Much to my surprise, this season has been one of the best deer hunting years I've ever had up here in Maine. We tend to have long, snowy winters that can really decimate the population. I shot my first deer in 2005, which was followed by two really bad winters that wiped out most of the population. It was to the point that less than 5-10 deer were being tagged out at each station. I think one year my hometown had only 2. I didn't see a deer those couple of years (although my time was shortened as I was in college). It was pretty depressing.
Fast forward a couple of years and a couple of mild winters and the population was slowly creeping back up. I wasn't around last year since I was living out west, but I was pretty happy when I came home this year and started seeing deer again. I had 5 different bucks on camera, 3 yearlings and a couple of decent 8 points that were steadily coming in September. My dad and I hung a stand on the field corner and before long October came and the season started. On my first sit I saw a spike 45 minutes into my season. I've never shot a buck with my bow and it was very tempting, especially given the history of deer hunting. I ended up passing, my dad and others called me crazy, but I just had a good feeling about the year.
We constantly saw does on every sit but nothing shootable (bucks only here). All the bucks we had on camera disappeared. Not a picture of any after the first week of October. We ended up taking out annual archery trip to an expanded archery zone (only way to shoot more than 1 deer in Maine) at the end of October. I was lucky enough to get a doe while we were there.
We checked our cameras when we got back and sure enough, one of the 8s was back. He showed in daylight all 3 days were we gone. Go figure. I sat the night we got back - a perfect night by my standards. Had a perfect wind, saw 7 does but he never showed.
Rifle season started that Saturday, but I had to work that weekend. Only made it out on Monday afternoon, but by then we had a couple inches of snow and I saw his tracks around our stand. I followed them a ways and came across a couple of scrapes not too far. He was still coming. I saw 5 does that night but no buck again.
I went back the following Morning as I was working the late shift that night. It was a perfect morning, about 20 degrees, clear skies, and not a bit of wind. An hour into my sit 7 does popped out.
A few minutes later so did he, and he started chasing the does all over. In the process, one of the does had me pegged so I couldn't shoulder my gun. He eventually went back into the woods and thankfully the doe gave up on me. He came back out a short while after chasing the does again. I was able to get my gun up this time and when the does cleared and he stopped, I was on him and broke the silence. My season was over!
While he's nowhere near a record book buck, this season was a record one for me. For one, this was the first time I've ever seen a buck chasing does around, what a cool sight! I was finally able to take a mature deer around my hometown while seeing more deer this year than I have in the past 5 years combined. I learned a ton about the deer habits by being able to watch them on so many occasions. In case you didn't know, it's pretty hard to learn what the deer in your area do when you can't seem to find the deer in the first place!
He ended up weighing 193, just a few pounds off the 200+ club, one of my deer hunting goals. He did check one of my list with his double throat patch though!
Fast forward a couple of years and a couple of mild winters and the population was slowly creeping back up. I wasn't around last year since I was living out west, but I was pretty happy when I came home this year and started seeing deer again. I had 5 different bucks on camera, 3 yearlings and a couple of decent 8 points that were steadily coming in September. My dad and I hung a stand on the field corner and before long October came and the season started. On my first sit I saw a spike 45 minutes into my season. I've never shot a buck with my bow and it was very tempting, especially given the history of deer hunting. I ended up passing, my dad and others called me crazy, but I just had a good feeling about the year.
We constantly saw does on every sit but nothing shootable (bucks only here). All the bucks we had on camera disappeared. Not a picture of any after the first week of October. We ended up taking out annual archery trip to an expanded archery zone (only way to shoot more than 1 deer in Maine) at the end of October. I was lucky enough to get a doe while we were there.
We checked our cameras when we got back and sure enough, one of the 8s was back. He showed in daylight all 3 days were we gone. Go figure. I sat the night we got back - a perfect night by my standards. Had a perfect wind, saw 7 does but he never showed.
Rifle season started that Saturday, but I had to work that weekend. Only made it out on Monday afternoon, but by then we had a couple inches of snow and I saw his tracks around our stand. I followed them a ways and came across a couple of scrapes not too far. He was still coming. I saw 5 does that night but no buck again.
I went back the following Morning as I was working the late shift that night. It was a perfect morning, about 20 degrees, clear skies, and not a bit of wind. An hour into my sit 7 does popped out.
A few minutes later so did he, and he started chasing the does all over. In the process, one of the does had me pegged so I couldn't shoulder my gun. He eventually went back into the woods and thankfully the doe gave up on me. He came back out a short while after chasing the does again. I was able to get my gun up this time and when the does cleared and he stopped, I was on him and broke the silence. My season was over!
While he's nowhere near a record book buck, this season was a record one for me. For one, this was the first time I've ever seen a buck chasing does around, what a cool sight! I was finally able to take a mature deer around my hometown while seeing more deer this year than I have in the past 5 years combined. I learned a ton about the deer habits by being able to watch them on so many occasions. In case you didn't know, it's pretty hard to learn what the deer in your area do when you can't seem to find the deer in the first place!
He ended up weighing 193, just a few pounds off the 200+ club, one of my deer hunting goals. He did check one of my list with his double throat patch though!
