Hunting in Maine is unique. Our landscape is different than most states, our predators are a lot more abundant (hello 36,000 black bear roaming the woods) and we have a shorter season that most. Recently, I highlighted these challenges for the National Deer Alliance and wrote about why they makes Maine such a great place to hunt. Click here to read my article for the National Deer Alliance.
That is our mentality as we drag that target outside each weekend and measure out distance in the snow. For three years, I have been after this huge buckand he has stayed nocturnal. After this past rifle season ended and Dad stayed in the woods with his muzzle loader, he saw the deer pattern back to their pre-rifle ways. They were back to traveling the paths that we assumed they used and they were coming out earlier and earlier. Dad didn't shoot a deer but he saw the small buck that we had around and a few does. For the first time, it was blatantly obvious that rifle hunters were moving these deer around. While we had been toying with it, it was clear that we needed to get into archery to try and get the upper hand on those...
There was running water on almost every trail but sometimes, you just have to get on the snowmobile and ride. Last weekend Dad, Hubby and I decided to ride around and see if we could find our deer. I secretly wished to find a shed but that didn't happen. An eagle flew from a tall spruce tree as we crossed a field and headed into the woods. There were wet spots, muddy spots and running streams but we pushed on. The amount of deer tracks were incredible. Crossing the snowmobile trails, gathered around ground hemlock... our herd was having an easy winter with lots of food available with no real effort needed to find it. We headed down a side snowmobile trail that runs parallel to the trail that we take to get to...
There is no snow on the ground and the temperatures have been in the 50s instead of the teens or 20s. As a result, our deer herd is having a great time getting lots of food without the worry of snow, freezing temps or that coyote that is (still) around. Dad still has the trail cameras out and we are getting some encouraging pictures. I didn't bother copying the ones of the coyote, but he is still around and solo. But these are always good to see and it means that we will need to change things up for next season if we are going to outwit this deer. I believe he is about 3.5 or 4.5 years old and knows how to avoid hunters. I can NOT get over the size of his neck! And the next generation of big bucks: From the side, his...
The last few days of hunting season were eventful in the wrong ways. Just to the right of the stick is a deer track in the leaves. In order for my mom to prepare and cook what she needed to for Thanksgiving dinner, I stayed home to watch O while Dad and Hubby went out for a few hours. In the afternoon, Hubby stayed home while O took a nap and Dad and I went out. The woods were quiet and calm. We didn't even see a squirrel. Thanksgiving night, O got sick; throwing up sick, which for a two year old is a scary thing. We made the decision to not hunt on Friday morning in case he still didnt feel good. I have been criticized in the past by readers who think that in order to be a good, qualified hunter, you...
I am a proud member of the Orange army. I never really thought about it until I became more involved with the online hunting groups. So many of my buddies on social media have posted over the past couple of weeks about trying to get a deer and getting out of the woods before the orange army comes in. There are trail cam pics being posted with spike horns or crotch horns with a note about the likelihood of the deer being shot by the orange army. Allow me to tell you what this proud member does when she puts on her orange. She is looking for food to feed her family. She proudly carries her rifle into the woods and knows that with one well placed shot, she can drop a deer dead in its tracks. She is...
With these deer around, I may want to get my sleeping bag and heater ready for deer season! What do you guys think? Is it too early for these big guys to be going around to their scrapes? This guy is back in the pattern of stopping by twice a night to check things out.
I know that today marks the start of bear season, but nothing get me more excited than seeing bucks on the trail cameras, especially when they are the deer that you have been after for multiple seasons! I can not wait til opening day of rifle season. Meat is meat and I will be grateful to fill the freezer, but those two big bucks... they would be a feat! Littlest Little Little Big Biggest From the look at this picture, this is the 'smaller' of the two large bucks that we have around. Fingers crossed that this season, we can give you a close up...
No matter what animal I hunt, I always come back to deer. Hunting predators like bear and coyote are great and I'm eager to check off turkey and moose but I plan my vacations around deer season. After getting yelled at last season, we decided to build a permanent structure a little further into woods and close to the same property line. It was hard to visualize what it would look like and Dad had great plans for our third permanent deer stand. He built it in the barn and we tested out sizes, wall height and visibility. We were going to put it up in late January but time got away from us and February hit bringing about five feet of snow in four weeks. So instead, Dad used the snowmobile to bring...
