...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.

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.

Rose Oaks Oakland County Park

Well I have only been out twice in the past two weeks. Work is getting crazy and finding time is getting harder with this new class I'm taking. I hit Rose Oaks County Park with my fiancee last week. We mostly walked around so I could show her the area and how cool it is with all the lakes and trails. We tallied up about 3 miles of walking and finally settled in near a lake but didn't see anything. On the way out we bumped into deer about 6 different times. It was mostly a scouting trip since I have only been in that park one other time in September. I am one of the lucky few who's significant other is willing to enjoy the outdoors with them. She doesn't want to hunt and will not accept me even drawing on anything less than a mature buck but I we have the best time in the woods.

Tonight I hit the same park again this time alone. I got to the empty parking lot at 2:30pm and headed in to investigate the parts of the park I hadn't yet. It was very windy so I took advantage of the extra noise and movement of the environment. I probably saw 18 tree stands and one bait pile. One of the stands had 2x4 boards screwed into the tree about thirty yards away from another guy's stand. Pisses me off when people don't follow the law. Must have pissed off the other guy too because he left a message on one of the steps for the jerk.

I found a gut pile so somebody got lucky this morning.
I put on about 4 miles of scouting. I found two really good spots with awesome rubs on large trees and a few scrapes. I have the spots marked on my GPS so I can bring in a tree stand with me next time. On the way out there were 4 other vehicles in the parking lot. I talked to a guy who said he missed a giant 8 pointer.

My Dad and Brother have been seeing pretty good amounts of deer back in Croswell. My Dad even shot under the biggest buck he's ever shot at. Hopefully I can get there soon and show them how to put them down.