Ain’t Life Great

By John Tweedie

Another deer season has come and gone for me in northern Maine, and I enjoyed every minute of it. All the anticipation and preseason preparations, as well as the actual hunt are somewhat therapeutic to me.

My season starts almost as soon as the last season ends – when I start to make plans with the outfitter for next season’s stay. I have been hunting from the same camps for four years now, located in Molunkus Maine. The camp is called ‘Lake Molunkus Sporting Camps’, http://www.lakemolunkus.com/ and is run by Matt Ewing. This old logging camp is the perfect place to get away from the everyday rush
of our busy lives, and I hope to come back for many years.

This year’s hunt started like several before it. I left work on Saturday night and headed straight for home. Once there, I packed everything I needed for the week into the truck, then grabbed a bite to eat and took a hot shower in the comfort of my own home – for the last time until I get back in seven days. After spending some time with my wife and two children, I tried to get a few hours of sleep.

At three a.m., I was awakened by the alarm clock. By three-thirty I was dressed and out the door. The first thing I had to do was pick up my hunting partner, (Ted), and load all his stuff into the truck. Then we made a quick stop for a coffee and pointed the truck north.

The ride took some time, but we enjoyed every minute of it. We even saw a few good bucks hanging that some other hunters were lucky enough to put their tags on, and I just had to stop and take a few pictures.

We made it to camp around noon and Matt was there to greet us. It’s always good to see a friendly face after such a long absence. After unpacking our things, Ted and I took a ride around the area to see if there were any major changes to the land we needed to know about. Then it was back to camp to settle in.

The first day of the hunt we awoke to find a light rain had fallen over night. This made for quiet walking and I was able to still hunt the whole day and locate some good sign – but I never saw a deer. My buddy Ted also saw no deer, but he did have a close encounter with a mature bull moose. After returning to camp we learned that one of the other hunters in camp (Mike), had taken a beautiful buck, A two hundred and eleven pound nine pointer. What an awesome animal!

On Tuesday morning it was very cold and still. I tried to be quiet and sneak my way into some of the best sign I had found the day before, but as I walked in on the frozen leaves, I spooked out a deer. All I saw was a flash of brown and white fur. Knowing I would likely jump deer all day in these conditions, I headed straight into the woods and took a stand on an old stump. I had some gel deer lure with me so I dipped a few brown ash branches in it and hoped it would help.

I stood on that stump for most of the morning with sightings of only a few red squirrels and a few birds. At noon I sat on the stump to eat my lunch and checked in with Ted on the radio only to find out his day was going as good as mine was.

After lunch I stood back up on the stump to continue my survey, but my lower back was starting to bother me, so around one thirty I sat down again. I hadn’t been sitting for more than a minute when I could hear something walking far behind me and going away. It sounded like a deer walking but I couldn’t see it. Then the sound of the footfalls stopped and I knew I had to do something.

I pulled the grunt call out from under my coat and gave out about five or six short loud grunts. I heard a few more footfalls, then nothing. A few seconds later, more footfalls at a steady pace and coming my way. I struggled to see what was making the noise.

Then, at about one hundred yards, I saw a flash of white. It’s antlers! and they are coming my way. I shouldered my rifle (I call it Raven) and put a bead on the buck. I followed the buck as he closed the distance, at thirty-five yards I dropped the buck with a quartering shot to the high shoulder.

After a taking a few pictures, I dressed out my buck, secured my tag and dragged him out. Once again the cycle begins – ain’t life great!

See you next year.

John