Finding a moose, he said, is only part of the "safari," albeit a big
part.
Even driving back to Bingham in the darkness, hope was still there.
"I try to call them depending on what kind of mood they're in," he
said. "If they let us. They are a wild animal," he says with
respect.
Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or
at: