Big Mountain Outfitters

23/04/2024

Moose hunting isn’t about the moose.

When I think back on how fortunate we have been to be apart of so many memories, and have many wonderful people to make new ones with, rarely do I ever think of a particular moose that made it so special.
Those who have waited years to draw a tag in Maine have probably created a dream bull they shoot and how it all goes down. I’m here to tell you, it won’t go down how you dream. You will realize there’s so much more to it. The most common complaint I ever hear about moose camp is “I wish we had more time”.
Some of the best friends we have ever made came out of this camp, from the fathers, mothers, sons, brothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, uncles and best friends who have all been apart of it.
There are a couple of weeks left to apply for your moose camp memory. I would strongly encourage you to spend the 15.00 to apply.
For those who have already been apart of it, thank you and we would love to see you back again someday!

07/04/2024

Here is another impressive bull taken by the Big Mountain Outfitters team last fall. Sometimes we are placed in the right spot at the right time for reasons we can’t explain. That’s exactly what happened here.
One part of our operation that has worked out very well for us is our guide training. We really enjoy teaching new guides how we hunt moose and care for our clients. There is way more to it than just a moose call. We won’t allow a new guide to take on his own hunt until they have spent at least a couple of seasons learning from other guides. It’s not a mandatory requirement from the state, but it is with our operation. One of those new guides is Liam, he was teamed up with Brett Patten last fall to finish out his second and final year of his training, and will be guiding his own client this fall. Brett is a seasoned veteran and he was a good matchup with Liam.
Brett and Liam were guiding Gary and Justin last October. It was mid week and they were hunting an area with a lot of feed as we often do. They knew of a few impressive bulls in the area, and there was very little hunting pressure around from other parties.
Halfway through the hunt on this day Brett had handed over the reigns to Liam and said “you take it from here” Brett had seen enough and was confident Liam could get the job done. Just after saying that the group had started down a beaten moose path with a lot of feed sign. Liam and Gary were in the front. Brett had tried to signal Liam to stop because he wanted to point out some fresh moose sign. Liam didn’t quite hear him well enough, and thought maybe Brett had seen a moose. The group stopped to look and as Liam stood on a stump to see what was there he saw the paddle of a large bull behind a tree. Gary took his opportunity and made a great shot putting the bull down.
When everything was said and done, they recapped and realized it was just pure coincidence that this had all happened in exactly the right sequence and had Brett not been pointing out the sign they would have walked right by the bull. So 10 minutes into Liam’s guiding career he has a bull most guys dream their entire lives of harvesting.
Truth be told, we didn’t know anything about this bull prior to that day. We did know of several other large bulls which is why they were there. But you never know what’s around the next corner. I’m not a big fan of deductions so without those this bull scores 184 1/8 putting him just shy of the official 185” minimum b&c score. Both of these bulls I posted this week were killed on the same day, at almost the exact same time.

05/04/2024

Here is an incredible bull taken down by our team last fall. Most of you have already seen the pictures of the bull, however we have some follow up details to share to make it an even better story. We first discovered this bull last September on one of our cameras. We had only gotten a couple pictures of him in mid-September and hoped he was somewhere in the area.
As luck would have it Robert, Troy, Logan and Stuart ran into him while hunting a little over a mile from the original trail cam location mid-day. The team had been still hunting a section of woods with a lot of moose sign. This was during the October hunt and while slowly working their way through the woods and calling every once in a while they heard a single branch snap close by. After waiting a minute for confirmation of a moose this brute stepped out and right into the laps of Troy and Logan who made great shots. Had they not been paying attention they may never have laid eyes on this animal and would have probably just walked right by.
After posting pictures on Facebook I received some messages from another guide service with additional reveal camera pictures shown in this post. He had been after the bull as well and had many pictures of the bull throughout summer and early fall.
To end the story, somewhere the bull had broken off his longest tine which puts the bull just shy of making official b&c which is a minimum of 185”, but he certainly makes more than enough to make MASTC and is a bull of a lifetime for anyone.

01/04/2024

The moose hunting lottery is now open until May 15. If you wish to hunt with us apply for zones 1,4,2,5,8,3,6,7,9,11 in that order. Select Sept and Oct seasons and bull only. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out, good luck!

