WOODLAND, Maine — When 13-year-old Megan Sunshine Thornton of Woodland got up early on the morning of Sept. 24, she knew she would spend the day hunting with her father and planned on shooting a moose; what she didn’t know was that she would have the distinction of being the first to log in a moose at the New Sweden tagging station on the very first day of the 2012 season.
Sunshine’s father, John Thornton, was actually the one chosen for the permit in the annual moose lottery, and he selected Sunshine as a sub-permitee. The tables had been reversed about three years ago when Sunshine was chosen to get a permit in the lottery and John was her sub-permitee. They did get a moose that year as well, but John was the one who shot it. This year’s hunt would be Sunshine’s first attempt at shooting the moose herself, and she was successful early on.
The moose was shot at around 6:10 a.m. on the Lombard Rd. in Caribou. The eight-point bull weighed 525 pounds.
“My heart started racing when I saw it,” Sunshine recalled of the experience.
According to Sunshine, there were three moose originally, but they returned to the shelter of the woods when they sensed the hunters’ presence. Sunshine’s conquest was coaxed into the open with some moose calls, and she was able to take him down him with one shot.
“She did really well,” John praised.
Sunshine said the whole experience went pretty much as she envisioned. Referring to herself as a bit of a “tomboy,” Sunshine planned on helping her father with processing the meat from the moose, and the antlers will be kept as a souvenir.
Sunshine is not only a top-notch hunter, but also a busy eighth-grader at Woodland School. She participates in soccer, cross-country, softball, dance and basketball.˚
