Maine Trophy Moose Hunts
Maine Trophy Moose Hunts
If you’re looking to be wined and dined at a fancy Maine moose hunting lodge with hot showers after hunting, than a trophy Maine moose hunt with Epic Adventures is probably not your best option. If you’re looking for a memorable experience, like this one last Fall, with truly professional guides…. then we can help you out. Even though it is a lot more work setting up remote outfitter camps every season, rather than hunting from a fixed location lodge, we choose to hunt out of outfitter tents because it puts you in the epicenter of trophy Maine moose habitat. It allows us to get away from crowds, travel less daily, and provides you a much more memorable Maine moose hunting experience. There is just something significant about Maine Trophy Moose Hunts out of tent camps, away from most hunters. It could be those quiet nights where you hear a faint cow moose call in the distance. It could be stepping outside the tent one night, only to look up at a frosty sky filled with more stars than you’ve seen in years. It could be the smell of percolator coffee and sizzling bacon in the predawn hours. It could be the camaraderie in camp during the week with new friends, that share similar passions. It could even be the feeling that you get after a week of hunting hard, sleeping on a cot, and pushing yourself further than you thought you were capable of… that feeling of accomplishment. We’ve found these hunts to be the most rewarding. This all provides for the most rewarding Maine moose hunting experience possible in our minds. Our remote tent camps are extremely comfortable canvas style outfitter tents, complete with cots, carpet, wood stoves, hearty meals, an outhouse and they will make you feel right at home. Each hunting group has their own private sleeping tent.
2024 MAINE MOOSE HUNTING SEASON DATES (subject to change)
BULL hunts- September 22-28 & October 13-19
COW hunts – October 27- November 1
Maine moose lottery opens April 1, 2024 and the deadline is May 15, 2024
2024 Lottery application preferences:
Zones 5,1,2,4,8,6,3,9,14 and 7 in that order
The Maine Moose Lottery will be held in Fort Kent, Me on Saturday June 15,2024
Please contact us with any lottery questions or advice. Our season and zone preferences change yearly due to previous seasons success and sightings, along with available permit numbers for the upcoming Maine moose hunting season. If you are drawn for a permit in a zone other than your top choices, Epic Adventures would be more than happy to assist with getting your permit swapped for a better Maine moose hunting zone if you are booking a hunt with us. We have swapped many permits in the past, including cow tags for bull tags, and have a lot of experience with the swaps! We may also recommend swapping zones depending on the zone you have drawn. Our recommendation is not based on what would be easiest on us, but rather what zone and season will give you the best odds at harvesting a trophy Maine moose.
2024 MAINE MOOSE HUNTING PRICES
BULL Zones…… $6995
October Cow Hunt Zones……. $4595
REMOTE HUNTING CAMP
INCLUDED IN YOUR MAINE MOOSE HUNTING TRIP:
- 1 on 1 guide for 6 day guided Maine moose hunt
- Accommodations for the hunter and the sub-permittee if one is selected
- Lodging/ meals from Sunday night until Sunday morning
- Private landowner permissions and commercial guiding permit
- Private sleeping tent with each hunting group
- Transportation during 6 day hunt once arriving at remote camp. If flying to Maine instead of driving, we recommend flying into Bangor International for Western zones 7,8,9,12,13,14 and Presque Isle Airport for the Northern zones 1,2,3,4,5,6, then renting a 4WD vehicle to get to remote camp, which is typically a 2-4 hour drive North or West from Bangor/ Presque Isle.
- Removal of your trophy Maine moose from the woods, whole if possible and quartered if not, then transportation of the moose to a checking station and a reputable butcher shop for processing. The butcher will process the moose to your specifications and package/freeze the meat so that it can be taken home with you. If you are driving to Maine for your hunt, we recommend bringing four medium to large coolers that can be packed with the frozen meat for your trip home. If you are flying in for your hunt, we recommend that you arrive with only one piece of checked luggage, so that you will be able to take two meat boxes weighing just under 50 pounds a piece, as checked luggage home with your frozen meat. Remaining meat can either be overnighted frozen in meat boxes via FedEx at your expense or donated. Moose meat is extremely good table fare and we recommend taking home as much as you can. Whether you are taking home all, some, or none of the meat we REQUIRE that you pay for the processing of your moose. On average the butchering cost is about $0.55 -0.75/lb of dressed weight and averages $450-$850 overall. You should be prepared for the extra butchering cost before you arrive for your hunt and most butchers do not take credit card or check. If you would like to take your moose home in quarters for processing near your home, we would be glad to help you quarter your moose and prep it for your trip home. If you do plan on taking your moose home quartered, it would be helpful to bring a set of game bags you can put the quarters in and take home with you to keep after the hunt.
