Thanks to our friend Kevin McKenna for submitting this field report from Maine, which I consider to be one of the hardest places in North America to shoot a big whitetail:
Hey Mike: So a little update from our deer hunt in Maine back on Nov 10-19th 2017.
We had some decent weather this year, a little warm in the afternoons in the 30s but mornings were in the teens to 20 degrees. Not as cold as we like and deer seemed to be moving mostly at night but an improvement from last year.
We found some good buck sign in one spot and so-so sign in the other. One big buck we were after last year had another rub and scrape line this year, so he made it through last winter and was our target buck.
On Monday my friend Dave rattled what we think was that buck in to 35 yards but no shot, just a glimpse of a huge body. Dave saw 2 does besides that buck for the week.
My encounters consisted of 1 doe, glimpse of 2 deer unidentified and 1 grunting buck with no sighting of him. In the big woods of Maine, I’ll take that for the week.
Friend Dan, who got the nice buck last year, didn’t see a deer all week. He was around deer, but just never saw one. That’s how Northern Maine humbles a man. All in all it was a great trip with friends.
Attached is a pic Dave took of a Lynx. The cat was sunning himself on the side of the logging road that we parked on. Dave was on his way back to the truck at noon for lunch and had to walk by him. What a great encounter. I saw this cat the next day; he walked by me at 25 yards. A big cat… probably not good for the deer but cool to see.
Hope you’re having a great season and maybe I’ll see you sometime in the “Big Woods of Maine.” Best, Kevin
Note: I have hunted the great state of Maine exactly once and was humbled. We covered hundreds of miles and explored the magical big woods for a week and saw two moose but not a single deer, not even a doe. We traveled around and filmed everything we saw and everybody we met, and put together a TV show of which I was and am proud. It was a hit, and the episode remains one of the most popular we have ever produced for Big Deer TV.
And last November, hunter Gene Doughty shot a Maine mountain buck that scored 188 inches–I consider Gene’s giant to be one of the top bucks shot in North America in 2017. Click here to see it.
