Staff Pick

As always Greg, great story.  Thanks for sharing.  Your  great grandkids will appreciate your words and know you just a little better. 

John Gibbs 

The 2019 hunting season is not one that I will soon forget. Spent the whole Veterans week at camp with great friends. We managed to really figure out what the deer were doing thanks to fresh snow and an active feeding area near camp. Had the opportunity of a lifetime to put an old school stalk on a big mature buck and after several miles caught up with him just in time to see the big bodied deer running away as I'm scanning the old tote road he was watching me from. Even though I didn't have a decent shot opportunity, I learned more from that one hunt then I did from the many others where I did connect. This deer led me through several bedding and feeding areas, from ridge to ridge and essentially took me in a 4 mile circle. Couple of us had our chances and even though we had nothing on the game pole to show for it. It didn't matter, not in the least. Being at camp in the Maine woods with great friends is what drives me to get out there. That sense of being alive, smelling every smell and hearing every sound. It was bittersweet but we left camp for home to our welcoming families. Getting back home mid day Saturday and after unpacking I didn't waste any time and jumped back into my blind near home. It was cold and you could hear ever sound. By 4: 32 (legal was 4:36) I heard a deer coming from the thick conifers to my left and approaching the field. The crunchy snow was unforgiving and this deer sounded like a freight train as it approached the field I was watching. Within a couple minutes a nice doe all by herself entered the field from one of the well worn trails leading in. She began to feed on the grass and clover I had bush hawged down a month or so prior. Shortly after she stepped in I heard a deer snorting to my right but could not see what it was.  It was end of legal and just as I was getting ready to leave she perked up and I heard the other deer again just as 4 more does/lambs were running down the next small field over. The doe I was watching bugged out as well. I headed back home, satisfied I had a chance to see deer and again enjoy the outdoors. On the following Monday I got out of work at 3 pm. I was chomping at the bit to get to my blind in time to sit for an hour or so. It was damp and the woods were much more quiet and still than the Saturday before. At 4:15         I heard a shot above me (found out the neighbor had shot herself a spikehorn). I had resorted to the fact that I would not see much after that shot. At 4:28 I saw a deer step into the field from the same trail the doe had two days before. It was nose to the ground and I was convinced it was the same deer. I pulled my rifle up just as the deer pick it's head up. Antlers appeared in the cross hairs and I knew it was at least a decent 8 pt. I wasted no time, put the cross hairs on the vitals and squeezed down. It was a hit for sure. The buck turned 180 degrees and ran back into the thick stuff from where he came, crashing saplings and branches as he plowed through.  I waited 15  minutes, an eternity it seemed. I made a couple cell phone calls to let family know I would be late. I then began to follow the trail and no sooner started into the woods and came up on the buck. He had gone no further than 15 yards in. When I came up on the 9 pt. I instantly felt gratitude for the opportunity to hunt on our neighbors property, having good protein in the freezer and for the buck that laid before me. My other neighbor and good friend came to help drag him out.  He weighed in at 160 pounds which was no surprise considering he had no fat on him and had been feeding very little. The meat from this deer will feed several people and I intend to have a skull mount done.  Grateful and blessed to be able to hunt in the great State of Maine with skills passed on from family members long gone. 

540 pts · Deer — Gregory Berry

540 pts · Deer — Gregory Berry

105 pts · Saltwater fish — Gregory Berry

77 pts · Saltwater fish — Gregory Berry

119 pts · Saltwater fish — Gregory Berry

68 pts · Saltwater fish — Gregory Berry

136 pts · Saltwater fish — Gregory Berry

80 pts · Saltwater fish — Gregory Berry