TUCKER RIDGE OUTDOORS

Preserve, Protect, Support and Defend

Do those words sound familiar? They should, because they are the foundation of every sworn oath in most federal and state oaths of office. We hear them solemnly delivered every four years as the next President of the United States is sworn in. To be specific, we hear the newly elected or re-elected president say this: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

U.S. Senators and Representatives have a slightly easier burden to bear, needing to only to ‘support and defend’ the Constitution – “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.” Justices seated on the Supreme Court bench must take the same oath.

Our military have the highest standard with their oath which mirrors much of Congress members’ oaths, but adds obeying the orders of the President and officers appointed over them. What makes the military oath unique however is the Uniform Code of Military Justice which can be used to impose severe penalties for breaking the oath. Academically speaking, Federal and state offices also have mechanisms for oath breakers, but when the fox is allowed to bunk in the henhouse who will hold oath breakers accountable? Only you.

The oath of office is a solemn vow, not to be taken lightly. Nor does it apply to only the parts of the Constitution you agree with. It applies, steadfastly, to the entire shooting match. Soup to nuts, the full boat, six ways to Sunday. Insert your favorite euphemism here…it is all the same. An oath is an oath, period.

The second amendment to the United States Constitution clearly denotes that it “shall not be infringed”. I don’t know about you, but I see a whole lot of infringing going on. Can you imagine the uproar across the country if elected federal officials decreed that only some forms of media are protected under the first amendment? And that we, for the public welfare, need to enact some ‘common sense’ free speech laws? What if you are told we need to get ‘assault media’ off of our television screens? Those would be the outlets that don’t toe the line – all for the greater good of course.

We cannot, as a free society governed as republic of laws, not men, be so willing to abdicate our responsibilities as citizens to hold those who would shred our very identity as Americans, the United States Constitution, to pieces without consequences. If you think I may be preaching to the proverbial choir, please let me explain. I wanted to speak those on the fence about the gun control efforts snowballing in Washington. I’m trying to reach those that may not own a gun, do not hunt, or may feel that they don’t have a dog in this fight – the folks who are understandably concerned about violence in the county, but may not be informed on the issues. Because you see, if they can take away my rights to own a gun, they can take away any rights guaranteed under the Constitution – free speech, the right to vote, women and minority protections, the right to petition the government…should I keep going?

Gun Legislation Rollout

Last month, we talked about the future of gun rights and what to expect coming down the proverbial pipe. When I wrote that column, I had to rely strictly on the president’s stated platform and existing positions held by current and former anti-gun elected officials and the promises they’ve made to their supporters.. Well, the cards are on the table now folks. Some of them anyway. In just the first two months of 2021, no less than seventeen anti-gun bills have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives; I haven’t even begun to read the Senate introductions.

Some of these bills overlap in scope, with representatives no doubt jockeying for recognition as a ‘strong advocate for common sense gun laws’. Quite honestly, it is a shameful act of pandering that is wasting taxpayer dollars in an attempt to infringe on the constitutional liberties of law-abiding, gun-owning United States citizens – again. For the purposes of brevity, I’ll just discuss the most egregious of them and what it means to you if passed into law.

H.R.1454 – To amend title 18, United States Code, to require firearm assembly kits to be considered to be firearms.

While not as far reaching as then candidate Biden’s platform position of banning all online sales of firearm parts kits, this bill is just as bad. The meteoric rise of the modern sporting rifle among gun enthusiasts was in part due to the availability parts kits and upgrades on rifles with a modular platform. Want a crisper trigger in your AR? You could by a Geissele kit and make your rifle run like a dream. Perhaps you wanted to upgrade your classic 1911 .45ACP with a beavertail grip, skeletonized trigger and improved barrel bushing? You could easily find many options to choose from. In both cases, you could have these parts shipped right to your door. If this bill passes, you’ll most likely need a National Instant Criminal Background Check to buy them.