27/03/2024

Game Care -
I want to take a moment to discuss the importance of this topic. Over the years we have encountered pretty much every bit of weather that can be thrown at a hunt, from hurricane winds to 95 degree heat.
Our location means we are a long ways from any modern grid powered amenities. We have adapted to this style of hunting to provide the best experience for our clients and guides.
Two years ago, after a tremendous amount of discussion we decided to team up with Deer Processing Westbrook. He purchased a mobile walk-in cooler and agreed to locate to our camp. This has been a huge success, allowing our clients to store all of their meat in his cooler and receive high quality processing. I know of only one other remote outfitter who is doing this. Most clients don’t realize if you book a remote hunt, your butcher may be 50-100 miles away, and they may not even be open by the time you reach them depending on what time of day you shoot the moose.
In addition to the walk in cooler we have also invested in the highest quality coolers and chest freezer to ensure the food served in camp is always safe.
The lottery is 5 days away. I encourage you to start researching now and asking the important questions.

01/02/2024

The winter of 2018/2019 was a very tough one for northern Maine. We saw a large winter kill due to the long winter and snow depths. It has taken several years to build back a good number of older age class bulls. Last fall was very promising. We started to see the age class return with many large bulls on camera. This winter so far has been very mild compared to an average winter. Even if we get some severe storms at this point, their days of having to deal with it are far less. It’s looking to be another promising year for moose!

30/01/2024

Here is a great episode of bird hunting from our remote hunting camp. Filmed during the fall of 2022 by The Flush Tv

Bill Sherck hunts for ruffed grouse in the remote Maine Northwoods with a dedicated group of hunters. It's a family affair, pitching a tent in the forest and...

27/01/2024

We have a highly coveted zone 1 bull tag available for sale. Dates are Sept 23-28 2024. Serious inquiries only - pm or call for more details.

23/12/2023

Moose season is a ways away right now, but the process itself is right around the corner. Whether it’s an auction bid or an application, reach out to us if you have any questions or need assistance with zone selection. Here is a bull we hope to encounter next season!

16/10/2023

Testimonial from last week, this is what motivates us.

We love to hunt and be with people that share the passion. I’ve been with good and bad outfitters, you all fall in the great category. You allowed us to be apart of the team and made our experience epic! The accommodations were amazing, but what made it the best was how hard you all hunted and pushed us!

Can’t wait to share the official scores, the story/article, and shoulder mount with you all.

Looking forward to crossing paths again! Good luck with your hunting adventures!

If you ever need a reference don’t hesitate to call me or pass my number along. I have nothing but good things to say.

15/10/2023

Just getting back from an incredible week in the woods. First I want to thank everyone involved. Without this team none of this would be possible. We scouted as hard as we always do, and collectively put hundreds of boot miles on the ground, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if we surpassed 1000 boot miles as a team for the combined seasons including scouting. We were able to put a couple of true giants on the ground this past week. Everyone in camp was able to lay eyes on close to a 50” bull or better.
Anyone who has moose hunted in the last couple of years can attest to how difficult it is, but we continue to push hard for the best results possible. Thank you to Denice, Sarah, Beth, April, Jim, Brett, Connor, Liam, Erin, Gavin, Hunter, Sam, Stuart and all of our clients this year.

07/10/2023

Heading into week 2, we are excited to see what it brings!

04/10/2023

This is the stuff that gets me excited, to see someone fulfill their dream after a long wait.

04/10/2023

Archery moose kill from last week. Ryan’s dream was to kill a bull with his bow up close. This was a mid day bull we called in. My 15 year old son who is on his third year with us learning to moose hunt filmed this. This was the raw excitement of the hunt. One arrow took out both lungs and the other was a heart shot. The bull ran approximately 30 yards and died.