- Caping of your trophy Maine moose for taxidermy purposes by your guide (will not be salted and skull plate will not be boiled, hide will be caped off of skull and then frozen by butcher or taken back to camp for your trip to the taxidermist if you choose to mount your moose)
- Taxidermy services are also available directly through Epic Adventures for your convenience. Guide Brian Donaghy, is also a licensed Maine taxidermist with over 20 years experience and would love to complete your Maine moose hunting experience by bringing your trophy Maine moose back to life!
NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR MAINE MOOSE HUNT:
– Hunting license/Moose permit fees (2024 Non-Resident hunting license fee $115, 2024 Non-Resident archery license fee $75, 2024 Non-Resident moose permit fee $585, 2024 Resident hunting license fee $26, 2024 Maine resident archery license fee $26, 2024 Resident moose permit fee $52) Please show up with your Maine moose permit and Maine moose hunting license in hand! (purchased ahead of time). If you are archery hunting you need to purchase an archery license, if you are using a muzzleloader, you need to purchase a muzzleloader license.
– NMW Gate fees (Zones 1,2,4,5 – $180 Non-Resident, $140 Resident)
– Butchering fees (average $450-850)
– Guide/Cook gratuities – we always get asked what is appropriate and we like to compare it to a gratuity/tip that would get left at a restaurant. Although no gratuity is ever required, after a long week of hard hunting and many hours scouting prior to your arrival, it is greatly appreciated by your guides and camp help.
PRICING:
2024 Maine Trophy Moose Hunts:
Bull Zones 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,14 – $6995
October Cow Hunt Zones 1,2,4,5 – $4595
Non-Hunting Extra Persons (moose hunt price includes 2 people) – $750 per person
Transportation to/from Presque Isle Regional Airport – $150 (Bangor or Portland airport must rent 4×4 vehicle and drive to camp)
$2000 NON-REFUNDABLE deposit to secure hunt, the remaining balance due by September 1st. All cancellations after September 1st are non-refundable. If for some reason you have to cancel after September 1st, we suggest you contact MDIF&W to see if there are any options available for you to swap the sub-permittee to permittee, or any other options available, but due to the complexities of our booking schedule, extensive planning involved with operating a remote tent camp, employees already contracted to guide, and food purchased ahead of time, no refunds of hunt balances will be issued for hunts canceled after September 1st for any reason. If MDIF&W allows you to switch your permit to the following year due to a medical reason after September 1st, no refund will be issued and another hunt price will be required to book again in the following year. Our hunting spots are highly sought after and once we confirm you in a spot, it is not able to be rebooked on short notice before the season, forcing us to lose one of our limited spots for that season.
OVER THE COUNTER LODGE TAGS:
Most years we now contract with a lodge to offer our guide services on a lodge tag hunt. Availability is usually limited with one or two tags per year. The advantages to this, is the tag is over the counter, and you do not need to draw the tag through the Maine moose lottery process that has extremely low odds of drawing (around 1-2% for Non-Residents.) This tag is in one of the premiere trophy bull moose zones. We will know each year in mid-January how many tags we have available. The 2024 price for this guaranteed tag fully guided bull moose hunt is $22,000, all inclusive except for hunting license and gate fees. If you would like to get on a waiting list for future years, please reach out to us via email or phone.