H.R.1207 – To require face-to-face purchases of ammunition, to require licensing of ammunition dealers, and to require reporting regarding bulk purchases of ammunition.

The intent of this bill is to suppress your desire and ability to buy ammunition. This bill directly coincides with President Biden’s promise to end all sales of ammunition online. It places another undue burden on sporting goods retailers, creates more bureaucratic red tape to wade through and will severely diminish the free market economy in the firearms and ammunition industries. The very idea that buying ammunition in bulk quantities is suspicious and is an indicator of nefarious intentions that must be monitored is outrageous. It is also completely arbitrary.

H.R.1004 – To prohibit the sale of a firearm to, and the purchase of a firearm by, a person who is not covered by appropriate liability insurance coverage.

Of the three bills I picked from the pile to talk about, this one is by far the most ambitious and overreaching. The title of the bill says it all. If passed, you will be required under penalty of law to obtain an insurance policy to buy a firearm. Are insurance companies on board with this? Will there be separate requirements based on the type of firearm or number of firearms owned? And, here is the kicker – you would need to verify that a person you are transferring any firearm to has the required insurance policy. Do you remember the pressure exerted on financial institutions that provided services to firearm and ammunition manufacturers several years ago? Both Citigroup and Bank of America imposed restrictions on the firearms industry in the form of declining loans and store-branded credit cards to retailers. Do you think insurance companies, especially those led by folks with anti-gun sympathies, will even offer an affordable gun owner liability policy? I think not. And without that policy, you’ve already bought your last gun.

Gun Rights under Fire

What I wish to talk with you about this month will come as no big surprise to most of you. After all, I’m one of the gun guys that contribute to The Northwoods Sporting Journal, and over the years I’ve written quite a bit about gun rights for several outlets. I’ve even appeared on NRA TV with the host of Cam & Co., Cam Edwards to discuss hunting and gun rights. Please do not mistake this as hubris, my point here is that I’ve been involved in the gun rights community for some time and have seen, and written about, the many challenges and abuses of our collective gun rights as United States citizens. What I see looming ahead does not bode well for us. As we all know, elections have consequences. This time though, the consequences for law-abiding gun owners and hunters may prove to be dire indeed.

In the past, as anti-gun politicians were elected to high office, we could usually expect some saber rattling from them on gun rights issues. Their political base demanded it. It was expected. On the other side, we had grass root activists and pro-gun elected officials lobbying on our behalf to stem the flow of anti-gun legislation. There was always a power struggle, a tug-of-war on gun legislation, BATFE rule-making and domestic policy in regards to firearm ownership. This time it is different. The anti-gun activists have learned from their losses in the past. They have learned that a majority of Americans support lawful gun ownership and didn’t buy the tactics employed in the past to try and push through egregious and unconstitutional gun legislation. The anti-gunners have learned to change the way they speak, to cloak their true intentions with misleading titles of bills. Terms bandied about now include ‘extreme risk’, ‘weapons of war’ and ‘common-sense gun laws’ – all of meant to elicit emotion and support for the unlawful usurpation of the Second Amendment.

They have also learned to run the end-around. Having lost support for a heads on-challenge to lawful ownership of firearms, the new strategy is comprised of feints and flanking maneuvers. Now, the anti-gun activists and elected officials mask their true intent by voicing claims of protecting the public safety, combating an ‘epidemic of gun violence’, and trying to make a constitutional issue a public health issue.

Now, I’m not asking you to take my word for it, I merely wanted to lay it out for you in general terms before we get down to brass tacks. President Joe Biden’s ‘Gun Safety’ platform is one of the most sweeping, anti-gun plans to be publicly shared by a politician in recent times. The vast majority of his positions are adopted from radical anti-gun groups such as March for Our Lives, The Giffords Law Center, The Trace and Everytown for Gun Safety – all innocuously named, but all pushing policies in direct contradiction to the rights of United States gun owners.

