A Bird (or Moose) in the Hand

September came to a quick end. Only five days remained in the fall fishing season and the first week of moose hunting stared us square in the face. We shifted in to overdrive! Ray Dunning dragged his feet packing, enjoyed a coffee on the deck, and grudgingly headed south to Bangor to catch his flight back to Georgia. We’d enjoyed a week with Ray, caught some amazing brook trout, and relaxed a bit between the end of bear season and start of moose. Even before Ray drove out of The County on the 25th, our moose hunters began arriving…Bill Frye and his dad Joe were scheduled to hunt a cow moose in WMD3, guided by Wayne. Denny Roberston and his son moved in for a WMD2 cow hunt, followed by Allen Fuller, his dad Roy, and family friend the legendary bear guide Sonny Wade for a WMD3 bull. Allen’s sub-permitee, Tom Richmond, was unable to make the trip due to a family emergency at home – unfortunately the annual Maine moose hunt waits for no one. Matt Farrington and his party got settled before scouting for a WMD2 cow and Tate Stevens and his son got right to scouting WMD2 for a bull. Mike Duni arrived “in camp” to help where needed and do some fishing – Mike took me on a successful whitetail hunt last year at his farm in Unity – I owe him some fantastic fishing! It was a beautiful, sunny and mild day so Wayne took advantage of the weather to cut the grass, one last time for the season, we hoped! Bill, being a commercial lobsterman, treated us to a feed of lobsters for dinner. With so many lobsters to eat we invited the Stevens to join us at the lodge for dinner.

Opening day of September moose season and all were out of camp early well before sunrise. With no hunter to guide I was left behind to take care of things at the lodge. Mike and I made breakfast for “dad” (Joe Frye). It was a beautiful morning so Mike and I took advantage by relaxing with our coffee on the deck after breakfast. The lodge deck is my favorite place to start each morning. I often plan my whole day around “my time” on the deck savoring the warmth of the rising sun and drinking in coffee along with the serenity of the lake, its loons, eagles, and mountains. After that I can take on anything the day throws my way! Around 9:30 I told Mike that if anyone had early-morning success, they’d be returning soon…moments later we heard a pick up in the driveway - Wayne and Bill pulled in with a beautiful cow! Bill shot her at 6:05 a.m., minutes in to the hunt and just as he dreamed. We hung the 722 lb. cow on the game pole, and gave her a shower – she was caked in mud! It had been a bit of an adventure just getting her loaded – Bill shot her in a cutting that was a soupy mess after this year’s rain. While Wayne was setting up the rigging to haul Bill’s cow out, Bill went in to help, lost his balance, and lost his leg! Wayne found him trying to regain his footing while his leg was afloat in the ditch! It was at that moment, much to Wayne’s surprise, that he learned Bill had a prosthetic leg. We noticed Bill’s limp but lots of people limp and Bill, being an able-bodied fisherman, had learned to function quite well – he didn’t find the leg to be a hindrance so never mentioned it to us. If it had not been for that instance we might never have known of Bill’s prosthetic leg. Bill was a good sport and laughed right alongside Wayne as the story was told back at the lodge!

After prepping dinner I took Mike to a “secret” fishing spot. It was calm and as the sun began to set behind the trees we started catching fish. Mike landed a beautifully colored, hook-jawed brook trout that weighed nearly 2 lbs.

Matt Farrington got us out of bed on the 27th. He had a cow down and needed help getting her out of the woods. We loaded our ATV, drove in the Wallagrass Road and there, about 2 ½ miles in, he’d shot a cow that ran through the water-filled gravel pit and went down in the woods on the other side. Our CanAm had no trouble pulling her down off the gravel embankment, through the mud and water, and out to the awaiting pick ups. That afternoon Allen Fuller called in a bull but it never presented a shot, and the Stevens got a handsome, 53” bull 10 miles in on the Wallagrass Road.

Moose week weather was unseasonably warm and sunny. We all enjoyed story-telling on the deck in the afternoon. It was there that we learned of the many connections we all have to each other – Joe used to work with Sonny, Tom booked the hunt for Allen and Allen was the best-man in Shane Savage’s wedding – I went to guide school with Shane. Mike and Roy are neighbors but neither knew the other would be at Fish River Lodge! Tate Stevens owns a gun shop in central Maine that all are familiar with. Mike and I fished every night of his stay and every night we caught beautiful brook trout. Some we kept, some we let go to grow another year. Matt shared the heart from his cow – Wayne sautéed it for all to try on the 28th then we watched the stunning defeat of the Red Sox while Tampa Bay beat the Yankees to clinch the wild card.