THINGS TO CONSIDER:
– Please allow for a FULL SIX DAYS of Maine moose hunting. A Maine moose hunt is a true hunt of a lifetime, even though you may get lucky and harvest your bull the first day or two, if you do not plan on being in Maine for the FULL six days you are doing yourself a serious injustice. We can not stress this enough!!! So much so, that if we know ahead of time you do not plan on staying for the entire hunt we will consider not booking you. If you only can hunt for a few days, than it will be harder to pass on bulls that we would have, if we had a full six days of hunting. We strive to get you the biggest bulls that we know the area holds. We put in countless hours scouting and checking trail cameras prior to your hunt and will know the potential the areas have. Limiting yourself to just a couple days to find them and put you in front of one for a shot, severely limits your chance at a trophy bull. So PLEASE plan on being here for the full six days of Maine moose hunting, if you plan to hunt with us!
– We do not offer VIP Hunts or hunts with two guides to one hunter. This is becoming a common trend among Maine moose hunting guides and lodges, but its more or less, just a way to charge you more money for your hunt! We do not see a need for this, don’t think it’s of value to you, and don’t feel it would make a difference in your success. We treat all of our hunters the same and all as VIP’s to begin with. Flying for moose has become popular prior to the season. We’ve done it in past years. It is not inexpensive. Whether it makes a difference to actually killing a particular moose is up for debate. Instead, we’ve found that placing the amount of trail cameras that we do each Fall and good old-fashioned hard work, boots on the ground scouting, seems to make the most difference in locating and harvesting mature Maine moose year after year. We’ve harvested multiple moose located via trail cam. Living in the area you guide 365 days a year, also does not guarantee success, as some lodges claim. We do not live in the area we guide…you can count the guides that do, on one hand, and their Maine moose hunting capabilities along with their effort put forth, doesn’t compare to ours! Our success rate, year after year, on trophy Maine bulls… speaks for itself and does not come by accident. We do however spend countless days a year in our guiding areas guiding hunts, fishing, deer hunting, trapping, shed hunting and recreating. We know these areas inside and out, often returning to the same areas year after year. That being said, If you truly are set on flying during scouting, it can be arranged for additional costs payable direct to a flight service. Keep in mind though, it does not guarantee any big moose sightings. Much of it is very weather dependent.
– After you harvest your bull and the bull is taken to the butcher shop your hunt is done. If there are any other hunters in camp that haven’t tagged out yet, all available guides, if possible, will be working on finding a trophy bull for hunters that haven’t yet tagged out (if your the hunter still with a tag to fill, you will appreciate the extra help!) If everyone is tagged out, than your guide will be more than happy to accompany you during the remainder of your six days in camp. There is usually some great fishing around if you have purchased a fishing license. There will be plenty of grouse hunting to do after you get your bull. If you harvest a moose at the end of the week and need to wait a day or two for butchering or freezing, we will always try our best to accommodate you and leave camp set up for an extra night if possible, but lodging through Saturday night is included in the hunt and any nights after that may require you staying in a hotel, back in town, if we are not able to leave camp set up.
– We book no more than five Maine moose hunts for each Zone. Often times depending on the Zone, we will purposely only book one or two hunts. We do this so that we can put 110% effort into your hunt. We keep our operation small on purpose for a more personal and memorable experience. We are geared to get your moose out no matter where you may harvest it. If it’s big enough for your liking, it does not matter to us where you drop it, although the help once its down is always appreciated. We have pack frames and everything necessary to make sure your moose makes it to the butcher shop in the best possible condition, and we are not afraid to quarter your moose if we have to. 75% or more of the moose we harvest each year require quartering and packing due to the remote locations we hunt. Very few Maine moose hunting guides have as much experience packing out moose as we do and even fewer know how to cape a moose for taxidermy. It’s hard to believe a Maine Guides License can be obtained without this knowledge, but you would be surprised how very few moose guides in Maine know about trophy care. With warm temperatures often considered the norm in September, this is truly imperative knowledge. We pride ourselves on these abilities. These days to find trophy Maine moose you have to be willing to pack one out and hunt away from the logging roads. The ability and confidence to do that has changed our hunting style for the better the last few years. You will not find many guides that hunt moose off the logging roads because, they are worried about getting a moose out once its harvested. More and more these days, we hunt through the woods like you would deer hunting because, that is how you find bigger bulls. These are some of the many factors that separate us from the many other Maine moose hunting guides.