Over the next few months, I’ll be digging into some of these positions and policies to try explain why there are not only dangerous, but completely and thoroughly illegal. Most importantly, I hope to show how these proposals will affect you. There simply isn’t enough space to cover the Biden anti-gun platform (https://joebiden.com/gunsafety) in one column, but I’ll give you a bitter taste of it and what’s to come. Here are the highlights: Reinstate the ban on ‘assault weapons’ and high capacity magazines, force existing owners of modern sporting rifles to sell their guns to the government or register them under the National Firearms Act, limit all firearm purchases to one a month, enact universal background checks for every single firearm transfer, prohibit the sale of any and all online sales of ammunition, firearms, parts and kits, and pressure states to pass ‘Red Flag’ laws, legalizing the confiscation of firearms. And that is the short list folks.

Behind the Ammunition Shortage

We have all seen it. It is hard not to notice when visiting your local gun shop or big box retailer sporting goods section. Bare shelves line the walls behind gun counters, nary a box of ammunition to be had. This past year you would have had a better chance of witnessing Sasquatch riding a mountain lion down State Street in Augusta than to see a box of 9mm Luger or .223 Remington on a sporting goods retail shelf. So what gives? Well, the answer is a lot less dramatic than most of the conspiracy theories I have heard over the past few years during similar shortages of .22LR and before that – primers.

Supply and demand

It’s the most basic of business principles. Manufacturing processes ebb and flow with the consumer demand for the products the manufacturer’s produce. When rapid changes in the marketplace occur, there is bound to be a concurrent reaction on the manufacturing side. An unprecedented amount of social and political events over the past year or so contributed heavily to the ammunition shortfall. If the average gun owner who usually purchases a couple of boxes of cartridges during a visit to the gun shop suddenly is buying cases of ammunition at a time, thousands of rounds are moving out of the supply chain in quick fashion. Multiply this scenario by even a fraction of gun owners in the country and you are talking big numbers.

The National Sports Shooting Foundation estimates that over 12 million guns were bought during the first seven months of 2020, according to data provided by the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System. You can bet that a lot these firearms belong to new gun owners and I suspect they didn’t leave the store without ammunition, likely a pile of it.

The fear of not being able to purchase ammo causes this bulk buying reaction; case in point – I recently heard someone joke that ammunition is the new toilet paper.

Manufacturer challenges

Winchester, Browning, Hornady and Vista Outdoor (the conglomerate that owns Federal, Speer, CCI and the recently acquired Remington Ammunition brand) all report overwhelming demand despite operating at full manufacturing capability and shipping product daily. The problem they say is that as soon as the retailers receive their ammunition through the back door, it goes right back out the front door.

Raw materials are a big problem too. The Covid pandemic has caused shortages in the supply chain of everything from brass, primers, copper and lead and believe it or not – Department of Transportation approved cardboard that is required to ship live ammunition. The pandemic has also stressed the workforce who manufactures ammo.

Remington Ammunitions’ plant in Lanoke, Arkansas, one of the biggest ammunition manufacturing facilities in the country, shut down during Remington Outdoors bankruptcy and asset sale proceedings, adding to the supply shortage. There is a glimmer of hope however. Vista expects to have 400 to 600 laid-off workers back at the presses and shipping the popular yellow and green boxes of ammunition by the time you read this column.

Future and politics

Previously, we could usually predict a firearm purchase surge when anti-gun politicians were elected to office or ammunition purchase surges when we hear about legislation being crafted to limit the sale of certain types of rounds, but those were singular issues causing hoarding; thus a shortage. This time around, there is a plethora of issues facing gun owners and shooting enthusiasts – the Covid-19 pandemic, an uncertain climate in the general public regarding gun ownership and the election of one of the most outspoken anti-gun presidential tickets in modern history. Folks are worried about finding ammunition for the times they may need it most and are uncertain when the shortage will end. It’s a perfect storm for hoarding.

