Maine Wildland Adventures

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The hunting season of 2006 will go down in history as one of the most memorable ones yet.

In July 2006 I fulfilled a 17 year dream by becoming a Registered Maine Guide. I thought it was going to be a great relief after passing the 2 hour written test and then being grilled for another 3 hours by the board on the oral exam. The relief was short lived by the hands of my best friend Rich Hamlin. He immediately informed me that now that I was a "Maine Guide" he expected me to help him get a deer. (Not that he needs any help!) So I took the challenge seriously. I knew Rich wasn't able to do much homework this year due to work commitments, so I decided that I would try and treat him like a client. I went to Maine almost every weekend in Oct to scout for deer along with doing some bird hunting. My dad and I covered some old hunting grounds and discovered some new ones as well. With rifle season right around the corner, I needed to make some solid decisions of where to concentrate my efforts. We had placed some ladder stands in an area we hunted in 2002. I also found some good buck sign near one of the brooks I usually hunt near.

I headed to Maine on Friday night after work and met my dad at the apartment in Milo. Excited to finally hunt after a year of planning, the day was just hours away. I called Rich to verify our meeting time and to inform him that my dad wouldn't be hunting due to a virus he had. So my dad and I sat in front of the computer and I brought up my topo software. We went over all my way points that I had marked for this year. We both agreed on a game plan that might work with any luck.

I drove to Rich's camp to pick him, and his girlfriend Ann, up. (She has never been hunting before) I thought "this ought to be interesting"! We turned off the tar road at 6:00am just to see 2 does moving across the road. We all thought that this was a good sign. As we traveled down the dirt road she says "LOOK!!..........Over there... a buck!" Well I hit the brakes and Rich jumped out before I could stop! She said it is on the other side of the slash pile next to the road. Since it was legal shooting time, Rich slapped his clip in and proceeded with extreme caution and anticipation. I walked back down the road to where she had spotted the buck. As she approached me, she pointed out the buck to me which turned out to be an up rooted stump! After some deep breaths and reticule we continued to my pre selected spot. We had passed 2 trucks that were on the same side of the road that we were going to be. This was not good in my mind! We decided to go in anyways since the hunters were just going in when we drove by. (The thing about hunting in the big woods is that if someone parks with in 1/2 mile from you, you feel crowded). We were about 1/2 mile from their trucks so I didn't mind that much. We got out of the truck and started in on the tote road. We got to a spot where I decided to split up. I told Rich and Ann to start in towards the stands and I would cut up across the woods for about 3/8 of a mile then work my way along the other side of the swamp. If there are any deer feeding on the top side of the cut they will go straight towards them. They said they will wait for me at the stands. It wasn't long after heading off into the woods that I started to find fresh buck sign. I kept my eyes peeled at the most outward points that I could see. The ground was damp from the evening shower so it was extremely quiet to walk. I followed the sign to a nice deer run that went along an old twitch path. It was going in the direction I wanted to go, so I decided to follow it for a while. The air was still and brisk since and the sun was just coming up. I happen to come across a fresh scrape. The debris that he kicked up had not washed away, so I knew it was from this morning. A wave of excitement went through me as I followed his tracks. They were deep and definite in the wet leaves. I was picking apart every twig, looking for any sign of movement. I noticed another deer had merged into his path. I thought "Cool....a doe, now he is pre occupied with her". I followed the tracks through a thicket trying not to make too much noise. When I cleared the patch of thick crap, I noticed the tracks had stopped and were milling around this one area, then I saw certain signs of both deer jumping. I knew at that moment those deer were right in front of me and they jumped when I started into the thick stuff. While all my senses we on high alert, I tracked them another 100 feet to where they both stopped running but turned to my left. I knew Rich and Ann were suppose to be in that area, but I wanted to make sure I knew exactly were I was, so I took out my GPS and confirmed my location. I decided to leave the tracks because there was a swamp between Rich and I. I figured the deer would stay in the swamp or try to put it between me and them. As I walked another 10 ft very slowly the scene opened up to a cedar ridge that bordered the moss covered swamp. CA-BANG! I actually heard the bullet. I took out my radio and turned it on waiting for a report from Rich. I stood there for about 45 sec when all of the sudden to my 10 o'clock I saw a deer bounding towards me, and he had a rack! Rich and I both decided not to take anything that didn't have at least some curl to the head gear. This one qualified! With the radio still in hand, I rose my rifle when it went behind a tree. I could see the deer through the scope and expected it to drop from Rich's shot. It didn't fall or limp or anything, it started to feed again. At that point I said to myself....I'm gonna have a good time with this. (Referring to me making fun of him for missing). CA-BANG!! The deer dropped right where I shot it. At that moment Rich called on the radio and asked if I got him. I said "you won't like this" . He said "Why?' I said "He's a keeper!" Rich said "So is mine!" Holy crap! I can't believe it we pulled off a double. The doe that I thought joined into the tracks was the buck that I shot,6 pt 152lbs. Rich's pig was an impressive 6 pt with an 18 inch tip to tip spread weighing in at 187 lbs.

We went and saw each others deer and took lots of pictures and video. Come to find out Rich didn't even see the deer.......Ann who has never been hunting had to point them out to him. It seems that the deer tried to put the swamp between me and them and had no idea that they were there. Rich shot the big one and the other one ran back across the swamp but I was still there.

The drive to town to get them registered needless to say..... was slow!

This situation may never happen again in my lifetime, but I am greatfull that it did at least once.

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