Mike, Bill, and Joe left on the 29th. Wayne and I packed a lunch and took a ride, enjoying a beautiful fall day. There, in a small clear-cut, stood a beautiful bull as we drove by! Being the middle of the day it was unlikely anyone would see the bull as most hunters were on “lunch break”. We hurried back to the lodge, knowing Allen was at camp for lunch. We devised a plan: Wayne would take Allen back out to where the bull was last seen and try to call him in. I would later take Roy and Sonny out to participate in the gutting and hauling process if all went according to plan. Wayne and Allen left…then we drove in. On the way in we caught up to a pick up. Worrying the truck may travel the same road and area Wayne was working and mess up “the plan”, I got right on the tail of the truck, hoping it would let me by. The closer I got, the faster the truck in front of me went. We were careening down the gravel roads, dust and rocks flying but the truck wouldn’t pull over! I was cussing at the SOB, with a kayak on his truck that had to be in such a darned hurry to get “no where” (there’s no water to kayak back there!). Roy and Sonny thought it was all pretty amusing, but I was serious, I didn’t want that truck to screw up Allen’s chance on that bull. I just had to get in front of that truck, or get him to pull over so I could pass…but we raced on. By then we assumed he may have been scouting for another party of moose hunters and would surely understand – but he wouldn’t stop. The road I wanted was coming up fast to my right. I kept on his tail and at the last second, turned. He went straight… Ahhh…all would be well and at least for the time being we could “protect” the road. We parked at the bottom of the hill to listen for a shot or for Wayne to call on the radio. The truck returned and spent some time talking with others in a red pick up – just as we thought – they must be working together. That’s cool, but we couldn’t block the road so I was relieved when they left. Then we heard a shot! Allen must have shot! We waited at the bottom of the hill for instructions from Wayne. In the mean time the truck came back and pulled in behind us. I would let him by if he insisted, especially since we heard the shot – hopefully a bull was down. I got out of the truck to go introduce myself, apologize for the tailgating, and explain “the plan”. As I rounded the open door of his pick up and glanced inside, all that came out of my mouth was, “Oh, you’re a game warden. Sorry for tailgating you but I was” and then I was immediately cut off for a lengthy line of questioning by Warden Stone. Once he was comfortable that we weren’t breaking any game laws we all proceeded up the hill to meet Wayne. It wasn’t Allen who’d shot. It was the hunter from the red pick up – he’d shot and missed a cow traveling with the bull Wayne was calling. The hunt was blown and as usually happens with quickly laid plans – they don’t pan out.

Allen had a couple “close calls” on bulls as the week progressed but his hunt had to end on October 1st, the last day of the first week of moose. Wayne went out with Allen one last time while Roy and Sonny packed to head home. They would meet Allen in the woods, pick him up, and then head south. Of course, if they killed a bull Saturday morning that plan would change…and it did! At 7 a.m. Wayne called – Allen had a bull down! I collected Roy and Sonny and we drove out to meet the guys as they were gutting and loading the moose. Allen was so relieved that he’d filled his tag, even if it was the last day of the hunt. We were relieved too because it is a shame to see hunters leave Fish River Lodge with unfilled moose tags. Our motto “Don’t Ever Quit” saved the day, again!

On the 2nd I traveled to Augusta to attend a meeting at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Our group is examining why non-resident hunting license sales are down and to develop proposals to increase sales. There are some obvious reasons, some reasons beyond our control and solutions that we can recommend. We must have a final report prepared by December 1. You can follow our progress on the department’s web site if you’re interested…

Upland bird season opened October 1st so we had a group of hunters in the first week: Lon Ruddock (RI), Boyd, Kevin Harris, Vicky Foster, Mike and Sue. The first two days of their hunt were rainy, the next two windy making for a challenging hunt for humans and hounds. My daughter Miranda, son-in-law Tyler, and grand daughters Acadia and Nellie; and their friends Jen, Mike, Kayne, Maddison, and Seth arrived to celebrate Nellie’s 2nd birthday on the 6th. The birthday party arrived just in time for a spaghetti dinner, cake, and ice cream. Nellie opened presents and the kids enjoyed their party surprises: silly-string; monster teeth; and chocolate eyeballs, noses, ears and fingers!