Lever Guns for Deer

When most folks think of lever action rifles, the first thing that comes to mind are cowboys and spaghetti westerns. Annie Oakley made the repeater famous while performing with Buffalo Bill all over the world and images of John Wayne and Chuck Connors wielding their trusty Winchesters are certainly ingrained in my memory. Lever guns gained in popularity among American deer hunters through the 60’s and 70’s before falling off in later decades. But that was then. Lever guns are making a big comeback, with manufacturers upping their game to rekindle the niche market for lever gun hunting enthusiasts.

I have always been a lever gun guy. Why? I’m glad you asked. I simply love a fast pointing, light gun that enables quick follow up shots in the thick cover I typically hunt in. While I admit to having to sacrifice a little accuracy, at the range I use my lever guns it isn’t a problem. If I want to reach out and touch that whitetail at 200 yards or better, I’ll be using a bolt action gun. But the truth is there isn’t much terrain like that where I hunt deer so the lever is my go to rifle most of the time. And you can’t beat the versatility of modern lever action guns.

The biggest drawback in the past when hunting with a lever gun has been ammunition. Most guns used a tubular magazine which meant having to load only round or flat nosed bullets like the .30-30 Win and .45-70 Govt. That meant decreased ballistic performance and decreased velocity. Spitzer type bullets with pointed ends couldn’t be safely loaded bullet to primer in the magazine for obvious safety concerns., Most of the prolific deer hunting cartridges such as the .30-06 Spfld, .308 Win and more all use Spitzer type bullets in the cartridge; so fans of those rounds didn’t have much use for lever actions. That’s all changed.

If you are a fan of the tubular magazine, side loading gate type of lever action such as a Marlin 336, Hornady’s LEVERevolution ammunition line (hornady.com/ammunition) has effectively transformed the way you can hunt. With patented Flex Tip technology, the traditional round and flat nosed cartridges perform like Spitzer-nosed rounds. These cartridges can increase velocity up to 250 feet per second; that is an amazing gain in a traditional lever gun round!

For those who still prefer traditional bolt or pump action calibers like the .30-06, the Browning BLR rifle is for you. The BLR utilizes a detachable box magazine, rendering the nose to tail concern of loading pointed bullets null and void. The BLR also boasts fifteen different chamberings – including the .243 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Win, .308 Win, .30-06 Spfld, 7mm-08 Rem and more.

Big advancements in sight technology make getting on target with a lever gun even quicker. Long gone are the days of being stuck with a buckhorn sight and limited optic choices. My favorite system is the Lever Rail Ghost Rings WS package by XS Sights (xssights.com). This set up removes factory buckhorn sights and replaces them with a Picatinny rail flush mounted to the receiver, allowing a variety of optics and positions. The factory iron sights are replaced by a white striped front ramp sight and a fully adjustable rear aperture Ghost Ring, allowing for a great field of view and quick target acquisition.

With these advancements in lever gun technology, the versatility and comfort of a lever action carbine is hard to beat in the thick timber and brush. When speed and follow up are crucial in the deer woods I hunt, I’ll grab my lever guns every time.

Best Laid Plans

I had the gobbler pegged. After many days of scouting leading up to the 2019 spring wild turkey season opener, I knew where he was roosting. I had followed the long beard and his harem as they moved around the ridge for weeks. They were consistently making the rounds through the same patches of woods and ending up for the day at the same spot at the inside edge of the big corn field’s wood line. A couple of times I was close enough to see the fly up with binoculars. I had the roosting spot nailed down; now came the decision on how to capitalize on that.

I studied the lay of the land, noting where the small knolls in the field could provide concealment. I checked the sun’s arc throughout the day to determine the best blind location, giving me the advantage of the sun in the bird’s eyes as he approached me and my decoy set.

On the night before opening day, I crept several hundred yards under the cover of darkness into the field from the opposite side. Behind a low rise, I popped my blind and prepped and stowed my decoys inside. As I drove back to camp, I felt good about what the next day would bring. After all, I had put in the work and was well prepared. I had a solid plan, a good spot and a known roost. But as they used to say in my old unit, the best laid plans rarely survive first contact.

