Rare
Locked Moose Antlers
Rare battling moose go on display
DEIRDRE FLEMING
August 23, 2009
FREEPORT — Where did they come from? When were they found?
And why are they fighting?
The questions that filled the air around the new moose display
at L.L. Bean resembled leaves swirling through the air in hunting
season.
The questions from children were
the most fun – as were
the answers.
"They got stuck because they were fighting. It's not good
to fight," said Soren Lloyd, 3, of Rockville, Md.
Soren was mesmerized by the exhibit of two moose locked in battle
that went up last weekend in L.L. Bean's flagship store.
The rare mounted moose drew a crowd last Monday.
There only are two known locked-antler, full-body moose displays
in North America, said outdoor educator Emily Jones with the Department
of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The New Hampshire Fish and Game
Department has the other.
And that is precisely why L.L. Bean chose to foot the bill for
this display when contacted by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries
and Wildlife in 2006, after the department inherited an unusual
pair of locked antlers three years ago.
"It's extremely rare. New Hampshire's is smaller. They were
extremely supportive, and helpful in the work," Jones said.
The real-life portrait also is unusual in that it depicts something
that does not happen often in the wild. Moose do not typically
lock antlers in full-out combat.
"It's rare. Moose don't often fight. Mostly, they just knock
antlers. That's pretty common to see, if you spend any time in
the north woods," said Jones, who has hunted near Fort Kent.
The museum-like display cost L.L. Bean $50,000 for the taxidermy
work alone, said Mac McKeever, L.L. Bean's senior public relations
representative.
It all started with the generosity of a woman in Aroostook County.
In May 2006, Adella Johnson was walking along her property in
New Sweden when she saw an unusual image in a marshy area: Two
enormous interlocked moose antlers and the remains of the creatures
that were bound by them.
Johnson called the Maine Warden
Service, and – knowing how
rare the find was – did the only thing that was fitting,
in her mind. Johnson donated the massive interlocked antlers to
the state for education.
Generous as that gift was, the Department of Inland Fisheries
and Wildlife was ill equipped to do the amazing antlers justice.
So it partnered with L.L. Bean.
"If we were doing this on our own, we would not be at this
point. We'd still be scrambling," Jones said of the elaborate
project.
The result was the tedious work of Gray taxidermist Mark Dufresne,
who placed the battling moose in a mossy field of stumps and dead
trees to match the boggy location where Johnson found the antlers.
"The state came to us in the spirit of education and their
interpretive mission, and we said, 'Absolutely,'" McKeever
said. "What better way to bring to life one of Maine's most
endearing icons?"
The sizes of the antlers suggest that the moose, which became
locked in fall 2005, each weighed between 800 and 1,000 pounds,
Jones said.
The display will travel periodically in a custom-fitted trailer
purchased by L.L. Bean.
The first trip for the display will be to the Fryeburg Fair Oct.
4 to 11.
But when the department is not taking
them to public events, Maine's locked-antler moose will forever
be
on display – housed in
a location that is open 24 hours, no less.
So the hundreds of thousands of customers who make the pilgrimage
to L.L. Bean in Freeport can view a lesson in nature, one that
certainly is memorable and, perhaps, immeasurable.
As Leslie Lloyd of Maryland fielded questions from her two young
children, she smiled at their enthusiasm.
Her son and 7-year-old daughter never took their eyes off the
two imposing moose.
"I couldn't take them to a museum, especially the 3-year-old.
He doesn't have the attention span," Lloyd said. "There
is no way he'd leave the beach. But if I told him I'll buy him
a present, he'll come here. Right now, they're not bored at all."
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