A Maine mother brought her 11-month-old daughter on a moose hunt this week, sparking mixed reactions from locals on social media.
Autumn Clark, an outdoorsy woman from Swanville in Maine, set out on the first day of the bull moose hunting season alongside her husband, David, while carrying their daughter on her back.
Their hunt would be a success and the family went home with their prize on the very first day of the season.
The Bangor Daily News posted about the family’s hunt on Facebook to a varied response from members of the community.
‘Look at the pretty moose honey. Let’s watch Daddy kill it. (I hope therapy will help),’ one commenter wrote.
‘Killing of a life should not be a photo op. Respect and honor is absent in hunting it seems as we become unappreciative more and more as we exploit basic needs for a social media fame,’ wrote another.
But others were far more supportive. ‘Are people surprised this is the real MAINE way…. congratulations,’ chimed in a third commenter.
‘Hell ya! Thats so awesome!’, wrote a fourth.
Autumn Clark took her 11-month-old daughter, Ophelia, on a moose hunt on the opening day of Maine’s hunting season
Clark said she thought it was important to include her daughter in the experience
Clark said she thought it was important to include her daughter, Ophelia, in the experience despite the difficulties that would come from caring for an infant while tracking a moose through the Maine wilderness.
After the hunt, she said that bringing her baby required some adjustments. Ophelia was ‘crankier in the beginning of the day when she needed a nap,’ Clark told the Bangor Daily News.
‘We had to hope she wouldn’t be too fussy or loud,’ she said. The mother also praised her husband for taking over carrying the baby when needed.
But it wasn’t all trouble, she said. Ophelia tried to mimic cow calls and her parents ‘didn’t mind the help.’
Eventually, Ophelia ‘was just happy to be outside and then fell asleep in the backpack carrier,’ Clark said.
The adventurous mother had been interested in getting a moose hunting permit last year, but at the time she was 36 weeks pregnant so she was given a medical deferment to hunt in 2025.
A year later, the hunting season rolled around again and she decided she would strap her daughter to her back and take her along rather than leave the baby at home.
Clark had scouted the area for a bull moose hunt in 2015, so she was familiar with the region, but she still spent a month to prepare for this week’s hunt.
The season’s opening day saw a large number of hunters on the road, so Clark, David and a friend of theirs moved to a more secluded area, with little Ophelia in tow. The mother said the hike was brutal.
The group settled in near a bog that was 700 yards from the nearest road and had no trail access.
‘As soon as we got down to the bog, we saw the bull on the other side of the pond,’ Clark said. The group set up and prepared themselves, and within 10 minutes, the moose had made its way over and was standing right in front of them.
‘It was a clean, easy kill’, Clark said. David brought their daughter down to her mother and the dead moose to pose for some pictures. The hunt was particularly significant because hunters are only allowed to harvest one moose per year.
As difficult as the hike was on the way in, it proved to be an even more serious challenge on the way out.
The bull moose weighed 746 pounds, and it took six hours to haul out with a truck bed liner and a chainsaw winch.
