...And that concludes my bow season.

Saturday is my opening day of gun season for deer in Maine. So, today was probably my last bow hunt for the year. I should have went back out to hang a stand the day I picked up my trail camera but I was too lazy. The next day I went out to put one up at noon and somebody had already put a ladder stand up in the maybe 5 hours of daylight between my picking up my camera and the morning in the exact tree I had chosen where my camera was. I wish I could say this is the first time this has happened to me but its definitely not. I guess I have good taste in tree selection. I ended up hanging my stand in a brushier spot about 250 yards from the other guy's. My hope was that he was going to gun hunt the stand and I could take a buck out of there with my bow before then.

My set right now. 20' up in a Gorilla hang on stand. Lots of cover low but not so much in the canopy.

I was right on my assumption as I never saw anyone in the stand the last few days. But, I never saw a deer either. I sat out Tuesday evening but got in late (4:15pm) and there was no wind at all so I am sure I sounded like a truck coming through the woods. I gave the area a day to rest and tried again tonight. I got in stand by 2pm and a slight mist gave me the silence I needed to sneak in. The temperature was in the 40's when I left the house but was in the 50's as I reached my stand. The mist became a down pour though so I got up and decided to scout a little more and maybe I would bump into something. I ended up catching some movement in some thick cedars and followed it for about a half hour. I was never able to catch up to whatever it was. I assume it was a deer but it could have been any big game animal really the vegetation was so thick in there. I never found any better sign than I am currently hunting and I got soaked but I learned the area a little better and I know I didn't disturb anyone and probably not any deer either.

Soaking wet by dark.

I did find some good sized rubs just next to the parking area that showed some promise but I will leave that area to the guys who can't get around as well as me. I have yet to sight in the .30-06 so I guess I will be sporting the 20 gauge on Saturday.

Sweet rub next to the parking area.

I left my climbing sticks in the tree unlocked with the intentions of hunting Wednesday morning but never did. They were still there today which was a refreshing and pleasant surprise. I was too lazy to carry them around so I hid them about 50 yards from my stand to use next time. Hopefully no one finds them. I need to upgrade to a lighter stand and sticks combo soon. Maybe then I won't have to scout and hang stands on separate days and my trees won't get confiscated.


Panoramic view from stand.

 

The view to my right. Pretty thick stuff.

My hail-mary on my last bow hunt.



Nice and warm at home.

 I want to give a shout out to my brother. A few days ago he made a great shot on a bruiser buck and called off work to track the sucker but never found it. It happens to all of us at some point. Remember; patience and persistence is what separates the average hunter from the hardcore bow hunter.

Lastly, keep in mind what you bring back with you from the field. Maine is horrible for ticks. I have found at least one on myself every time I have gone out to the field or even to parks. I think the one time I killed 8 ticks between me and Rusty after a hike in a public park in the city for an hour. Be prepared if you plan on visiting here. Tonight I hunted in cold weather in a down pour and still pulled one off my leg in the shower when I got home, it's unbelievable. My tip is to have a good looking shower partner to check you out after each outing.

Odds and Ends.Grave Yards and G5 Montec.

Here are some pics of the grave yard I mentioned in an earlier post. Very cool to find. I can't imagine how different the area is now compared to the last time these people saw it over a hundred years ago when it was their farmland.

 

I should mention that I switched form Rage Broad Heads to G5 Montecs. I used Montecs years ago and never really had a problem with them I just jumped on the Rage band wagon. I am sick and tired of my Rages opening on me in the field and having to replace the bands. Can't go wrong with fixed blades in that sense. I finally got a black G5 Optix XR sight for my bow as well.

Even the practice Montecs look awesome.

 

Maine Public Land Bucks; Who says they are hard to find?

I went out and pulled my trail camera today. It was still there which is a refreshing change from my experiences on Michigan public land. I took my wife and Rusty with me this time. I got two bucks and some nice turkeys on cam.

Notice the knot on his G2.

The 8 point will be my target. I could tag out probably pretty quickly and have some venison in the freezer with the fork horn but I have to at least give the 8 point some attention for a while. The rut should be kicking in soon. We noticed a scrape on the way in. Right now, based on my work schedule, I am going to go in and hang a stand in there tomorrow afternoon and probably sneak out and not hunt. I get pretty sweaty hanging stands alone. Tuesday I don't know what time I will be getting out of work so I may give it a go. If I get out later than noon though I will probably let the woods rest another day and do an all day sit on Wednesday. The 8 point visited the area around 5am and again at 6:45pm. The fork horn hangs out all day apparently. The gun opener is Nov. 2nd. I am off work from Tuesday until Nov. 5th! I have to have one hanging by then. After I get a deer my focus will be a bear. Its one of the rarest of feats to kill a bear spot and stalk in Maine but I have some ideas of where I might get lucky. Tips are hard to come by but I have been pouring over my map book and different websites trying to narrow my search and find some land at least holding decent amounts of bears. For now I need to find a place to shoot my bow some more and get after that nice 8 point. I am a little worried I left too much scent in the area already, especially with a dog and my wife in there. But we were in and out so hopefully no too much was disturbed.

