I thought it would be cool to share past hunting experiences while many of us are waiting for the season to roll around. So everybody....share your most memorable hunting story.....doesn' t have to be your biggest deer shot, maybe you didn' t even get a shot at one, but if a certain hunt sticks out in your memory, let' s hear it!

I have many, but one of my most memorable is when I shot my biggest buck:

It was a crisp, frosty morning in the second week of November, 1997. I had been hunting in my usual stomping grounds until that point without much luck. My grandfather and his hunting buddy Paul from NJ had scouted a new area and found good deer sign. They even saw a few does while driving in to the spot. This morning my grandfather opted to stay home and rest for the day, since he had been hunting hard. His partner still wanted to hunt, and asked me if I wanted to join him. I was excited about trying out the spot and decided to go with him.

It was already getting light out as we stopped at the checkpoint. Normally I like to already be in the woods by then, but it didn' t bother me since I was planning to make it more of a scouting trip than anything. We drove along in his little S10 pickup as he talked about the sign they had seen earlier in the week.

We arrived at the spot and quickly got ready for the hunt. He chose to follow a trail along the edge of a ridge, and I decided to make my way down towards some thick cover along the edge of the brook. There was no snow on the ground yet for tracking, and the leaves were crispy, so I decided I would still-hunt very slowly until I found a decent place to sit and watch.

I walked for a ways up the old logging road Paul had followed until I found a faint deer trail leading in the direction of the brook. I then sat on a log for a bit and just relaxed my mind and body to prepare myself. This helps to clear my mind of distractions and get in touch with the spirit of the woods......a kind of meditation I guess.

With my senses on full alert I began an extremely slow creep down the trail. I hadn' t gone more than 50 yards when I came to an intersection of deer trails. I studied the ground closely and noticed a big track in the leaves. It was obviously a heavy deer, and seemed to be following a doe. My heart skipped a beat.....the deer were not far away.

I followed the tracks, even more slowly now, watching and listening after every carefully placed step. When I neared the edge of the cedar swamp surrounding the brook, I found what seemed to be an ideal place to sit. There were numerous twitching trails cut through the alders and poplar, which provided good shooting lanes. I sat down between the roots of a leaning cedar and rested my back up against it. I waited for about ten minutes and then began using my call. After calling a few times with the doe bleat, I noticed movement in the cedar thicket. I wasn' t sure at first what it was.....maybe a bird, I thought. Then I saw it again in the same spot, and noticed both brown and white spots. I immediately looked through my 4x scope and focused on the movement. It was a buck thrashing a sapling! I watched for a while, trying to determine the size of the animal. It appeared to be a six-point or possibly a small eight, but it was hard to be sure through the thick brush. I blew a couple soft doe grunts on my call, and the deer vanished! I then saw movement again, and heard footsteps.......it was coming closer! At one point it stopped and all I could see was the rack, which turned out to be a small eight pointer. Then all at once, the deer dissapeared like a gust of wind had carried him away.

I waited, called, waited and called some more, but the deer was gone! I decided to make my way to where I last saw the deer, hoping to pick up the track in the wet moss. I had gone maybe 15 yards when I saw a flicker of white close to the spot where I had last seen the buck. I crouched down behing a blowdown and called once, waited a minute, and called again. I then tucked the call into my hunting jacket and sat still, hoping the deer would come investigate. The wind had picked up and I couldn' t hear the deer walking, but occasionally I would see a leg or two moving through the underbrush.

5 minutes or so later, I heard a footstep behind me......startled, I turned around to see a doe 20 feet from me!! She jumped and I jumped at the same time, and at the same moment I heard a branch break off to my left. I turned again to see a huge-bodied buck 20 yards or so away. He saw me at exactly the same time I saw him, but before I knew it I had raised my gun and shot him before he had a chance to bolt. He took off after the shot and went crashing through the brush towards the brook. I sat down and tried to catch my breath as everything that had just happened sunk in. It had happened so fast, I didn' t know if I had made a good shot or not. The image of that horse-bodied buck standing there was permanently burned into my mind. I sat and ate a sandwich before walking over to the spot where I had shot him. I was happy to see an absolute river of a blood trail!

I walked back to the truck and blew the horn once to signal to Paul that I had shot a deer. We would need help to drag him out, since Paul had heart problems and I have problems from a back injury. While I was waiting, another hunter drove up and asked if I had shot. When I told him I had killed a big buck, he offered to help track him down and dress him. I said no at first, but he seemed very excited to help so I said alright and we went back into the woods.

We had no problem finding the buck......he was a ten pointer with a huge body and big swollen neck. I was sure he would be a contender for the big buck club! The rack wasn' t that big for a ten pointer, but here in Maine big deer often have somewhat smallish racks. When we got him to the tagging station and on the scale, he weighed 234 pounds. The biggest on the club at the time was 235! I wasn' t dissapointed though, since either way he was my biggest buck and one heck of a trophy!

Wow......that was a lot of typing hehe. Now lets hear some other stories!