When my alarm rang, I surprised myself by rolling out of the rack within a reasonably quick time frame. It’s been awhile since deer season and getting back into the hunting rhythm usually starts for me with spring turkey. After filling my thermos with fresh coffee and grabbing my lunch, I was out the door and headed to my blind well before sun up. When I reached my spot, I set the decoys and zipped myself inside my blind, did a quick check and got my calls and gear situated. Everything was in place. I checked my watch; it was 30 minutes until first light.

The first gray light of morning found me scanning the far wood line just north of where the gobbler was roosting. If my plan went well, I’d draw the gobbler over the small hill in the field where he would make contact with my decoy set and further back, the business end of my shotgun.

I made some tentative calls on my slate, careful not to let my excitement translate into over calling. Within 15 minutes, a dark shape, low to the ground, moved out of the wood line into the field directly to my front. I estimated it to be about 100 yards – too close to start a new calling sequence for my liking. I’m an average caller and I didn’t want to risk an errant strike on the slate with a bird that close. I figured the gobbler saw my decoys and was heading right to me. I waited.

The dark shape kept coming, slowly but surely. I noticed it was getting lighter outside, so I decided to get a better look. I glassed the object through the mesh window in the blind from about 80 yards. That was the precise moment my well laid plans went up in smoke; and not from the end of my muzzle.

First contact materialized as a 200 lb. class Maine black bear – now 60 yards to my front. I watched the bear paw the field for leftover corn and amble around without a care in the world. More than once I watched it drop to the ground and roll around, scratching it’s back and no doubt enjoying the crisp spring morning just as I was.

After nearly an hour had passed, I decided enough was enough. The bear had made its way to about 50 yards from my blind. That was close enough and surely my gobbler wasn’t coming anywhere near me now. I let out a sniff. The bear looked my way then turned and loped back towards the northwest corner of the field.

I never got that gobbler, but that’s okay by me. There really is more to hunting than the killing and I felt fortunate to experience it for the better part of an hour on that beautiful, crisp spring morning.

Know Your Cats

My neighbor down the ridge swore she saw one of Maine’s elusive mountain lions on the edge of her property as dusk was setting in. She proceeded to tell me, with arms spread nearly four feet apart, that “its tail was this long!”

“This was a mountain lion…and I know what I saw!” The conversation then veered off into the night her husband heard a Sasquatch bellowing behind their trailer home down ridge towards the cedar bog.

All joking aside, more and more Mainers are reporting sightings of mountain lions. Are they really here? Some folks emphatically say yes. While the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife does not officially recognize a mountain lion population in Maine, the uptick in reported sightings should make even the harshest of skeptics think twice.

Do I think cougars are prowling the forests and ridgelines of Maine? I don’t really know. What I do know is that they were once here and the available habitat in the northern part of the state is prime territory for a mountain lion population. That is about the sum of my opinion. I do agree however with some skeptics who demand to see proof. In the day of widespread trail camera usage I’d expect to see at least one photo – just one, anywhere in the state.

I use numerous trail cameras at all of my predator bait sites – there are quite a few along Tucker Ridge. There is one less than 500 yards from my neighbor’s alleged sighting. I have coyotes, bobcat and the occasional lynx. If these predators are lured in to the bait site, why does the cougar pass it up?

As I noted earlier, I do not have a steadfast opinion on whether mountain lions exist in Maine, but I know from experience that a lot of folks cannot distinguish a bobcat from a lynx even at close distances. Identifying a cougar at 300 yards in failing light is a wholly different matter. Even the purported sighting of a long tail could be askew in that type of visibility. If you are a hunter, you know what I mean. I’ve seen a bear turn into a rock at daybreak and a buck materialize into a small cedar stand as dawn approached. With Maine’s predator season in full swing, I figured now was a good time for a quick primer on bobcats, Canada lynx and mountain lions.