My first real scouting excursion.

I'm Legal!

Today I got out of work early enough to get a lot of outdoorsy stuff done. I finally got my deer and bear license at Cabela's. It is actually one license that I can use for deer, bear and small game and it only cost me $27! After that I went home and played with the dog then hit the woods. This time I was in full camo and on a mission. People say its impossible to find deer in Maine. I beg to differ...

     

 I went to a place about 20 minutes from my house called the Massabesic Experimental Forest. It is some thick bush with ATV trails cutting through it. Most of it is kind of like a bog but there are some oak ridges and pine patches. I had very low hopes for finding any deer sign at all having read that deer are few and far between in Maine. I found some great rubs though and a few tracks. I probably found as many rubs as I would have where I used to hunt in Northern Michigan so I am hoping the deer population will be similar. I found some very large bones that I attribute to a moose but if those are from deer I am going to have one hell of a drag ahead of me if successful. A cool thing about the places I've hiked here are the different pieces of history you run into. There are these long rock walls all over the place. Some run for tens of miles. You can find them on the side of the road and sometimes in the middle of the woods like the one I found today. You can also find graveyards basically anywhere. I ran into one today. Most of the grave stones were from people born in the late 1700s and died in the early 1800s. I took pics but used the memory card they were on in my trail camera I left there. I will upload them later.

This is a picture someone else took of the grave yard I found.

Big Sanilac County Bucks!

Some of you have already seen these pics on facebook. I figured I should share on here the pics I took this summer in Croswell. I took a stroll out to a field my brother and I used to hunt and spotted these guys hanging out. I layed down in the poison ivy and started taking pictures. That's when I noticed I forgot to put a memory card into my camera. I took as many pics as I could and snuck out of there. There were 14 bucks in the field in all. Some bedded, some feeding. A few does came in and out of the field. It was crazy. These are the deer I am giving up to live and hunt in Maine.

Building a Killing Machine

I figured if I was headed to Maine, land of Moose and Bears I would need some heavier fire power. I snagged a gun from my parent's house that my dad had killed a deer with a few years back. It's an Interarms .30-06. It had open sights and the front sight is missing so I have no idea how my dad killed a deer with this thing. I did some research and found that this is actually a pretty darn good rifle. I picked up a Nikon Prostaff 3-9X40 BDC for it along with the mounts and rings. Tonight I put it all together. I was going to have it done by a professional but lack the funds motivated me to give it a shot. I have put on scopes before for customers but never for a gun I will have to shoulder. But, I figure I will feel really cool if I kill with a gun I scoped myself.

Gotta love that BDC reticle.

I recently subscribed to the Northwoods Sporting Journal; Maine's version of the Woods N Water magazine after the referral from a famous Maine outdoor writer I started emailing. Its funny, it even has some articles that I can tell are published in Woods N Water from authors from Michigan. Anyway, I read an article that confirmed a rumor I had heard that you can hunt or fish on any land that is not posted in Maine. This seems crazy to me but as I took a drive yesterday there were all kinds of trucks parked around a bunch of farms. Farms that had turkeys covering their fields. So I guess that is probably what those guys are doing.

I think I found a place to deer hunt. Or at least look into for deer. I'm going to check it out later this week. I became a Maine citizen today so I will be buying my license later this week as well. Thankfully for the resident price.

Where have I been?!

I am now a Maine-iac. Since the last time I blogged on here I got married, got a dog, dropped everything and moved to Maine. My wife is going to med-school in Biddeford so that is where we reside now. Now my blog will be directed more towards a newbie trying to find outdoor excitement in New England. The area is awesome and beautiful and I live ten minutes from a Cabela's. I can't wait to get my hands dirty and wear down some boot rubber exploring the Big Northwoods. Anyway, I should introduce you to my new partner in crime since he will be a huge part of this site.

This is Rusty. How he looked when I got him back in December at least. He is huge now. He is a pure bred Brittany. He is awesome and amazes me everyday. I can't wait to share our adventures again.

 

 

GOALS FOR 2013

-Kill a Maine Buck

-Find a Bear Hunting Spot for '14

-Learn to Turkey Hunt

-Find some Sweet Fishing Leads for '14

 

...and yes I know it is already mid-October.