BANNER YEAR FOR MOOSE HUNTING AT ROSS LAKE CAMPS
By Andrea Foley
Registered Maine Guide

The Owners, Guides, and Customers of this Recreational Sporting Camp located deep within the North Maine Woods had quite a stellar season during the 2005 Moose hunt! Owner and Guide, Andrea Foley said that “During the pre-season scouting things were starting out slow due to the unseasonably warm September temperatures that we were seeing in Northern Maine, but after some heavy rainfall and cooler temperatures just a couple days before the September opener, full rut started and everything just came together.”

Andrea herself was fortunate enough to have been drawn as a zone 4 Moose permit winner during the early season, and she started off the September Moose Hunt with quite a bang, literally. She was beginning her Monday morning hunt with a walk and stalk approach with her husband Don Lavoie, also a Registered Maine Guide and owner of Ross Lake Camps, accompanying her on the hunt. After a ¾ of a mile hike in some pouring rain into the target hunting spot a 34 – 36 inch young bull was spotted. Andrea decided to pass on this in hopes of finding a more mature animal with a little better antler spread, and so they decided to sneak through the grass and brush towards the bull in hopes of finding more activity. This turned out to be quite a good decision! After creeping forward about another 200 yards, Don pulled Andrea down to a knee and whispered, “There, on the left.” Sure enough there was a large mature bull tending two Cows. “I had to move to an opening on my right about 3 or 4 yards to get a clear lane past some alders, but was able to make the move without being spotted. There were a few tense moments when I had to wait on the shot because of the smaller bull blocking my shooting lane to the big one.” Don made a couple grunt calls for me and rustled the brush, and that got them moving. The small bull was literally shoved aside by the Dominant male who was ready to defend his cows from another intruder, and that was all that was needed. “I steadied my Knight .50 caliber Muzzleloader on a set of shooting sticks, took aim on the vital area, and squeezed.” What a trophy Andrea ended up with! 17 score able points on a 55 inch wide set of antlers, perched on top of a body that came in at a dressed weight of 1029 pounds on the State scales in Ashland, Maine.

Day two of the September Hunt was another eventful one at Ross Lake Camps. Master Guide Bob Smith of Augusta, Maine led his client, Cindy Fanning, to another great trophy. They also were employing the walk and stalk method when Bob heard Bull grunts off in the distance. He was able to get the hunter into some cover and proceeded to call the bull several hundred yards towards them until he was in range of Cindy’s 30-06 rifle. She made a textbook shot, and her trophy fell after stumbling only about 30 yards away. The bull had a beautiful symmetrical 16 point rack with a 43 inch spread, and dressed weight was 783 pounds.

Unguided clients Kip Newell and his father Tip enjoyed their own successes as well. Don & Andrea take great pride in all of their sports having the best possible opportunity to take home a trophy whether they choose to employ a guide or not. “We regularly assist our unguided clients with as much information as we can to get the hunters into areas that we have scouted and know there to be good activity.” This was exactly the case with Tip and Kip on Tuesday morning. After studying some maps with Don & Andrea Monday night at the dinner table, the hunting party left camp Tuesday morning and went into an area that Don had pointed out to them the night before. The Newell’s used Don & Andrea’s tried and true walk and stalk method, and within 200 yards of the location Don showed the guys on the map, they heard a big bull making his way through the woods and heading up toward the road. They ducked down in the brush and within moments the bruiser popped out into the open, and Tip laid him right down with two rifle shots. This giant only had 13 score able points, but they were on a massive 56 ½ inch wide spread of antlers, and the bull weighed in at 860 pounds. Another group of unguided hunters in camp that week saw a total of 44 Moose during the 5 days they stayed at camp, and they harvested lucky number 39. It was a nice Bull with a 35 inch antler spread quickly estimated to be 2 ½ - 3 ½ years of age.

