What follows appeared in the October 29, 1895, edition of the RANGELEY LAKES newspaper. This was an installment authored by the veteran woodsman, Joshua Gross Rich. Rich was an early homesteader in the Rangeley region and one of its earliest guides. The short piece was originally printed in FOREST & STREAM, the leading national sporting publication of the day and Rich was a regular contributor. He mentions how most folks never lay eyes on a moose yard and that was quite true as our present-day system of woods roads and snowmobile trails did not exist. Today, these spots are guarded family secrets and over the coming winter “horns hunters” will race their competitors to the best “drop zones” or “horns honey holes”, to find antlers. Back in Joshua’s time, one might assume there was an abundance of antlers lying about in the moose wintering yards. However, unless you ventured into the least accessible parts of the state, there just weren’t many moose left to drop their antlers in the wintering yards. Unregulated overhunting during the last quarter of the 19th century had taken a heavy toll on the overall population.

The “Golden Age” of horns hunting probably took place sometime around the last Spruce Budworm infestation in Maine. The last major outbreak began in1967 and subsided around 1993 and covered about 136 million acres across eastern Canada and Maine. This resulted in extensive woods road construction and massive clear cutting. The moose population then peaked due to the additional thousands of acres of browse habitat and the “swamp donkeys” were thicker than …well… ticks on a moose’s behind!

Enjoy what follows and be sure to get outside to make some great outdoor history of your own and maybe find some antlers! Happy New Year to all!

Moose shed (Submitted photo)

Habits of the Moose

Very few people, or even sportsmen, have seen the winter-feeding ground and works of the moose, commonly called a moose yard. In following up the late fall works or feedings of the moose, the hunter is guided entirely by the breaking of the buds of the twigs of small trees and bushes, with perhaps a little gnawing of the bark of a small willow or maple now and then. After following the “signs” a mile or two, it is easy to conjecture the mountain he is steering for, and it is quite probable that the moose have their winter yarding place decided upon in early fall, if not before mid-summer. I believe the bulls that live on the mountains in early summer, (remain) isolated from the herd, while waiting for their antlers to harden. After they have attained their full length and are in the “velvet,” as hunters term it, and very tender, they discover a place to live the next winter and lead the herd there the next fall. They commence at the foot of the mountain in early winter, working up the base and along the sides of the ridge, back and forth, and before the snow gets full winter depth, reach the top and commence working down the side of the mountain while the snows are deep, thus making it easier to break the deep, snow, and peel or gnaw the bark from every small-sized tree in their way, preferring the willow, maple and moose wood, and making the woods look like new furniture, gnawing the bark high up, ten or twelve feet, by standing on their hind feet with their knees against the tree. No one can imagine the appearance of the fresh works of a moose

yard in winter—their well-trodden paths in the snow in every direction, and the bright new wood as far as the eye can reach—and the sensation of knowing that you are in the immediate vicinity of the largest game of the Maine forest and perhaps within easy range.

—J. G. Rich, in Forest and Stream.