Bobcats

Bobcats are the smallest of the three averaging 20-30 pounds in Maine with short tails about 5-6 inches long. The underside of the tail is white with a black spot at the tip. The bobcat has slightly tufted ears and longer fur on the face called a “ruff”. Their overall color can be reddish, greyish or brownish with the underside and chin being a lighter color. Black spots are common on the legs and undersides while younger cats may display spots over their entire body. Bobcats have relatively short legs.

Canada Lynx

Canada lynx are similar in size to bobcats but their big, long legs contribute to the perception of them appearing larger. Lynx have distinctly large, heavily furred feet. In winter they sport gray fur with faint spotting and will appear reddish in summer with a much shorter coat. The black ear tufts on lynx are much more pronounced and the tail tip is solid black, unlike a bobcat with the white underside.

Mountain Lion

Also known as cougars, mountain lions are far larger than lynx and bobcats averaging nearly three feet in height at the shoulders and seven to eight feet in length from nose to tail. The mountain lions coat is typically a tawny shade with a light colored underside and chin. Cubs will display spotting and ringed tails. As cougars grow into adulthood they lose all spotting. Juveniles can be recognized by having spotting visible only on the rear flanks. The head appears round with erect ears. There are no ear tufts or face ruff present. Mountain lions can resemble domestic short haired cats, albeit very large ones.

As I think about how to close this column, I find myself gazing out my office window at the tree line rolling down the east side of Tucker Ridge. It is dusk and the dense mixed forest is shrinking into the shadows, the snow falling softly in fat, wet flakes. What I see between a thick stand of fir and spruce causes me to jump up and grab my binoculars off of the gun cabinet. I put the binos right up to the window pane and I can’t believe my eyes!

Wait…nope. It’s just a stump.

The Promise

I had just slid my coffee thermos back into my pack when I heard the branch crack to my front and left. It sounded like a cannon shot in stillness of the crisp, cool morning. The sound came from the old skidder trail just south of me and I recalled the pile of slash and wood scraps mounded at the end of it. Another crunch told me that something heavy was heading my way, now just 100 yards away or closer. I was perched in my tree stand, tucked into the edge of the wood line bordering an abandoned landing that once served the network of overgrown logging trails around me. My focus was a scent wick, hanging 75 yards across the clearing, and directly between me and the last crunch.

It took no small effort to control my breathing as I slowly mounted my Marlin 336 lever gun. I could feel my blood pressure elevate slightly and swore I could hear it pulsing through my ears. My heart started hammering away inside my rib cage when the eight point buck broke cover and lifted his nose to the hanging wick. He was in a perfect broadside position with only his rear end still hidden in the opposite wood line. I thumbed the hammer back to full-cock and settled the front iron sight on the vitals. Estimating the range, I dropped the front sight between the buckhorns on the rear of the barrel and felt my finger start to apply a steady, even pressure. The big whitetail leapt and kicked, bounding into the wood line. I heard branches snapping and twigs cracking as he fled and then the final crash as he piled up. But the one thing I never heard was the report of my tried and true .30-30 Winchester. It was 30 minutes into my first deer season as a Maine resident and my hunt was over.

I took a deep breath and sat back against the tree I was lashed to, admiring not necessarily the beauty of the rifle I was holding but its history. As I thumbed the worn, walnut stock, I felt every nick and gouge in the rifle earned over its 40-year hunting career. The faded bluing around the receiver another testament to long days carried through the deer woods. I also recalled how this special rifle came to be mine and the promise I made to a hunter’s widow years ago.

Nadine worked in the florist shop I used in the small town I hail from in the mountains of north east Pennsylvania. Before every holiday and trips out west to visit with my mother-in-law, Nadine would put together the flower arrangements for me – she was my favorite of the three working at the florist, her creations were beautiful and always well received. Plus, I knew she was a widow from the years I patronized the flower shop and was supplementing her Social Security income with her part-time hours and tips at the florist. Her husband Ed had succumbed to a massive heart attack some years ago and Nadine found herself suddenly and unexpectedly, going it alone.

