It was late in the evening, and archer Sam Bunker of Lewiston was clad in camouflage with his bow at the ready.
A deer appeared, turned slightly and stared in Bunker’s direction.
It was an impressive buck. A perfect eight-pointer, the deer was 20 yards in front of Bunker, tail twitching, appearing ready to bolt at any second. Silently, Bunker released his arrow, which struck just above the front shoulder of the animal. A fatal shot.
Bunker placed another arrow on his bow and within moments, another deer appeared in front of him. His aim was true again and the arrow struck the kill zone.
Now all you hunters out there are probably fuming. The expanded archery season doesn’t start until Sept. 10, and hunters are only allowed to take one buck. If Sam was in the woods, he would certainly be in violation, but Sam Bunker was merely practicing on a state-of-the-art interactive video hunting outfit at the area’s newest and most complete archery shop, Central Maine Archery (CMA) located at 30 Belgrade Avenue in Auburn.
I was visiting the 6000 square foot shop, and was able to watch Sam and his friend, Moe Bazinet, also of Lewiston, while they shot for scores on Week 8 of the league tournament they were competing in.
Although Bunker has only been shooting bows for the past four years and hunting for the past three, he has two deer (the real ones) to his credit, and is an exceptional shot. Bunker felt confident that the interactive system, known as a DART system, would improve his hunting.
“It’s as real as it gets, as far as the deer moving, giving better angles than a paper target,” Bunker said.
He plans to hunt the expanded season next month in Auburn, and hopefully his aim will be as good in front of the real thing.
Central Maine Archery (www.centralmainearchery.com) opened its doors on Feb. 26.
Originally operated out of the home of co-owners Jess and Tom Hartford of Minot since 2002, the Hartford’s, along with friends Keith and Cathy Blais, felt the area lacked a comprehensive, family-oriented archery center, so they combined their experience and love for the sport and found CMA’s new location.
Inside the clean, expansive 6,000 square-foot facility, visitors will first see the showroom displaying treestands, blinds, targets, bows, arrows and broadheads, along with every imaginable hunting and archery item one could desire. Central Maine Archery carries and does warranty work on some of the top bow lines including PSE, Hoyt, Ben Pearson and McPherson.
Hunters will immediately be drawn to several impressive taxidermy displays including a full-size bear, cougar and several decent trophy deer mounts.
The taxidermy displays are courtesy of Gray taxidermist Mark Dufresne of Nature’s Reflections taxidermy studio.
Those interested in bow repair or maintenance can see either Keith or Tom for their needs, as CMA hosts a full service pro shop servicing all brands of bows and archery equipment. During my visit, one archer came in to use one of the shooting lanes, but his bowstring had jumped off the cam. A few minutes on Keith’s bench and the archer was back in business, shooting at targets.
The shooting lanes at CMA consist of 10 and 20-yard lanes. Archers can purchase lane time in 30-minute increments, or they can purchase a pass in 10-hour blocks. Lane rental is $3.50 for a half-hour, $6.50 for an hour and a 10-hour pass costs $50.
Archers can also purchase a variety of bulls-eye and game targets for honing their shooting skills.
Archer Moe Bazinet amazed me as he shot at a paper deer target. The deer was facing toward Bazinet, a difficult shot even with a rifle.
Bazinet shoots instinctively, without the aid of a bow sight and consistently placed his arrows into the center of the deer’s chest. Bazinet has been shooting bows for 25 years, including re-curve bows and compound bows and was glad to see CMA open.
“It’s our best practice place, it’s close to home,” he stated.
Bazinet shoots all years round and judging from his target, practice makes perfect.
Central Maine Archery hosts regular leagues, offering gift certificates as prizes, and even hosted the St. Dom’s Archery Summer Camp, introducing numerous budding archers to the sport.
According to the owners, CMA’s goal is to be a family-friendly archery center where mom, dad and the kids can all get introduced to the sport of target shooting or hunting in a safe, relaxed atmosphere.
Co-owner Keith Blais also wanted to give back to the community, so they offer a 10-percent discount to all active or retired law enforcement officers, fire fighters and military personnel, with appropriate identification.
The expanded archery season runs from Sept. 10 through Dec. 10. Hunting is restricted to designated areas which can be seen at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website (http://www.state.me.us/ifw/hunttrap/expandedarchery.htm).
Expanded season hunters must have a valid archery license and can purchase one buck permit at $33, and unlimited antler-less deer permits at $13 each.
The expanded archery season was enacted several years ago to allow hunters to reduce the deer herd in heavily built-up sections of areas like Lewiston and Auburn, where increased car versus deer accidents have been occurring and homeowners were complaining of deer damaging flowers and shrubbery.
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