I have guided plenty of Maine moose hunts, and the ones that stay with me are almost never the biggest bulls. This one I will remember for a long time, and the reason has very little to do with the animal.
I spent the week with Bowen and his father Nate on a father-son hunt in the North Woods. We connected with a 510-pound, four-point bull on Tuesday morning. But before that, Bowen had already passed on two other bulls — and those two decisions are the real story here.
The month before the hunt
Most of the work on a guided moose hunt happens before the hunter ever arrives. For the few weeks leading into the season I was running logging roads at first and last light, glassing cuts, and keeping notes on which bogs were holding animals and which had gone quiet.
Moose are animals of habit right up until the rut scrambles everything. A bull that waters in the same bog three evenings running will often do it a fourth. What scouting really buys you is options: by opening day I want four or five places worth sitting, so that weather, wind or another party on the road does not end the hunt before it starts.
The two bulls he let walk
Here is what I want people to take from this hunt.
Twice before Tuesday, Bowen had a bull in front of him. Twice he chose not to shoot. Once the angle was wrong. Once the animal would not clear the brush and give him a shot he was confident in.
Passing on a moose is hard for a grown adult who has waited years to draw a permit. For a young hunter, with his father beside him and a guide on the glass, it is genuinely difficult. The pressure to take the shot is enormous, and nobody would have blamed him.
He let them walk anyway. That is the whole of ethical hunting in one decision: you take the shot you are sure of, and you pass on the one you are not. Bowen understood that at twelve. I have hunted with plenty of adults who have not got there yet.
Tuesday morning
The third bull gave him everything the first two had not — broadside, close enough, nothing in the way. He made a clean shot and the bull went down quickly, which is exactly what those two earlier passes had been protecting.
At 510 pounds and four points, this is not a record-book animal, and I would not pretend otherwise. It is a good, honest Maine bull and a first moose any hunter would be proud of. The size of the rack was never what this hunt was about.
Getting him out of the woods
Recovery is the part nobody puts in the brochure. It was raining, the ground was soft, and a moose does not get any lighter the further you drag it.
Two gentlemen, Tom and Mike, stopped their own hunt to help us drag and load. They did not have to, and it made the recovery significantly easier. If either of you reads this — thank you.
And to the dozens of strangers who pulled over on the road to congratulate Bowen: you have no idea what that does for a young hunter. Maine moose season brings that out in people. It is one of the better things about hunting in this state.
Next year’s hunt starts now
By the time most people read this, the 2026 Maine moose season is all but over, and this year’s permits were drawn back in June. If you are reading this wishing you had been in the woods this month, the honest answer is that the work for next season has already started.
The lottery is run by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and it is a long game. In 2026 the state issued 3,705 permits in total — 3,343 to residents, 288 to non-residents and 74 to hunting lodges — spread across the seasons and wildlife management districts. Odds change every year with the number of applicants and how permits are allocated district by district. Most hunters who draw have been putting in for years, and the ones who treat it as an annual habit rather than a one-off are the ones who eventually get the call.
Two dates worth putting in the calendar now:
- April 1st — When the moose permit applications open.
- Mid 18th — when the application window typically closes. Results follow in mid-June.
If you want the process explained properly — how the chances system works, what the permit costs, and why buying multiple chances matters — we wrote it up here: Navigating the Maine Moose Permit Lottery.
What the 2026 cycle looked like
The 2027 dates are not published yet, so the most useful guide is what actually happened this year. For 2026, applications were taken online only from 1 April until 18 May, and the drawing was held on Saturday 20 June at the Acton Fairgrounds, with results posted online that same evening. Winners then had until 16 July to pay for the permit.
Expect 2027 to run on a broadly similar rhythm, but confirm it against the official MDIFW moose permit page once the dates are announced. Do not plan around our summary.
Where will the 2027 drawing be held?
The drawing moves around the state — in 2026 it was held at Acton, down in York County. We have heard Machias may host the 2027 drawing, but MDIFW has not announced a 2027 location yet, so check the official moose permit page before making plans.
If it does go DownEast, that would be a good thing for that part of Maine. The drawing is a proper day out, with vendors and exhibits and a few thousand people hoping their name comes out of the drum, and it brings visitors to a region that deserves more of them.
If you are local to the area and want to know more, the Machias Bay Chamber of Commerce is a good place to ask.
Talk to us before you draw, not after
Most people call a guide the week results come out in June. That is understandable, and it is also the worst time to call.
We take a limited number of guided Maine moose hunts each season, and the good weeks go first. What you are really buying is the month of scouting that happens before you arrive, the calling, and the equipment and labour to get an animal out of the woods in the rain. None of that can be arranged at short notice.
So get in touch now, before you apply. We will talk through which zones suit the hunt you want, what the week actually looks like, and what it costs — and if you draw next June, we are already planned. If you do not draw, nothing is lost and we will be here the following year.
In the meantime, guided deer hunting runs right behind moose season and fills quickly, and our other guided hunting trips run through the year. You can check current Maine hunting season dates, and read about the Registered Maine Guides you would be hunting with.
Congratulations, Bowen. That was well earned.
— Tony
From the Field