Ed was an avid sportsman, travelling across the country to hunt and fish. Nadine knew I was also a dedicated hunter and fisherman and loved telling me stories about Ed’s hunting exploits, both good and bad, some hilarious. I’d find myself chatting with Nadine about Ed’s trips long after I’d paid for my flowers. I enjoyed the stories and I knew talking about her late husband’s passion was a way for her to keep close to him. I was more than happy to oblige – I love talking about hunting, especially deer hunting. Remember, this was in Pennsylvania and deer hunting is king. You know they are serious when schools close for opening day of deer season. So it was during one of our last deer hunting chats before I moved to Maine that Nadine brought up the subject of Ed’s gun collection.

Nadine explained to me that no one else in her family hunted or had any interest in Ed’s hunting guns after he passed. She never thought twice about having guns in her home when Ed was alive she said, but having them there and living alone made her uncomfortable. She told me she thought about selling them to a gun store but realized strangers becoming the new owners of his prized collection wouldn’t be what Ed would have wanted. He certainly wouldn’t want those guns forgotten in the back of some crowded gun safe either – he would want them put to use. She made me a deal on the collection I couldn’t refuse. There was one condition however; I had to promise to take them afield once in a while and let them see daylight during hunting season. It was the easiest promise I ever made.

As I was loading the last gun in my truck, Nadine touched my arm and told me “That one was his favorite deer rifle. Ed bought it new in 1978. He’s taken a lot of deer with it.” I looked down at the Marlin model 336 lever-action in my hands and could barely fathom the stories it could tell.

I raised my eyes from the rifle in my lap and prepared to climb down from the stand and retrieve my buck. Before I did though, I glanced towards the heavens, smiled and said aloud, “Ed, I kept my promise to both of you – the one I made to Nadine and the one she didn’t know about. Your old Marlin just added another whitetail to its legacy.”

All for One

I backed my truck around and pointed it up ridge towards the silo silhouetted in my headlights. I grabbed my phone and called back to camp. My client Josh answered and I could tell by the edge in his voice he was on pins and needles waiting for my call. “Go and get your wallet out so you can tip the tracking dog. We found your bear, bud.” I could hear the other clients, the lodge owner and the camp cook in the background, hooting and hollering. After it calmed down, I told him we were headed to camp so he could meet and thank the tracking crew and the blood-tracking dog that saved his bear.

Back at camp, I introduced Paul House and his crew along with his dog Turbo, one of the finest trackers I’ve seen in action. It felt electric in the lodge as Josh realized he really had taken his first Maine black bear. His fellow hunters in camp were just as ecstatic and after many handshakes and thanks later, the trackers headed home to prepare for the next day’s hunt and to await the next call. We, on the other hand, were just about to get started. Our camp cook Skeeter had made sure the guys were well fed and ready; a long time houndsman, he knew very well that the retrieval could make for a long night and he wanted the hunters fueled up for it. The lodge owner Frank was busy readying some extra equipment – saws, pruning loppers, and extra lights, all lashed down on his ATV. When Tyler and Eric (the other hunters in camp) were ready, we made a convoy back down ridge and set to work.

The first week of the bear over bait season was a tough one this year. Both the soft and hard mast crops were bountiful. Berries and nuts were everywhere. The apple trees were loaded like I hadn’t seen in years. This combination made for some erratic bait site activity. We had some good bears on the trail cameras but my clients just weren’t seeing them when it counted – during daylight and on stand. Every night we recounted what activity was taking place around each site and the guys bolstered each other with tales of previous hunts and experiences, all the while keeping a positive attitude. Some stands were hotter than others but that varied day-to-day as well. Throughout the first four days, I saw hunters get discouraged only to be motivated again by the others. There was no feeling of competition, only a mutual bond that hunters share. It can only be felt at small hunting camps among true sportsman and I cannot express how truly good it feels to witness it – both as a guide and as a fellow hunter.

