I’m sure you don’t get to section the animal until registered. How do you get the large heavy beast to a vehicle? How do you get it on a vehicle for that matter?
Don’t they haul out quarters?
Why do you assume that? My friend who bagged a deer in NH a few years back scouted the area pretty well and made sure he could get a quad with a trailer close by. They he gutted and quartered it before hauling it out.
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/Moose_hunt/moose_game_care.htm#field
I misread the title at first as “Mouse hunters…” I was quite disappointed when I looked again.
When you shoot 'em it’s really hard to get them out of the woods. Collecting all the little pieces is a real bitch unless you have a Shop Vac.
The answer may be found in the story about the guy who hired a guide to take him moose hunting up in the Alagash in Maine.
The first night, sitting around the fire, the hunter said to his guide, “You know, I can’t help wondering what would happen if I had a heart attack way back here. I weigh 225 pounds, and no offense, but I doubt whether you weigh more than 140 lbs. How would you get me out?”
The guide said, “Probably the same way way I hauled a 400-lb moose out by myself last week.”
“How in the heck did you do that?” asked the hunter?
Replied the guide, “Four trips.”
I don’t know how you hunt moose over there, but in my neck of the woods we hunt as a hunting team of 12-15 people. Usually 2/3 take their positions along a designated area, and the rest drive the animals toward the post line. This post line is usually put not too far from a lumber track accessible by tractor. If however the moose decides to fall dead in more inaccessible places, we have to haul it out with ropes. Then we usually cut out the guts first to avoid any inside mess if we have to drag the animal over rough terrain.
To elaborate, since this is GQ, the hunting team is composed of the land owners (farmers) in the area, and each autumn (the hunting period is restricted from september to november) based on the area the land owners represent, we get a number of moose we can hunt. It is to keep the population from getting too large. Each year we get a quota of 8 to 12 moose, and 12-14 deer.
The serious answer for a lot of hunters in Alaska is simply to not shoot a moose unless it’s really close to your vehicle.
Gut & quarter. Some people will debone it in the field if there’s time & light.
It helps to have friends with packmules too. 
Around here you only need to keep evidence of sex, not the entire animal. We’re mostly elk hunters but I’m not dragging a 700 pound elk out in one shot anymore than I’m pulling out a 1300 lb moose, so maybe moose guys do it the same way. I’ve seen guys essentially butcher the animal where it falls to save packing out bones, so long as the the DoW guys see proof that the sex of the critter matches your tag (and/or have antlers of the minimum length, if bull/buck tag), you’re good.
Occasionally I’ve dropped one close enough to the truck to haul it out whole, but that’s rare. 90% of the time they get quartered, at least.
Thanks for the answer.
It was hard to imagine the DNR allowing the cutting before registration.
It must be weird to see a dog chewing on one of those leg bones.
Two greenhorns are in the Alaska hunting lodge arguing over whether it is better to shoot a moose in the heart, or go for a head shot. The debate becomes heated, and they decide to wager a bottle of burbon, choosing to let thier guide settle the dispute.
When the guide arrives from the bunkhouse in the morning they ask “In your experience, where is the best place to shoot a moose?”
The answer:“Next to a road.”
Well, it’s not often you find a spare moose nipple laying around. Then again we don’t do “registration” either, so my preliminary caveat still applies.
From CDOW -
You can take the moose out the the woods, but you can’t take the woods out of the moose.
No, I have no idea either.
Nowadays, many hunters up here take a tundra buggy into the boonies. These rigs are set up with huge tires, an A-frame and a winch. Shoot the moose, drive the buggy to where the moose is, hoist it up with the winch/frame and either quarter it right there, or haul it back to camp. Only idiots shoot a moose miles from the nearest road unless they have some means of getting it out other than hauling it on their backs.
My uncle was involved in some aspect of the fish and game association in Maine. Part of his job killing moose in area’s hunters weren’t allowed in.(mostly to close to homes). During the winter they used snow mobiles with tow behind sleds. During the warmer months they often used boats. Overal the prefered method was wait till they got close to the road.
Many years ago while on a hike I came across a hunter that had bagged a large elk. He found a couple large tree limbs, tied the elk to the limbs and drug it out using the limbs as skids. He had to go about 3 miles and had a decent trail to follow which made it easier.
Your take the moose by surprise and force it to walk out of the woods at gunpoint, and then shoot it after it has climbed into the back of your pickup truck.
Hey, it worked for Jimmy Hoffa…
Also see this thread.