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Feb 2024 27

Two big bucks in one day

By | Adventures in the Woods, Hunting in Maine, Maine Deer hunting, Maine Outdoors, Tree Stand Hunting, Whitetail Deer, Women Who Hunt | 0 Comments | 2 min read

I listened to the ravens, crows and turkeys fight over the morning's gut pile. I was still giddy about my success as I climbed into the treestand, almost within sight of the Sky Condo.  Motion to my right caught my eye and I saw a deer feeding on acorns. I lifted my rifle and peered through the scope, hopeful that I could punch my doe tag. My heart raced as I saw the antlers. I was looking at a buck as big or bigger than the one I had shot hours earlier.  Two big bucks in one day! I calmed myself down and swapped my scope for my binoculars and paused. The buck I was now looking at was a large spikehorn. Where had that big buck gone? Where had this buck come from?  Adjusting the binoculars, I saw the smaller buck make a circle and lay...

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Jan 2024 30

The end of my deer hunting goals

By | Adventures in the Woods, Hunting in Maine, Maine Deer hunting, Maine Outdoors, Tree Stand Hunting, Whitetail Deer, Women Who Hunt | 0 Comments | 4 min read

My phone showed 4am. There were photos from the cell cameras.  With one eye open, I started scrolling and saw one of the big bucks.  He had been in the same spot days earlier and had made a 5 hour loop.  I had 3 hours to get in my stand. I took two steps away from the truck and the world erupted around me.  The only thing louder than the crunching of deer running, was the beating of my heart. Several deep breaths later, I started back on the trail to the stand.  A few more steps and another deer jumped and ran.  Had it been the buck? I wasn't far from where we had been.  I passed by my camera at 5:05am; three hours since the buck had been there. Don't Do Rodents There is something about hearing mice scratching inches from my face that...

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Jul 2023 24

The awe of a fawn

By | Conservation, Hunting in Maine, Maine Outdoors, Whitetail Deer, Wildlife Conservation | 1 Comment | 2 min read

Last August, I had the opportunity to get a fawn that had been hit by a car. I called the warden, got a tag and it was off to the taxidermist. Maybe a little morbid, but unless you are willing to use a tag to shoot a fawn, there are few ways to aquire the young deer. This week, I brought it home to my office. The woman who did the taxiermy work did an incredible job on the fine details. The fawn's eyes, lashes, ear hair and whiskers are exact. It is amazing to look at the small body and the characteristis and then look at the buck above it and the changes and simularlities. The fawn was about two months old and his pedicals were just beginning to form.  The skull is close to the same size as my coyote's skull but a bit more rounded on...

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Dec 2022 22

This is why my land is posted

By | Hunting in Maine, Maine Deer hunting, Maine Outdoors, Trail Camera Views, Whitetail Deer | 0 Comments | 3 min read

And will stay that way. Years ago, I had my first negative run in with another hunter. Since then, we have posted all of our land and we have added to the number of trail cameras that we have out in the woods. Sometimes we see vehicles driving into our food plot.  In that case, I send the photos to a local police officer who finds out who the license plates are registered to. We have seen random people show up on the trail cameras almost every year. This year, we had them again and it’s getting a little old.   Trespasser 2022 I sat in my stand at the end of deer season this year with my phone vibrating constantly in my pocket.  When I looked, I saw a number of photos of a random person on our property. This was the second time...

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Dec 2022 16

Fastest deer tag ever

By | Maine Deer hunting, Maine Hunters, Tree Stand Hunting, Whitetail Deer, Women Who Hunt | 1 Comment | 2 min read

I was relieved to see my name on the list of people who had received doe tags in the lottery.  There were so many doe on our trail cameras that it seemed likely that we would be successful. But, as opening day got closer and closer, illness struck my household and I was the last person standing without a tissue or cough drops in my pocket. In my attempt to ‘quarantine’ myself, I packed up and headed north. My watch read 32 degrees when Dad and I snuck into the woods. At a fork in the trail, Dad paused and waited for me to get into the Sky Condo before he continued on. I flicked off my headlamp and watched his light disappear around the corner.  For all I know, the deer stood there and watched us split up because just when Dad started...

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Jan 2022 3

The buck that completed my grand slam

By | Hunting in Maine, Maine Hunters, Whitetail Deer, Women Who Hunt | 4 Comments | 4 min read

It was 21 degrees when we headed into the woods. I just needed a deer to complete my grand slam. I had a doe tag and was eager to get into my stand. The leaves were crunchy with frost but the woods were calm.  I climbed into the Sky Condo and waited for the world to awaken.  Almost immediately, animals started moving.  I sat perfectly still, my breath hidden by my green fleece balaclava.  It was almost an hour before I could see well enough into the woods to know if I was hearing deer or squirrels (it was squirrels). A deer blew from the end of the field.  Something must have spooked it.  The neighbor? I knew that if I was going to change seats, this would be the time.  Nothing had come into the field.  I grabbed my gear and walked as...

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Feb 2021 4

Not what you want to see on the trail cameras

By | Trail Camera Views | 0 Comments | 1 min read

I missed seeing what was happening in the woods so I decided to put a couple of cameras back out to see what was roaming around. I am not a fan of this.  I have had pictures of this coyote for a while now and he (I assume it's a he) is always solo.  He's healthy and makes his rounds in the same area that we do during the season.  And I assume that he is the coyote that I saw while I was sitting in my stand last fall. Coyotes are a part of the woods and I get that but what I don't want to find are dead deer. This is the first time that I have had pictures of the two animals so close together (timewise and location-wise) Usually, I will get deer on the cameras, then he shows up and it takes 2-3 days before the deer return. We have not...

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Jan 2021 17

We Need to Stop Feeding The Deer

By | Hunting in Maine, Whitetail Deer | 0 Comments | 3 min read

I just hit a deer, do you want it? My neighbor sent me this text during her morning commute to work.  Had there been room in my freezer, I might have taken her up on it. I had done it before when I watched another driver hit another doe within 50 feet of where my neighbor was. It was the third deer hit that week in the same stretch of road. Why? A landowner is feeding them. A few years ago, I spoke with Maine IF&W’s then deer biologist about the impacts of feeding deer.  We talked about the risk of diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease getting into the herd and spreading so rapidly, because of the unnaturally large population being pulled into a small area.  We talked about the biological make-up of a deer’s stomach and how the...

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Stop Feeding the Deer
Dec 2020 4

Snow and deer hunting: like peanut butter and jelly

By | Whitetail Deer, Winters in Maine | 0 Comments | 4 min read

I am a sucker for the snow.  If there is a snow storm coming or even the threat of a snow squall, I am in the woods. Two years ago, I stood in a snow storm Dad shot a nice 8 pointer and later that season, I shot my own buck in such a heavy snow squall that we couldn't initially find the buck minutes after I shot him because his tracks were covered in snow. On Wednesday morning, the snow was predicted to arrive between 9am-1pm.  I was not moving from my stand.  Something would be coming out to eat before the storm.  I just had a feeling. The world was quiet when I settled into the Sky Condo. I heard a snap off to my left and while my initial thought was deer, there were no additional steps. As the sky lightened, I heard something...

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