When I received word that Josh had hit a bear in the waning hours of the hunt, on the very last day, I notified the other hunters. The bear was hit twice but sprinted down ridge toward the bog into heavy cover. There was an easy, unspoken determination; let’s get out of the woods and help. After the initial search came up empty and seeing the lack of a heavy blood trail, I sent our search party back to camp and made the call to our local tracking crew. It was dark by now and I knew the dog would work better with less distraction and scent around. I parked out by the road so the crew could find me and waited to see how the night would end.

Sometime after midnight, the bear was finally in the back of my truck. The camp had come together – sawing blow-downs in the way, clearing a path through the thickets, shining flashlights to guide us, and pulling and heaving the 262 pound boar in the sled up ridge, through the black of night. As their hunt came to an end that Saturday at 2 A.M., these hunters finished their week together as they had started it – all for one and one for all.

Trophy Bull Track

My radio broke squelch and the traffic was for me. “Floyd, this is Kenny, you have your sidearm with you?” I told him I did. My 1911 pistol, was nestled in its holster on my shoulder rig, along with the rest of my gear in the back cargo area. I had debated leaving it home before I made the trip north to work the 2018 September moose season but my instinct has always led me to pack for every ‘just in case’ scenario – especially when camp is a good hour and a half drive on tote roads after I turn off the tar.

I was parked on a high ridgeline overlooking a few cuts, glassing a cow moose. I was waiting to see if a bull would break out of the wood line and seek the attention of that cow. I had found quite a bit of sign and fresh tracks in the area and if the amount of damage done to the alder and maple near me were any indication, there was a decent bull around. “I need you over at the block. My client hit a monster bull but it got up and took off before he could put another one in him. There’s lots of blood. He’s hit bad and we’re going to have to track him.” I dropped my truck in gear and told him I was on my way.

‘The Block’ is a nickname the moose guides at OMM Outfitters in Eagle Lake, Maine gave to an area in big timber country in Wildlife Management District 3. Viewed from above on satellite imaging, it is comprised of neatly squared cuts divided by equally squared tote roads. The main tote road rings the entire area and gives it the appearance of metropolitan city blocks. Kenny met me at the entrance to the cut he was hunting with his client and gave me the scoop. The client was fairly shaken and considering the terrain ahead of us and potential danger of a wounded bull lying in wait, Kenny decided to park the client with another guide until we located the moose. We’d retrieve the client and bring him to the moose when we either made contact or discovered the bull down.

Kenny and I set off following the blood trail across the cut and into the wood line. What troubled both of us was the lack of evidence you expect with a clean shot to the vitals. On the other hand, we didn’t see anything that indicated a gut shot either so we took that as a positive sign. As we started climbing ridge after ridge, Kenny marking last blood the whole way, we came upon a big smear on a mature tree about shoulder height. The scenario was becoming clearer. The bull was hit high. It was a clean pass through what some hunters call ‘No Man’s Land’ – above the vitals and under the spine. We kept tracking.

Six hours later, we finally got close to the wounded bull. We discovered a bed he made and was using to pack his wound with mud. Kenny spotted him first, 150 yards ahead. The bull squared off at us and for slow motion minute, we didn’t know if he was going to charge. Instead, he whirled and shot up another hilltop. We tried in vain to pick up another blood trail, but it wasn’t to be. The bull was gone like the wind. Later at camp, another guide who was positioned on the other side of the ridge told us he heard the bull coming toward him, cruising through the timber following a cow, grunting the whole time. The moose not only survived the hit, he was trying to breed a cow only several hours later. While nearly despondent at a lost opportunity for a trophy class moose, everyone involved, especially the client, breathed easier knowing the bull was ok and wouldn’t be lost due to a bad shot. The moral of this story is obvious, so I’ll just offer this to the lucky few – be patient, shoot straight and kill clean. Good luck Maine moose hunters and enjoy your hunt of a lifetime!