SUCCESSFUL Maine Trophy Moose Hunts
The success of your hunt and ability to harvest a trophy bull, WILL be very much centered around your physical ability and your ability to do a lot of walking during your week of Maine moose hunting. You should be prepared to walk SEVERAL miles a day in between calling sequences. These can be tough miles through logging country that is not always easy to walk through. Especially during the October season. It is not uncommon to walk 4-7 miles a day or more with our style of Maine Trophy Moose Hunts. October is typically a much tougher hunt physically than September, because the rut is tailing out and bulls are often times in less accessible areas than they are found in during September. Available food and browse is changing this time of year and hunting pressure from other moose hunters and grouse hunters change the habits of trophy bulls. Where bulls were the week before the season, is not always where they will be during your hunt. Typically for both seasons we will set up in a location at first light and remain there in that area calling for two hours, if the conditions favor. After that we will be on the move and out of the truck for most of the day doing calling sequences and checking on high activity areas. We spend countless hours scouting prior to your arrival. In our opinion we spend more time scouting than any other Maine moose outfitter, but often times the best scouting is the scouting done during the hunt itself! Once the rut is on, it can be like flipping a switch and the sign that you found a week prior to the hunt can mean very little towards finding a trophy bull, the same goes for if the rut has ended in the October season. We typically do lunch in the field and often in the woods instead of out at the truck. If the weather is not good for calling, than we may head back to camp for a warm lunch or even a nap if possible. It can be a long week of hunting and pacing yourself for that is often the key to a more enjoyable hunt. Every year hunters leave camp after a successful hunt, and they say it was the hardest week of hunting they have ever experienced. Some of those hunters have been very experienced and hunted in areas like the Rockies or Alaska. Yet, they say our Maine moose hunt was one of the toughest, but well worth it! Remember, PLEASE be in the best shape you can, mentally and physically. We really can not stress that enough. Don’t start walking for this hunt a week before the season, start once you are drawn and booked! It will pay dividends if you are physically and mentally prepared. We are honest in everything we do though and want to tell you the realities up front. Finding big bulls can be a physical and mental endeavor and your guides are only able to go at your pace.
– Even though we have run a very high rate on our Maine moose hunting trips over the last fifteen years, it is still hunting and we can not guarantee you a moose. In six days of hunting you WILL have an opportunity to harvest a bull. We will give you our honest opinion on whether we think that bull is a mature trophy Maine moose for the area and whether he meets your expectations laid out before the start of the hunt. Typically our success rate on mature bulls is factored around you being able to hunt a full six days, your physical ability to hunt hard the entire hunt, and your willingness to follow your guides instruction.
TROPHY BULLS
During our Maine moose hunts, especially the September hunt, bulls will often be called into close range. If you have ever wanted to harvest a trophy bull with a bow, September is a great archery option. We recommend draw weights of 60 pounds or more, with heavy arrows, and solid broad-heads (not expandable). Since most of our moose are harvested at less than 100 yards and often times less than 50 yards, any 30 caliber rifle like the 30-06 or calibers like the 300 win mag, 35 Whelen, 7mm mag, 308, 270 are fine. We also recommend low power scopes. A scope that goes down to at least 3x power is a minimum. A 1x or 2x power is often preferred. Shot placement is always the most important regardless of caliber, but we recommend the heaviest bullet you can shoot with your caliber and recommend a quality bullet like Barnes Triple Shock TSX, Swift A-frame, or Trophy Bonded Bearclaw bullets. Lead core ballistic tip bullets should be avoided.
- NO ELECTRONIC CALLS
- NO ROAD HUNTING
- NO PARADES OF TRUCKS WITH CB RADIO’S
- NO VIP HUNTS OR 2 GUIDES TO 1 HUNTER GIMMICKS, ALL OF OUR HUNTERS ARE VIP’S
- SMALL AMOUNT OF HUNTERS IN CAMP AT ONCE BY DESIGN
- PRIVATE SLEEPING TENT FOR EACH HUNTING GROUP
- HARDWORKING PROFESSIONAL MAINE MOOSE HUNTING GUIDES THAT TRULY KNOW HOW TO LOCATE AND CALL TROPHY MOOSE DURING ANY SEASON, ZONE, OR WEATHER PATTERN