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Bangor Metro >  November 2006 >  Get Your Deer Yet?

Illustration by Brad Eden

Before last year’s firearm deer season, I had made a conscious decision not to sit mindlessly watching power lines, fields, and blueberry barrens hoping a deer might meander by. Instead, I intended to explore harder-to-reach areas, where the likelihood of encountering other hunters was slim and the deer were not pressured. On the predawn of November 7, 2005, I worked my way up a local mountain, to a crown of granite ledges just below the peak. The hour-long climb was only interrupted by short breaks to catch my breath and to look out over the surrounding valleys washed by the glow from the eastern horizon. Just at legal shooting time, I settled in with my back against the ledges. As the surrounding hillside awoke to the dawn, I did a series of bleat calls mimicking a doe. Almost immediately I heard a buck grunt slightly below my position to the right. I scanned in that direction and saw a large brown body filtering through the trees 75 yards away. My mind registered “big, brown, rack, shooter.” I raised my scoped rifle and the crosshairs tracked his shoulder as he stepped through the only clear shooting lane I had.

Upwards of 250,000 resident and nonresident firearm deer hunters will take to the Maine woods this November. Most deer hunters will have one thing on their minds—a rocking-chair-racked, big-bodied Maine buck. For others, a plump doe or a young spike- horn buck is their definition of success. Game management hinges on the taking of does, and 67,725 “Any Deer” permits, usually referred to as “Doe Permits,” were distributed throughout the 29 Wildlife Management Districts in Maine. With the success rate hovering around only 20%, there is certainly more to pursuing the whitetail than just bragging rights or filling the freezer with venison. There is the rich tradition of deer camp filled with friends and family, and more so the hopeful anticipation that this might be the year a buck of a lifetime makes a fatal mistake.

The mantra heard amongst Maine deer hunters is “Get your deer yet?” If affirmative and the deer is a buck, the most important question is “How much did he weigh?” The quality of a Maine buck is gauged by body weight, not how many points or how big his antlers are. If a buck tips the scales at 200 pounds or better after being field dressed, it can be entered into the Biggest Bucks in Maine Club sponsored by The Maine Sportsman magazine. If the paperwork made out at the checking station is in order, you will be rewarded with the much coveted Biggest Bucks in Maine patch and have your name printed in the magazine along with that year’s other fortunate deer hunters.

I squeezed the trigger, and after the shot, caught a glimpse of a ground-hugging run, then heard crash after crash as the buck headed back down the mountain. I made my way over to where I had last seen the buck and was met with a promising blood trail. Even so, I hung a small piece of tissue paper in a branch before I began my search, in case I lost the trail and needed to backtrack. No need to: I came upon the 10-point buck piled up within 50 yards.

Walking up on a big deer is something a hunter never forgets or takes for granted. There is always a mixture of excitement, awe, even a tinge of regret for taking such a magnificent creature. But those sentiments are soon tempered by the fact the real work has just begun. There was no need to rush getting this deer off the mountain since this was a morning hunt and I didn’t have to chase the dusk. I knelt and savored the moment, taking my time admiring the symmetrical rack that would join the rest of the herd on my family room wall and marveled at the huge body that would provide a year’s worth of venison—and also reward me with my second Biggest Bucks in Maine patch.

Some will call it just plain luck, but I tend to favor Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s explanation: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”