For whatever reason I still don’t understand, there are – I’m convinced – certain individual deer hunters who simply see more deer than the average Joe. For the sake of a better name, let’s call this natural phenomenon the Reynolds Rule. If you are a deer hunter who hunts from a deer camp, or with the same group of people year after year, you know that I am right.
There are many theories as to why deer show themselves to the same hunter year after year. Some argue that these deer sighters are restless hunters who never sit still for long in the woods. They see a lot of deer because they move a lot and cover a lot of ground. Nothing magical. It follows that they increase the odds of deer sightings simply by virtue of their wandering ways.
The deer sighters love to talk about seeing a deer.
Some fellow hunters, envious and annoyed by being subjected to these unrelenting stories of deer sightings, dismiss these reports as outright prevarication: lies. The suspicion is that they make up these tall tales to get attention or impress their fellow hunters with their woodsmanship and skill as a deer hunter. I recall one tailgate gathering for lunch during a November hunt when one hunter, who had seen not a flag all week, became fed up with the same noontime sighting reports from a hunt buddy.
“Hank nobody else is seeing deer at all! You must have deer painted inside your glasses.”
This is a story about one such hunter who, among other things, has developed a camp reputation for seeing deer. Not shooting deer, but seeing them when no one else does and making loud noises in the woods for all to hear. His deer camp nick name is Spruce. He has carried this moniker for most of the 20 years that he has deer hunted from the same camp. Spruce came by his name deservedly. Can you guess how?
Yes. As a novice deer hunter, new to the deer camp, he took a standing shot at a very large buck. Darned if a large spruce tree didn’t intervene and spoil the day – for the hunter. The buck sauntered off none the worse for it and a deer hunter went back to camp with a new name.
Over the years, Spruce has seen his share of deer and may have taken a shot or two, but actually tagging a deer has never been part of his hunting experience – that is until recently.
What ever his human flaws and foibles may be, a liar Spruce is not. So, invoking the Reynolds Rule, we can only conclude that either he covers a lot of terrain in the deer woods or simply has no body scent.
This week Spruce threaded the needle. He killed a buck. His first deer. At about 8:30 in the morning, while sitting against a big tree in the middle of a gridwork of beech whippets not far from a busy game trail, Spruce could hardly believe his eyes. A long-loined 6-point buck was coming his way, nose to the ground.
Spruce’s camp buddies hunting nearby soon knew that something was up. POW! POW! POW! POW! The muzzle of Spruce’s .30-.30 spat flame and the gun sounds reverberated shattering the stillness of the windless November morning. One of the four shots took the confused buck in the shoulder putting him down as he came straight on hellbent toward Spruce’s position. “I thought he must be angry with me,” recalls the middle-aged hunter.
In hunting, as in so many other pursuits, some things are just meant to be. Spruce put in his hours. He hunted in the right place with the right guys. It was his time. The smile on his face was the same smile so familiar to all of us when we or our fellow deer hunters close the deal. His buddies suspect that there is more behind the big grin: he is also enjoying the sweet taste that accompanies the moment of redemption.
But, alas, they refuse to let him off the hook, even if he was the only camp member to fill his tag. He is still Spruce, and will always be so known no matter how many bucks he puts on the game pole in the years ahead.
The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is paul@sportingjournal.com . He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.” Online information is available at www.maineoutdoorpublications.com or by calling Diane at 207 745 0049.
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