04/10/2023

September 2023:

We were once again blessed by having a great crew and clients during last weeks warm hunt.
It’s the first time in a long time I can remember not having much wind to speak of, which is a hunters dream come true. But it wasn’t that easy since we had temps in the 70s every single day.
Each year we look at improving our operation and giving our clients and guides a better experience than years prior. One of the many challenges has always been game care, which is a top priority for us. In years past we would have to rush out to town as soon as the moose was quartered and into the truck. We were finally able to coordinate having a butcher and walk in cooler in camp with us and that couldn’t have worked out any better. Nate Fitzgerald from Deer Processing Westbrook was a home run. No longer were we concerned about being 70 miles away from town when a moose was down. He even came to each pack out to help quarter and carry. Who else can say their butcher does that? Overall we had a fantastic week, with several bulls down and a couple of missed opportunities of giants, but that’s hunting.
One notable event from last week that I would like to briefly talk about is being prepared for your hunt. One of our guides and his clients were calling moose one morning and heard some cries for help from a swamp below them. After a while of yelling they were able to finally get two men to come up from the woods below. One was a guide and one was his hunter. They had shot a moose the day prior and went in looking for it with basically zero survival or navigational items. They became disoriented and wet and had to spend the night in the woods. Luckily the client had a lighter in his jacket for smoking. The client was able to light a fire that night to keep them both from hypothermia. We do not know either of these men, but I’m glad they were ok. It could have been much worse had Brett not come across them. Regardless if you are a guide or a DIY hunter this should not happen and is totally preventable. Don’t turns a dream hunt into a nightmare. Please be prepared.
Lastly but most important of all we would like to thank our families for all of your support, our clients, guides, cook, support staff and anyone else involved. We always show the “cool pictures” of hunting but there is way more involved to make this a success such as the many months prior planning, and you just can’t take a picture of that.
We are looking forward to next week!

20/09/2023

Looking forward to some late nights next week!

18/09/2023

Moose season begins one week from today. Here is a short clip taken last year by one of our hunters Tom jr as he was hunting with his father Tom sr. And guide Jim as they venture through some alders and back into better moose country. Little did they know just a few short hours later they would be tagged out with a beautiful bull Jim called in for them.

08/09/2023

The scouting report is promising this year. All of our guides are reporting the same thing - plenty of moose sign. The bulls are also just starting to shed their velvet and think about the cows. Things are changing fast and we are really looking forward to it. We have our first group of moose hunters arriving for the September bull hunts in only 16 days, excited to see what this year brings!

05/09/2023

After two long days of prep work and camp chores the crew was finally able to sit around the fire and ”relax” sort of….we were still all putting fresh batteries in the cameras and formatting cards.

04/09/2023

Here is a short clip of a cow our guide Liam walked up on while scouting this past weekend. She clearly didn’t like his presence as you can see her ears go back. He was a couple miles in from the nearest spot you can drive to.

04/09/2023

04/09/2023

Moose scouting and prep work is in full swing now. All of our cameras are hung in preparation for the rut to start.

29/08/2023

27 days until moose season! Lots of guys have their minds on bears right now, and rightfully so since opening day was yesterday. But we can’t help but think about moose. Here’s a couple of October bulls from 2019 guided by myself and Mark Donaghy.
These bulls were the perfect example of pre season scouting. multiple pics of each of these bulls were taken prior to the season, both during daylight and nighttime. We knew they wouldn’t be far if we just had the right weather conditions to hunt them, which we did on Monday morning and Tuesday morning. Both bulls were living within a mile of one another and had surely met several times in their lives. Both were called out.

25/08/2023

The North Maine Woods is a very special place, it’s worth visiting, recreating and soaking up every second of. Fall is one of the most beautiful times to enjoy it. We hope you and your family have a chance to get up there this year. If you have never been, it’s worth it!
Within a few weeks we will have our first group of moose hunters in camp with us, we can’t wait to create memories and share the stories with you all.

24/08/2023

We’re almost there…
Within the next couple of weeks the bulls will start to shed their velvet and things are going to rapidly change, transforming into our favorite time of year.

12/08/2023

A little footage from last season. Here’s a young bull and what he hoped would be his cow.

11/08/2023

It’s beginning to look a lot like moose season! Prep is underway.

19/07/2023

We post a lot about moose, because we’re very passionate about it. We also really enjoy settling down with friends and family and doing some bird hunting and watching the dogs work. Last fall we really enjoyed having Bill Scherck and The Flush tv crew up to moose/bird camp. Here is their latest episode in Northern Maine with us.

16/06/2023

There’s just something about moose camp….