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.

Bald Mountain Help

Here is a map for a few helpful friends.

Tomorrow is the Opener!

The last few weeks have been rough. My spots have had a huge influx of last minute scouters, thieves and poachers. I had two of my cameras stolen and found a gut pile two weeks before season in one of my parking spots. I am still getting pics of deer roaming around me stand though and one looks to be a decent 8. It might be tough tomorrow to pass on does and smaller bucks to wait on a decent one. I am hitting the road by 3:30 am to get to my spot as early as possible. Good luck to everybody hitting the woods tomorrow!

6 Point that hangs out under my stand 3 times a day.

An 8 point that visits periodically. Put my camera a little low.

Another shot of the little 6.

Product Review:
I tried using a new product called Rubline Slime made by Wildgame Innovations. It is a slimey closer-to-liquid gel that resembles something from nickelodeon. You are supposed to create your own rub or slap some slime on a real one and bucks will hit that rub. It doesn't stick as well as it is supposed to to trees. I tried making my own and set up some cameras on them but those cameras got stolen. After I made a few new rubs and set up another camera I got zero interest in any pictures from bucks. I would say the product does not work. There was no evidence the deer even noticed the rubs I made or the product.

Michigan Bucks Are Getting Hard Horned Now

Nice young 8.



First hard-horned buck of the year.

Basket 6.

Rubs already showing up!

All these pics are from my back up stand location. It might just turn into plan A. The videos below were from plan A. I don't know why they look like crap on youtube they looked fine on my computer. Looks like the bachellor group has broken up leaving only two spikes hanging out together.

 

Two spikes of different sizes.

A guy and his dog. The dog found my cam but the guy never did.

A coyote with what looks to be a rabbit in its mouth.