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L.L. Bean Set to Dedicate Display of Moose Who Died with Locked Antlers

September 29, 2009 - FREEPORT -- L.L. Bean's unusual display of two moose with their antlers locked will be dedicated today at the store's hunting exposition, and the story of the woman who found the antlers will be told.

Bean and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife partnered to create the display after Adella Johnson of New Sweden donated the antlers to the state.

In May 2006, Johnson found the remains of two bulls near her camp in New Sweden. She had smelled an animal rotting near a bog and walked to the spot, where she found two large bull moose that had died together after their antlers had become intertwined the previous fall.

Johnson called the Warden Service, and though she said she wanted to put the antlers in her camp, she donated them to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The display, unveiled a month ago at L.L. Bean, is one of only two in North America, said Emily Jones, an outdoor educator with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department has the other.

L.L. Bean, which paid for the full-bodied moose mounts, will dedicate the display during its hunting exposition at 11 a.m. today.

Johnson said she's delighted that so many people will learn about moose through the display.

She said moose are a common sight in New Sweden, in far northern Maine, walking up driveways and along main streets.

"I know they are very aggressive, especially in September. My daughter was chased from the car right up onto the porch from a big bull," Johnson said.

A native of New Sweden, Johnson said she understands that people elsewhere know little about moose.

"I hope they realize they can get hooked together fighting. My cousin was in Freeport a while ago and heard this couple looking at the display say, 'That doesn't exist. They just put them together to look like they were fighting. It didn't really happen.' My cousin lives just above where I found the moose, so he told them the story," Johnson said.

L.L. Bean, which paid more than $50,000 for the taxidermy, decided to dedicate the display because it is so symbolic, said Mac McKeever, L.L. Bean's senior public relations representative.

McKeever said the display will draw the public's attention.

"The display is very magical and very grand, just in and of itself," McKeever said. "It features one of Maine's most endearing outdoor icons, the moose."

By DEIRDRE FLEMING, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, September 26, 2009


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