It couldn’t have gotten any better for Ben McKenna of Mapleton.
He shot the moose he wanted with the gun that had belonged to his grandfather, a firearm he has not used in another hunt since he inherited it.
McKenna knew what he was looking for during the first week of the state’s moose lottery hunt, according to his guide. His permit was for Zone 6 — the Masardis area — and he hired Tyler Cote, a registered Maine guide from Northern Adrenaline Guide Service, to help him find what he wanted.
Cote put out 10 game cameras in various parts of McKenna’s zone. A big moose came through a cutting on Monday, according to one of the trail cameras.
On Tuesday, Cote and McKenna saw four bulls, but not the one they were seeking. On Wednesday, they saw nothing. On Thursday, they saw four bulls. On Friday, they went to the exact spot where the camera had picked up the big moose and tried to call the animal into the cutting.
The bull was seen on the back side of the cutting with two cows. The men called some more and the bull finally split off and came toward them.
McKenna finally had a very narrow window through which to shoot the moose and he nailed it with one shot from his 30.06 around 6:40 a.m. The hunters had the moose at the road by 9:30 a.m. It was just 500 yards off the road, and weighed in at 836 pounds with a 59-inch spread on his rack.
Cote said the palmation was really nice on the antlers, which still were shedding velvet.
He said it was his second big moose in three days in the same cutting. A youth client from southern Maine shot a big one too.
Cote said moose that size are few and far between now in Zone 6. It was one of the largest moose registered at Gateway Trading Post in Ashland.
McKenna could not be reached for comment but he wrote on Facebook that the only thing he wanted when his grandfather died was the 30.06. He told his grandmother that he would only use it when he got a moose permit.
That opportunity came after putting in for the moose lottery for 19 years, he said in the post.
Now he has made his grandfather proud.
