The Green Mountain Buck

By Scott Seekins

It all started at 5:00 a.m.Thursday morning November 9th 2006. I stopped into Indian lake market to get a coffee. I got to my brothers house and I headed down to the tree stand with coffee in hand. It was still quite dark because it was a rainy, overcast day.

The first thing that happened to me was that I couldn’t find the tree stand. I had walked about 60 to 70 yards beyond it and had to turn around to find it. I found it after about 5 minutes and climbed up and got the seat dried off. I sat down and moved my gun to get ready and when I did, I knocked the 20 oz. coffee off of the stand and onto the ground. I thought to myself; what else is going to go wrong? And with the scent of the coffee in the air, what would come to the stand now? But I stayed there anyway.

 

I waited about 15 to 20 minutes and grunted with my grunt call; three short grunts. Then, about 15 minutes, two more short grunts, and in just a short amount of time, I saw movement in the fur thickets in front of me. Sure enough, it was a deer. He brought his head and neck out from behind the jack furs, and was swinging his head back and forth, as if he was looking for a fight. All of a sudden, he reared up and started sniffing the air. I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to shoot; he was getting ready to run. I fired the shot and he went down right where he was standing. It was over. I had shot my first buck in 32 years of hunting, and it was a nice one. A 190 lb, 12 point non-typical, 10 point typical.

 

The coffee was our blend; Green Mountain Coffee. Now you know why it’s called the Green Mountain Buck.

I can’t end this story with making mention of the people who I feel were instrumental in my success that morning: My dad and my brothers, for their placement of the tree stand, based upon their knowledge of how deer travel.

The other two individuals are registered Maine guides, both native to this great state. The first is Kevin Dunham, who is also owner and operator of Indian Lake Market in St. Albans, where I live. The other is Lee Schanz, Jr, who endorses the grunt call that I use. This wasn’t a guided hunt, but Kevin, just a few days prior, gave me instructions on how to call with the grunt call. Lee, whom I have known for years, has shared the stories of his successful hunts, and as I said, I was using the grunt that he endorses. I believe that it was because of these individuals that I was successful in harvesting this great deer, and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a guided hunt.

 

I would also like to thank Green Mountain Coffee. It was their coffee that played a part in one of the greatest days in my life.