We had a successful hunting season in Maine for 2015. Everyone in our hunting party saw deer, had some good naps on stand and just enjoyed being in the Maine woods in Hancock County. In the post you will see a photo of my 10 year old nephew, Gavin, enjoying a nap on stand. Gavin bagged his first turkey in May and bear in October, but the whitetails were intolerant of the snoring sounds coming from his blind.
Snoozing in the blind
Throughout this year we worked on clearing new hiking and ATV trails throughout the northwest section of our family woodlot. Along these trails we installed two ladder stands on a ridge of mature maple and pine trees overlooking one of the small babbling brooks that meanders through our land. From our stands we also have a view of Blue Hill Maine and Mount Desert Island and parts of Acadia National Park. Even on the days we don't see deer the views are nice.
The trail work paid off as my brother harvested a nice 8 point buck that dressed out just under 190 pounds. To make the job of getting the deer out of the woods, our neighbor Nick and his 3 year old son Colby drove their ATV out our new trail and drug the deer out for us and even hoisted the animal onto our truck. Thank you Nick!
We have found the deer like to use our new trails along with other game animals. To smooth out some of these trails and remove stumps we plan to have Jeremy Guellette of Ground Perfection Specialists spend a day or two with his grinder cleaning things up for us. The machines you see clearing the sides of I-95 north of Lincoln is Jeremy's company.
Once cleaned up we will seed down the trails and plant some small food plots. Our forester also recommended cutting back the 7-10' poplar in areas. This will cause the poplar to reshoot new seedlings and will be a "natural" food plot.
We enjoy working and improving our woodlot. Owning land in Maine has many benefits but to me one of the tops is the therapy of doing physical labor and discovering new areas of your Maine land and how to best take advantage of the topography and other features.
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