Rural deer hunting outshines big woods

Mainly Outdoors by Bill Graves
    With less than a week of regular deer season remaining and only six days of muzzleloader hunting following that, Aroostook sportsmen are fast running short of time to bag a buck. Worse yet, weather conditions aren’t cooperating; as much as I enjoy 50 degree temperatures and bare ground in late November, they’re not conducive to productive whitetail gunning.
    Long before November arrived, the prognosis for success was dim, and wildlife biologists, big game outfitters, and men who worked daily in the woods agreed The County deer herd was diminished by at least 50 percent. As devastating as it would be to the regional autumn economy, whispers regarding closing the deer season throughout the Crown of Maine for a couple of years persist.
    Local guides and deer camp owners confirm that the number of visiting deer hunters has dropped notably over the last two seasons. Another bad winter would further decimate whitetail numbers and surely force state wildlife officials to make a no-win but necessary change in Aroostook deer hunting. The unpopular decision to make Youth Day a bucks only hunt was a first step, and may seem minor compared to what’s to come if herd numbers don’t improve.
    Some hunters want to turn a blind eye to the problem but current results from woods-wise outdoorsmen confirm the lack of deer in the Big Woods. Two weeks ago four of my friends spent a full week in deer camp a two hour drive beyond Ashland. They are hard hunting trackers and trailers who account for at least a couple of bragging size bucks every fall, but this year they never even spotted a single deer with horns!
FIRST TROPHY – Jeremy Tuck, 19, of Houlton shot his first buck last week in Linneus. His eight-point trophy weighed 195 pounds.
    Last week a group of twelve hardcore hunters spent the week at a deer camp by Big Machias Lake and hunted hard for six straight days, using five trucks they spread out daily to spots clear up to the Canadian border and spent countless hours beating the brush, — not a single deer was shot, and worse yet, not a buck was sighted!
    Ready to throw in the blaze orange towel and put the rifle in the rack for the rest of the season?  Don’t do it, there’s a chance you’re just not hunting the right areas. Regardless of the low numbers of deer in the far and thick big timber, rural and urban edge farm land with small wood lots still harbors a better than average bunch of bucks.
    Without being too specific to exact location, – let’s say between Westfield and Bridgewater, let me relate three local success stories. About 12 days ago, Mitch Wheeler of Blaine bagged his 7-point buck that dressed out at 182 pounds. Last Wednesday, Tom Tardiff, a well known guide living in Robinson, tagged an 8-pointer dressing out a 207 lbs. and two days later, Bob Lento of Blaine downed a 187-pound buck with a high, thick six-point rack. Every one of these whitetails was well over 200 pounds live weight.
    All three sports spent a lot of time pre-season scouting around several regional farms, locating does in hopes that bucks would eventually show up. Bob sighted several deer and Tom spotted over a dozen during their early morning outings, even a few bucks that never presented a good shot. In the end however, checking fields, still-hunting wood lots and taking stands near trails entering fields paid off.
    Rural farms are abundant throughout Aroostook so hunting locations are widespread, and thanks to fewer predators as well as more food that’s easily accessible, the farm land deer have had a greater survival rate during the tough winters. That’s why from Haynesville to Hamlin Plantation, smart deer hunters are shunning the Big Woods for the small woods and adjacent farm fields. With the rut in full swing don’t be too quick to overlook feeding does, it’s likely that a buck will show up sooner or later in search of a mate in heat.
    There are few spots in Aroostook County that don’t have some agri-land within a few minutes drive so local hunters have no reason to pass up a pre-work spot and stalk, or still-hunt a nearby apple orchard or small copse of woods near crop fields. Who knows, the weather might even cooperate over the next couple of weeks and that would certainly move the bucks around a bit more. Put in a few more hours, your big buck may just be closer than you expect.