Skunked this year, but it still feels good.

P

Picher

New member
Crappy weather for the last week of the season. We got 12 inches of snow, crusty and deeper in the woods. I decided it wasn't for me, since I hadn't seen a buck (no any-deer permit) all season and, at my age, couldn't drag a deer a half-mile through the snow.

Two grandkids got deer and so did my son, all using rifles I either own or used to own, plus ammo I handloaded. I taught them all how to shoot. They also used my blinds. Comforting.

We have part of three deer from other family members in our freezer, should we want some.

I hope to get out and shoot a few coyotes, but the regular firearm season is over a half-hour after sunset today.

I saw 9 deer and a couple may have been bucks, but I couldn't see antlers, so didn't shoot. There's always next year.

Otherwise, I had a great time getting out in the woods and fields.
 
I lucked out and took an 8 pointer second week of the season. My wife hunted all month and saw her first deer today, a nice buck but she just grazed it and my father didn't see any deer this season just two coyotes. Been a hard year with the weather for sure. My wife has decided to try the muzzle loader out so we will see how that goes. Me on the other hand is ready to dig out my 220 swift for some coyotes.
 
My family has been spoiled regarding deer "harvesting". They know how much time, effort, and $$ I put into prepping for deer hunting but they fail to realize how much effect those preparations have in the success rate.
The Grouch Attack(my so-called spouse) seems to think it's somewhat like ordering carry-out pizza(select the toppings and time you want to pick it up). She thinks it's a matter of telling me how many packages of burger and steaks she "expects" to magically appear in the freezer.
I can assure you, it was more fun when I just went hunting when I wanted and shot what came out.
 
It's been a great hunting/shooting year here. We were quite successful going grouse hunting in the North Maine Woods, saw plenty of deer, though I didn't get a shot at a buck. Hunting weather wasn't the best, but we still had fun.

Two grandkids enjoyed deer hunting with their dads and both getting deer within an hour. Both shot my .243 Win rifles with Hornady GMX handloads. My son also got a deer on his last opportunity to hunt this year. He used the 700, '06 that I gave him years ago, and also used my GMX handloads. All three were one-shot kills.

My highlight was finding a slightly-used Rem 700 SS, fluted, Light Varmint .223 Rem that carries like a T3 Lite, and shoots 1/4" groups with my handloads. It got several varmints, including 3 coyotes, a couple of crows, and a woodchuck; all on family property behind the house. It's also one of my favorite range rifles and accompanies me every time I go to the club range.

I was very pleased to coach my 19-year old grandson in shooting rifles, handguns, and shotguns prior to his Army training. He scored well there and has received honors for his physical abilities. He'll be entering Airborne Ranger training after Christmas.

The teenage grand-daughters enjoyed shooting the LV .223 at metallic targets and couldn't have been better students. All in all, a wonderful year!

I hope all of you had fun shooting and/or hunting with your guns this year! If you haven't, seek out opportunities to help others enjoy our sport.

:)
 
I got skunked this year also so I know how you feel but two of my uncles that hunt the same property both shot does so they let me have one for meat even though I did not get to shoot a deer this season I was just happy to be in the woods.
 
Picher, I had always pictured Maine as kind of a sportsman's paradise with lots of wild game. It appears that my thinking was a little optimistic - at least as far as deer are concerned. Maine looks to have a very short deer season and very conservative bag limits when compared with many other states.

Has it always been that way or are the deer herds just abnormally low now for some reason?
 
This year was much better than most as far as hunting success for myself went, but it was the first year in many that none of my kids went (school issues) .... as the years go by, it is clearer to me that time spent with loved ones in pursuit of deer is more important than the size or number of deer taken.

I did get to spend a week with my brother and niece, and had a great time..... The Legend of "Twerking Mouse" was added to our deer camp lore ......

Also, the weather this year was terribly cold, and we had some snow, the first 1/2 of the 9 day season, and we saw way more deer than we did last year, when the weather was pretty mild on all but one day .....
 
Maine looks to have a very short deer season and very conservative bag limits when compared with many other states.
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It's my impression that the further north you go, the shorter the seasons/more conservative the bag limits ...... but the deer are generally bigger. ...... going south, the converse seems to be generally true.
 
Doyle and others:

Maine had a particularly harsh winter up North, about 5 years ago, but also some bad winters down here in Central Maine, especially last winter. Snow was deep and it was quite icy.

This year, the State cut way back on any-deer permits in Central ME, to try to rebuild the numbers. No any-deer permits have been issued for Northern Maine for several years and the deer are coming back. We saw three does up there hunting for birds this year.

It snowed a few days before the end of the deer season the last Saturday in November. I just came back from removing items from our blind, walking over a mile and saw LOTs of tracks, both doe and buck, so they seem to be doing better.

As soon as the season starts around here, many of the bigger bucks seem to go nocturnal. I saw few tracks made today...most being made last night. It was quite warm yesterday, almost 50, but temps dropped about 25 degrees overnight and things remained crusty today. Only two sets of tracks were made today, but I saw about 20 sets that were made daytime or early evening yesterday.
 
This year, the State cut way back on any-deer permits in Central ME, to try to rebuild the numbers.
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Thanks for the info. As to the state cutting back permits, I strongly suspect that my boyhood woods-tromping buddy had something to do with that. He is a regional wildlife biologist for Maine and one of his jobs is the annual deer forecast.
 
I got skunked to. Probably the first year in my life that I went hunting and didn't get anything. I don't know why but Wisconsin closes turkey season during firearm deer season. If open I could have easily switched gears and probably been happier since I never shot a turkey.

I had high hopes because on the day before season I was scouting around my stand and found this.





That's 9 points and would have been great to see alive. Found maybe 150 yards from my stand. For the next two days the only movement in front of me was by crows an coyotes. Behind me I walked up a doe but I was in a no doe zone. I saw two live deer the whole time and of the 4 guys in camp we only saw 5 deer. The camp owner shot a nice 8 point and two guys never saw anything.

One thing I did enjoy besides seeing the turkeys was that I must have kicked up 20+ grouse during the 5 days I hunted there. I knew I would regret not bringing a shotgun along.

Of course the last day there someone came to the camp claiming they shot the deer I found with a crossbow and not to get on the bad side of the camp owner and never be invited back I let him decide what to do with the rack. I still think if you don't care enough to follow up a deer that is Meat you don't deserve it when it's only horns. Especially when I only followed their tracks across private property they didn't have permission to enter and 50 yards from where they stopped was the shredded carcass. I walked 6 miles in total to recover the head due to deep snow and unplowed roads.

I hope next year is better because this current deer herd is hurting.
 
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