We woke to a heavy frost on the 7th. I loaded all the kids in my pick up and we headed to Hedgehog Mountain for a hike. We took compass readings of the lakes and mountains visible from the summit. Later we identified them on a map using the readings we took. Tyler and Mike went bird hunting with Cedar (one of Gracie’s puppies – now 18 mos. old). After our hike I took the kids target shooting with Acadia’s Red Rider BB gun. They first shot at paper targets, perfecting their shooting form and developing their sight pictures. Then we had a “Top Shots” contest – we set up plastic bottles and cans and each kid had one shot to knock over a target. The first round each one of my “Top Shots” hit his or her target in one shot! I had four shooters and four hits! I promised them we would go grouse hunting the next day. That night we all attended a bon fire at the neighbor’s. It was warm and sunny again on the 8th. I enjoyed coffee on the deck with Lon Ruddock before he left for home. I learned Vicky Foster shot a “double” on grouse – these are very difficult wing-shots to make and few hunters ever accomplish a double on grouse in a lifetime! That afternoon I took the girls (Miranda, Nellie, Acadia, and Maddison) and Wayne took the boys (Kayne and Seth) and we went huntin’. Our goal was for the kids to experience an Aroostook County grouse hunt and to bring home a few grouse for dinner. After shooting the first grouse I asked the girls if the second grouse we found should be passed up. “NO!” they exclaimed and then Acadia reminded me that I’d said to never let a good grouse get away. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – we would have grouse for dinner!

We met the boys back at the lodge and among us we had 8 grouse for dinner. Everyone pitched in the “processing line” to breast the grouse and save their tail fans. Wayne made a delicious garlic white sauce to which we added sautéed grouse and served it over spaghetti. We all loved it – I declared the kids were “official” hunters having participated in the hunt, prepared and eaten what we’d killed.

All our bird hunters left on the 9th while our moose hunters moved in. We had only two parties: Richard “Knute” Knuteson (ME) guided by Wayne, and Tom O’Hearn (MA) who hunted on his own. That night we hosted a dinner party for Tom Roy and 16 of his guests. We started the meal off with smoked brook trout, cream cheese, and crackers while guests enjoyed a warm evening on the deck. The Knutesons and John Medina joined the party. We served char-grilled steak, rosemary roast pork loin, herb roast potatoes, candied carrots, and Maine blueberry crisp. Tristen Ripley and a friend attending UMFK along with the Rebels (AZ) were “in camp” for the long Columbus Day weekend.

The Rebels took a canoe out for a sunset paddle as the moon rose on the 10th. The silvery moon and golden foliage was gorgeous as it reflected on the lake.

With no clients of my own to guide I was designated chief cook and dish washer. The Knutesons hunted hard with Wayne all week. They had some chances but just couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities. For everything there is a reason – we all agreed the chance would come in due time…but as the week wore on it seemed less and less likely their tag would be filled. Being ones to “never quit”, Wayne remained positive and encouraging, reminding the Knutesons to stick with it despite early mornings, long days, and late dinners. On the 14th I borrowed neighbor Mike Michaud’s truck to help look for bulls (my truck was in the shop and we needed radio communication). No moose Friday either but we enjoyed meeting up with Pat and Lee, guides from Fort Fairfield who were trying to get their client a cow. He’d shot at two already but had not yet killed one.

Finally, late in the afternoon on Saturday, a beautiful 41” bull presented himself for a perfect broadside shot! Everyone was SO relieved the hunt was over, even if it took until 4:45 p.m. on Saturday – the latest we’d ever had hunters out. Tom O’Hearn went back to Massachusetts on Wednesday with no moose – he had quit. We will always wonder, had he hunted all week would his tag been filled? Sunday morning, after breakfast, we loaded the Knuteson’s bull on our pick up. They followed us to Ashland to tag it, and then we dropped it off at SPW Meat Cutting in Mapleton. We waved good-bye to the Knutesons as they headed east out of Mapleton and we headed west. We stopped in Portage to drop off Lisa Marner’s and my bears for tanning at Eldon Jandreau’s Custom Taxidermy. We missed Eldon but met trapper and guide, Phil Allen. He’d just trapped a handsome boar with a prime coat. We had a great visit before heading home where we stoked the woodstove and settled in to watch football all afternoon. After weeks of guiding and entertaining non-stop, we’d earned an afternoon off…

We’re between seasons until the 5th. No grouse hunters this week and we must wait for the arrival of our deer and November moose hunters. We’re adjusting to what most would consider “normal”: real jobs, with real hours, and days off. It’s kind of nice I suppose, to eat dinner together - Wayne and me - at a reasonable hour; but I’d rather we were guiding hunters!

October continues to be mild. We’ve had only a couple of hard frosts and daytime highs have been in the 50s. The leaves are mostly gone from the trees now so it looks like “deer season” but looking back, where did our favorite season go? It seems like we just got started!

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