A Maine hunter celebrated the biggest bear harvest of the year in the Pine Tree State last week.
Nate Mooers, 24, smiled proudly as he stood next to a 535-pound bear he shot after it fell into a trap he and his father left at a bait site.
Mooers shot the bear with a 7mm PRC rifle made by Hornady.
“I’ve been around bears my whole life and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Mooers said. Bangor Daily News.
Mooers, owner of Howe Brook Guide Service in Hammond Plantation, has participated in multiple hunts this year since bear season began on Aug. 25.
Nate Mooers, 24, smiled proudly as he stood next to a 535-pound bear he shot after it fell into a trap he and his father left at a bait site.
Mooers spotted the bear on camera footage taken from his bait sites.
However, the 24-year-old did not see any bears at the site during the day.
Mooers said the bear may have been nocturnal and only appeared at his bait sites once a week.
The lack of uniformity in the location of the bear bait also influenced why Mooers and his father decided to set a trap.
The Mooers had already been helping hunters catch their own bears before the bear fell into their and their father’s trap.
“It’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen, dead or alive,” Mooers said.
The next largest bear Mooers has seen in Maine in 2024 was a 270-pounder caught by one of his clients.
Even though Mooers’ bear is the largest this year, it’s nowhere near the state record of 699 pounds set in 2012.
Mooers spotted the bear on camera footage taken from his bait sites before he and his father set their trap.
Once Mooers finished taking photos of the bear carcass, he took it to Tapley’s Processing to have it cut up and packaged.
Cody Gould of Crown of Maine Taxidermy is creating a shoulder mount showing an animal’s head, neck, and shoulder.
Mooers plans to hang the shoulder mount in his guide service hut once it’s finished.
He also sent a bear tooth to the state of Maine, hoping to find out how old the bear was.
Mooers did not confirm what he planned to do with the meat, but told the Bangor Daily News that he enjoys creating breakfast sausages from bear meat.
Mooers plans to hang a specimen of the bear’s head and neck on his shoulder at his guide service lodge.
Bear hunting in Maine is extremely popular, with more than 13,000 permits issued to hunters during last year’s season.
State officials believe this year will be more successful than 2023 with an increase in bear hunting.
Bears are most common in northern, western, and eastern Maine, but hunters have a chance of catching a bear while deer hunting in the central and southern parts of the state.
Maine’s 13-week bear hunting season will end in late November, coinciding with the last day of the regular deer firearms season.
