And A Strong Cup of Coffee

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Year: 2012
Year: 2012

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What to buy the hunter on your Christmas list

Apparently, I am hard to buy for. I don't think I am but I have been told that I am by multiple people. So, here is my helpful personal list of what to buy a hunter for Christmas or Hanukkah or Festivis. 1. Books. My suggestions this year are: Meat Eater by Steven Rinella. I asked Santa for it and I am pretty sure its wrapped and waiting under my tree. I have not read it, but I did read American Buffalo and it was fantastic! Suddenly the Cider Didn't Taste so Good by John Ford. John is a former Game Warden who tells wonderful Maine stories of the adventures, animals and people he encounters. Light hearted and a quick read. Tales from Misery Ridge by Paul Fornier. Paul was a Maine Guide and worked for Inland Fisheries before he retired....

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Easy peasy

I am getting spoiled. Actually Dad and I both are. I am afraid to write this for what it might mean for next year, but I will; Dad and I have not had to follow a blood trail in a long time. Three years ago, Dad dropped this guy (below) on opening day.Last year, I dropped this one: and this year, I dropped him right at the base of the Sky Condo: We are getting spoiled but really, I have a great teacher who has taught me where to shoot a deer for the quickest, least painful death. And it has worked out well. This year, we spotted the buck coming to eat grass early in the day. He walked out from the upper right corner of this photo and headed down almost to where the camera is and then started to walk back and eat on the clump of brown...

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Coming up…

I miss hunting season already! Is that weird? This is the first Friday I have been at work since mid October. And while it is freezing out right now, Dad and I do have a heater for the Sky Condo. The good thing is, once we get snow, we will start tracking the deer around the SC to see where they are yarding up for the winter and see if we can get some pics on the cameras of our targets for next year. Coming up in the blog world: * My post about shooting this year's deer * A GREAT interview with Bryan White about getting his first ever buck this season * (Hopefully) an interview with Inland Fisheries and Wildlife's Commissioner Mr. Woodcock about the past hunting season, where the numbers are and if he is happy with the progress of the...

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End of season 10

We called it a season yesterday at noon. It was an overall warm season this year, I was bummed not to have snow to hunt in. The season flew by and I can not believe that it is already over! Here is a quick recap of what we saw: A group of 20 turkeys around all season A group of 2 does and 2 fawns around the Sky Condo 3 single does in the woods 5 partridge 3 coyotes (shutter) 3 ticks (shutter and start scratching) and 1 buck

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My new enemy

In my new tree seat, I have seen a ton of wildlife! Does, partridge and turkeys are the norm. All have been super fun to watch. We are still waiting for Dad to get that big buck that he wants! As I was sitting in the seat on Saturday morning around 10:30am, I hear a shot. Its close because it makes me jump. From where I know Dad was going, it could be him!! I pull out my cell phone waiting for the call to confirm. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes go by. All I can think then is that Dad jumped a deer towards another ground blind that must have had someone in it. As I sit there, I see a movement coming from my right. It looks like a fluffy dog. It is about 30 feet from me trotting along a broken down tree then turns and heads towards my...

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What it means to lose a deer

It was horrible. I remember the noise she made when she dropped. How she spun on the ground trying to get back up. I can remember pretty much everything about that 2pm sunny, Saturday afternoon in November. I remember her finally getting back up and thinking she would just go a few more feet, fall and die. That is why I didn’t take that second shot. When Dad came to get me from the tree stand and we started following the blood trail, it was almost a straight line. There was so much of it. We followed it and followed it and then, nothing. No blood. No tracks. It was like she disappeared into the ether. We searched until it was dark. Then Dad searched again on Sunday trying to find my doe. She was lost. For any hunter, losing a deer is...

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Matching Deer!

I shot my 4th deer on Friday morning (story coming this week!) It was a nice 4pt 112lb buck. The next morning, my husband shot his very first deer! It was a nice 4pt 110lb buck! And as terrible as the shots were, we both shot our deer with one shot, in the heart. Any hunter will tell you than if you hit the heart as square on as I did, it really is a bad, low shot and not one you should aim for on a regular basis. I was about 4 inches low. But, it took me one shot and he dropped. It takes a little bit of the pressure off since there is now meat in the freezer for the winter, but now it's Dad's turn. And he wants a big buck! My deer is on the left. P.S - for the first time EVER!!! I had 3 ticks on me this weekend. Never have I had those...

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Same deer? or Same gene pool?

He was a part of triplets that we watched a few years ago. I joked that he was so ugly, I was going to shoot him when I had my big birthday. Yesterday, Dad pulled the camera chip and the picture below was on it. Has he come back??? Could a deer born in (probably) 2009 have such small antlers in 2012? If it is not the same deer, it has to be the same gene pool - look at those eyes!

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Have some respect or ruin it for the rest

A hunting license does not authorize you to enter private property without permission. Last week, my friend Robin and I got into a conversation about hunting on private vs public lands (and about hunting on Sundays, but that’s a different blog) and the lack of public land around to hunt on. IFW says 94% of land in Maine is privately owned which makes hunting hard if you do not own land to hunt on. I am fortunate. The three pieces of land that we hunt on make up about 430 acres and are owned by my parents and grandparents. We have allowed people to hunt on the land as long as they asked and did not use four-wheelers. I hunt in a small town where everyone knows everyone else and knows where they hunt/own. It is a community where the...

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