Firearms deer season started yesterday for Maine residents. I went upcountry on Friday night after the kids were asleep, which was later than usual because of the Halloween lunacy. I must be getting old, because I was pretty darn tired driving up there that late at night. I arrived at camp after 10pm, reviewed and packed my gear while watching the news with my father, and then turned in about an hour later.
Saturday morning, I awoke to the loud "snap" of the kitchen light-switch coming on at 5:45am. With daylight savings time happening this weekend, it was the only chance I'm going to have all hunting season to sleep in that late. The upside, though, is that it will be getting dark by 5pm and I can get home earlier at night.
I got dressed, grabbed my stuff and drove over to the farm. I hunted for a bit in the morning, but didn't see or hear anything. I was really anxious to see what was on my scout cam, so I headed over there after about an hour. I swapped the card out and walked back to my car to pop it in the laptop. Much to my surprise, a buck had passed by there just 3 hours earlier! Too bad there hadn't been any snow on the ground to help me track him. I took a walk through an area where I had seen a lot of buck scrapes in the past, and sure enough, I found a couple of small fresh ones.
At the end of my walk, I found a couple of ancient apple trees that are 80% dead, having been crowded out by the ever-encroaching evergreens, but they managed to still produce a few apples this year. These trees were just tucked inside the woods near the field where my scout cam has seen so much activity, so I decided that's where I would set up and still-hunt later that afternoon.
After lunch and a mid-day nap in the car, I headed over to the spot I had found that morning and found a spot where I was somewhat obscured, but not as well as I would have liked. It was a very open area with a dense carpet of dead pine needles. I really should have brought my pop-up blind.
Roughly half-an-hour before ending-time, I saw a bit of movement 50 or 60 yards away. There was a really thick tangle of scrubby trees between us, so I couldn't really identify much besides that fact that it was definitely a white-tail. I was able to see the occasional flicker of white, and I could see the familiar movements of it lowering its head and then jerking it back up to look for danger. I couldn't see much, but I think I would have been able to see antlers if they were there. After a couple of minutes, I saw one final flick of its tail and then it walked back in the opposite direction.
Just as I was preparing to leave and it was getting REALLY dark in amongst the pines (but still somewhat light out in the fields), I saw shadows moving off to my right and around 30 yards away. I could faintly make out 3 deer heading towards the field. It was so dark and they looked so small that I briefly wondered if they might be coyotes, but as they angled toward me and got to within 20 feet, I could see that they were a pair of small does. As they circled around behind me, they must have gotten a whiff of my scent, because they suddenly raised their tails and burst back in the direction they had come. That was a pretty fun way to end the day.
Here are the scout cam sightings for the week:
Tuesday morning, 2:48am - 7-point buck (maybe 8 if that right ear is hiding a sticker)
Tuesday afternoon, 2:13pm - flock of turkeys
Wednesday evening, 5:15pm - doe
Wednesday evening, 7:49pm - (same?) doe
Thursday night, 8:51pm - same buck as before, possibly. If it is, I think I can make out that sticker on the right side, confirming that it is an 8-pointer.
Thursday night, 8:54pm - a doe travelling with the buck
Friday night, 10:08pm - doe
Saturday morning, 5:02am - 6, 7 or 8-point buck. Hard to tell for sure. It might be the same buck from earlier in the week, but the tines look shorter. Could be the differing angle, though.
Saturday night, 9:48pm - doe
Sunday morning, 3:35am - doe
Sunday morning, 3:37am - the doe gets a very close look at the camera!
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