BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 21, 2025
Brandon Bishop remembers vividly the first time he saw a dead moose infested with thousands of ticks. The registered Maine Guide was snowmobiling in the north woods in 2012 and within a week found a dozen carcasses, mostly of calves, lying in the roads. Since then, moose partially bald from trying to dislodge mats of winter ticks have become an increasingly familiar sight. Changes across Maine’s northern woods in recent years have created risky conditions for the state’s iconic moose herd. Warmer winters have boosted populations of ticks, which prey on moose throughout the cold season. Most concerning to state wildlife biologists is that half of the calves they have tracked in recent years do not survive their first year of life, and tick-infested female moose become less fertile. Guides also are nervous about being able to continue to make their living from hunting.