Tom Kmetz

Jim Morrell 

Spencer Seekins

Jason Loblein

Matt Laite

Sam Ray

Brody Gibbs

For me each harvest seems to happen when it’s supposed to.   If the day wasn’t meant to be I will know it shortly in to the hunt.    You all know the feeling.  The second week of November, while hunting with my son Brody, he took a nice buck behind our camp that’s under construction in Monroe, Maine.  After a long track together he got the deer in a beaver bog and had to finish it off in the water.  We dragged the deer for some distance, including across a beaver dam, to where we could get to it with my ATV. Somewhere between where we loaded the deer on my four wheeler and camp I lost a small knife that belonged to my dad.   Dad passed this spring and it upset me greatly that I lost it.  I searched and searched but it was gone. Brody dressed his deer with it  so I just felt glad that we had a little part of my dad on that hunt.  Brody said ,as I stressed about losing the knife, “It will probably show up dad”.   Over the next couple of
weeks while working on the camp and traveling back and forth I continually kept and eye to the ground but had no success.      

Yesterday, Katherine came with her parents to view the progress on our camp.   They walked the last quarter mile and told me they were impressed. At the end of the visit as I was helping Katherine load up our youngest, Olivia (3) and Sawyer (1),  she said, “Oh I found a knife in the road on the way in”.  I snapped at her and said, “where? Show it to me”!  She’s like, “Geez, Hold on”.   Well, there it was and Brody was right.   It turned up!! I was so happy have it in my hand again.   I was planing on hunting yesterday afternoon but Katherine asked if I wanted to go to lunch in Bangor.  Being I have spent most every day since I retired Oct 30th either hunting or working on our camp,  (In the woods) I welcomed the time with family.

This morning I woke early and feeling sentimental I knew where I had to sit.   A top a mountain, on other land we own in Monroe, stands a very large oak tree that has a root shaped perfect to sit on.  It over looks the whole steep side of the mountain.  I had hunted this spot for many years and have taken a few nice bucks from this spot.  It was also the first place I hunted after Katherine and I lost our first child, Grayson,  before he was born.  So a few years back,  in another story, Andrew, Brody and I shot three bucks in one morning on this piece of property. Brody got his first right after daylight at the bottom of the mountain.  Then about a half an hour later I was in the middle of marking a “way point” on my Garmin Inreach at this spot as Grayson’s Stand.  Grayson was on my mind as I was thinking I would never get to hunt with him.   I had typed GRA...  when in heard a crunch. I looked up and an eight point was headed right at me up the mountain.  Was Grayson with me now?? I sat down my Garmin, slowly picked up my riffle, took aim, and dropped the deer.  The hillside is steep enough that the deer rolled back down the hill a short distance.    I could see the deer laying motionless about 60 yards away.  I then picked the Garmin back up and finished “Grayson’s stand” and saved it.    It felt so right and put a smile on my face.  I dressed the deer and started the drag down the mountain.  About 40 minutes later my son Andrew, whom was hunting up over the mountain from me, dropped another 8 point.  This was special day.  

    Today, I made my way up the mountain and was seated about 15 minutes before legal shooting time in “Grayson’s stand”.    I realized about 15 minutes into legal time that I was still not able to see well but could see very well with my Vortex binoculars.  While scanning down hill I saw a nice buck very quickly.  I put them down and picked up my rifle but could not find him in my scope.  While searching for him a  deer ran from my left that was about 20 yards ahead of where I saw the deer before with binoculars.   Thinking he couldn’t have covered ground that fast.  I picked up my binoculars again and the dam think was still there but had turned facing the other direction.  He then walked down hill where the other ran and that was the last I saw of him.    20 minutes later a deer blew to my right and then three more times running away.  I gave five grunts and waited.   10 minutes passed and I heard some movement behind me. I slowly turned to face up hill and out this buck came.  Wind blowing right at him he stopped behind two big oak trees about 30 yards and stood there for about 2 minutes.  I could see him sniffing the air and one antler so I decided to take the shot between the crotch of the two big trees threading the needle into just behind the front shoulder.  I fired and off he ran up the mountain to my left.  He ran up and out of sight before i could chamber another round.    I put all my gear back on and initially found nothing for sign that my shot connected.  Then I started kicking myself for not waiting for a better shot.  Something I did last year and nailed a nice fat birch tree. I went a long distance following what I though was his trail in the leaves and found nothing.  I decided to start over.  This time I found some hair and then some blood.  I started marking the trail with orange tape. After about 50 yards the blood got thicker and thicker.  About another 100 yards I found him dead a top, the almost highest point, of the mountain.  I took some photos and savored the moment.  I again thought about Grayson and wondered if he was with me again. Then it was time to get out dads knife.   It isn’t the biggest buck by any means but it’s clearly a trophy to me.  This deer was taken with my Savage AXIS .308 that I won at the Austin Grant Memorial hunters breakfast last year.   As I always say,  “A hunt is best measured by the quality rather than the size of the query”.   

John Gibbs 

500 pts · Deer — John Gibbs

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