When the October season rolled around, the action was still coming hot and heavy. Don was guiding a bow hunter, Brian Lang, who had traveled all the way from Wisconsin for this special hunt. Don says, “The night before the hunt our guide, Bob, told me about a bruiser of a bull he had seen while traveling. After hearing the physical description and the location of this one, I just knew I had to try to pull it off!” The bull had been spotted on a road very near to one of Ross Lake Camps many bear hunting sites, and so Don was very familiar with the particular piece of woods he was working with. Early Monday morning, Don took Brian to the approximate location the bull was seen in, and set up behind a blown down spruce tree on the edge of a small swamp and started working the calls. After only about 10 minutes Don heard a faint bull grunt way out beyond the swamp. He kept calling and the Bull kept answering while slowing making his way closer to the makeshift blind. “It seemed to take forever, but I just kept talking to that Bull. Finally I decided to get more aggressive and challenge the beast with a series of dominant grunts and a mock bull battle. After 40 minutes of calling the Moose came out into the open directly ahead of us at about 90 yards, but I had to get him closer than that for a bow shot. The bull kept grunting and so did I, and he kept walking slowly at the blow down that Brian was hiding in. Now the problem was that the Bull kept coming straight away, and nothing but a frontal shot was being presented. As the Moose kept getting closer I was shaking saplings, raking brush, and making a heck of a racket to get that Moose to turn. Brian was at full draw and finally, at 23 yards, the bull turned and Brian let an arrow fly.” Don and Bob were both thanked by Brian for helping him to his 55 ½ inch spread, 15 point, 859 pound Trophy Bull Moose!

Master Guide, Bob Smith, had his own bow hunting client to lead during the October hunt. Skip Burnham of Milford, Massachusetts had made the drive to the famed North Maine Woods in search of a trophy. Bob had spent much time in advance of this hunt scouting out high traffic areas to set up a couple good blinds for Skip to hunt out of. On Monday and Tuesday multiple bulls in excess of 40 inches were seen by Skip from the blind, but were not coming up to bow range for him. On Wednesday, some excitement mounted when a larger bull, estimated at around a 48 inch spread, approached the blind on Skips left side. According to Skip, “that bull was no farther than 30 yards away, I just needed him to make 2 more steps to come into the clear where I had a shot, but he just wouldn’t move that last bit.” Bob decided to make a move for Thursday’s hunt, and Skip had decided it was time to switch weapons to his 30-06 rifle. Even though a lot of animals were being seen at the first location, things just weren’t coming together. Yet another spot and stalk approach was taken by Bob. They were glassing into some choppings while walking up an old logging road when they saw a Bull step out into the open about 350 yards ahead of them. Bob took cover behind an embankment and started making some grunt calls while Skip flattened out in the high grass on the old road bed. “The bull would make a single grunt, so I’d just give him one back. We went back and forth and back and forth, and the whole time the Moose just kept coming in to us. It was awesome!” Bob says. Skip was able to unload 3 rounds out of his rifle and his bull fell only about 20 yards away from where he was first hit. The measurements on this one were a 51 inch spread with 14 points and a dressed weight of 920 pounds on the State scales in Greenville, Maine.

Wildlife Management Districts 4 & 1 are both hunted out of Ross Lake Camps which makes for a whole lot of area to be sifted through for prime hunting spots. Andrea attributes a lot of the success to the amount of time the owners and guides at Ross Lake Camps spent preparing for these hunts. She says “The countless hours spent walking in the woods, wallowing through bogs, climbing over blow downs, and fighting through spruce thickets and old wood yards were all rewarded back to us in the form of these trophies. Every second of the scouting, was a second well spent!” Bob has a similar theory; he says that “An important factor of every hunt is knowing where not to go, so that valuable time isn’t wasted in dead areas. This goes right back to putting in your time in preparation.” Don’s theory, “it’s incredibly important to actually get in the woods. You’ll never hear a cow bellowing or a bull grunting from the seat of your running truck.” And all agree that being able to adjust hunting methods and employing more than one strategy are necessities to overcoming the challenges of the weather and multi-faceted terrain in these big woods. No matter what the reasons, there is no denying the results. 2005 was truly a banner year for Moose hunting at Ross Lake Camps.

If you are interested in more information check out the website at www.rosslakecamps.com or contact Don & Andrea by phone at 603-320-3208.