We had one goal besides seeing the leaves changing in Maine. To see a moose. My mother-in-law, Chris, and I were determined to spot one. We rode around for our three weeks in Maine searching high and low for just one. We knew our very best chance to spot one was going to be in our first stay near Kokadjo, ME.
We went to Baxter State Park and someone else saw one that day. A friend told me that she saw them in Greenville, early in the morning, right in Moosehead Lake. I googled and googled. Moose like marsh plants and are most active at sunrise and sunset. With that in mind I even traipsed through a bog 1/4 of a mile to find Lazy Tom Pond in the hopes of spotting a moose. I saw so much evidence of moose, but never saw one.
I will say though that I was definitely near one at one point in the forest on my first hike out to the pond. I stopped moving and could hear footsteps, munching, and a grumble. Sadly, when I tried to look around to see where my moose friend might be they moved on.
We even paid for my in-laws to go on a moose tour. Apparently, there was one moose running down the road that some of the people in the vehicle saw on their drive back, but Chris didn’t. She was so disappointed. We sort of saw one that same night in our car but as we stopped to look, kind Mainers pulled up next to us (blocking the moose from our view) to make sure we were ok. I sort of saw a blurry moose butt but that was it and Chris and Eric missed it again.
But, I had one final trick up my sleeve. Several people mentioned that there is a moose at the Maine Wildlife Park. I was skeptical at first, but once I found out it was run by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and not some random person in the woods, I decided it was ethical enough to stop in. On our final day in Maine, I grabbed Chris and Eric and we headed over to see our moose. Even if he wasn’t wild any longer, he was *technically* a moose in Maine.
There were more (and fewer) animals than I expected at the park. How does that work you ask? I was surprised by the number of enclosures – so there were more potential animals to see. Some of the enclosures didn’t have residents though (that’s good news – it means those who’ve been there have been rehabilitated and released back into the wild), so there were fewer animals in the enclosures overall.
It’s a beautiful little park to walk through. Great for kids to run and very accessible for those with mobility issues.
A word about the animals at the Maine Wildlife Park.
Enrichment is an important part of any captive animal’s day.
There were many informative signs around the park teaching you fun (and not so fun – but important) facts about Maine’s wildlife.
We were in a hurry to see our moose and get on the road to Vermont, so we followed the signs but saw a few bonus animals on our way to the moose.
It was finally time to see the moose. He has a very large, three-sectioned, enclosure. The front desk person said if he wasn’t visible at first just keep walking because he had a lot of space to move around in. And she was right. He was in the second enclosure area.
On the one hand, we were really happy to see him so close – he was right by the fence near the walkway. On the other hand, we were sad that he was laying down – not that he doesn’t deserve to, it was just that seeing how tall he was would’ve been an extra treat.
The fall is rut season and so many male moose are on the move (say that 3x fast!) and our chances of spotting one in Maine in the wild were improved but it was also a much more dangerous proposition. That’s why, when I heard the one near me in the forest, I didn’t make too much effort to really see him so that I didn’t put myself in an even more dangerous situation.
We took one more quick spin through the rest of the park on our way back to the car. We saw a few deer, who also have a very large enclosure.
Then we made our way through the small animals. We saw a beaver and a skunk. The raccoon’s shape was visible, but he was inside a log so we didn’t get a great look at him.
Just before we left a volunteer told us to pop into one of the educational buildings so we could see and touch various pelts from the Maine wildlife.
Overall, the Maine Wildlife Park is worth a stop in if you have kids or if, like my in-laws, you want to see some of the native North American wildlife that isn’t where you live. At the time of our visit the ticket price was $10 for adults and $7.50 for seniors. This was a small price to pay to see a moose officially.
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