Anybody Hunting In Maine?

[jbronner13]

I hunt in NH, NY and VT (live in SW NH by Keene), but am looking to switch this up this year and hunt in ME. Was eyeing areas North of Baxter but was also thinking I may just go the outfitter route. Can anyone recommend a good guiding service in Maine for Whitetail?

 

[Scalloper]

Great to see others from the North East here. I live Downeast on the coast 30 min from the Canadian border

 

[jbronner13]

Great to see others from the North East here. I live Downeast on the coast 30 min from the Canadian border

I was on the other side of Maine last weekend in the Stow area scouting out some spots for next season!

 

[2buffalo]

A friend of mine got one up there this year. I believe he was close to the NH border.

 

[jbronner13]

View attachment 418325

A friend of mine got one up there this year. I believe he was close to the NH border.

I was staying in Jackson NH right over the line….the area looks like a fun, hard, hard not if you try to do public land in the white mountain national forest, I think I am going to try that out and Maine by the Sabbatus Maountain area for the rifle opener 2023.

 

[pike3ee]

Hunted in Centeral Maine this year for the first time in several years. Great to be back out!

 

[Scalloper]

I also hunted central Maine. I grew up hunting that area but took 10 years off. I think there are more deer in WMA 16 and 23 then there were since the 70s.

 

[jbronner13]

How are 12, 15 and 7 looking?

 

[Dskiper]

thhisb is my goto de4er hunting state. tough it used to be. actually met one of the famous Benoites(hunter).always enjoyed tracking&gunning! a favorite area was Dover -Foxcroft region. loved the smell of evergreens during 40+ seasons of deer hunts. favorate rifle was a Browning ato .308 win.&.444 marlin lever. killed way more deer than the average nunter. its in the blood to brcome a true woodsman! Dskiper

 

[SportsmanNH]

thhisb is my goto de4er hunting state. tough it used to be. actually met one of the famous Benoites(hunter).always enjoyed tracking&gunning! a favorite area was Dover -Foxcroft region. loved the smell of evergreens during 40+ seasons of deer hunts. favorate rifle was a Browning ato .308 win.&.444 marlin lever. killed way more deer than the average nunter. its in the blood to brcome a true woodsman! Dskiper

Been hunting Maine every year since 1981 . Wow does time fly by when you are having fun ! I built a house up there in 1992. We mostly hunt Bingham , Monson and Abbot area. We have had our share of great years going 5 for 5 taking nice deer. And a few of those 0 for 5 years after heavy winterkill from deep snow the winter before that wiped out over 50 percent of the herd where we hunt . Nothing like hunting the big woods of Maine where you can hunt all week and not see another hunter for days.

I am also a BIG Browning Bar fan . I have 4 of them . One 1983 in 30-06 with a 22in barrel that is a tack driver. I have a Bar 300 WM that I bought in 1985 that I still have never fired it . Still have the 2 boxes of ammo I bought at the same time. This was supposed to be my Going Out West gun. But I never left New England ! LOL . Now I use the the best Browning of all. A special run of 50 Browning Bar Carbines in 30-06 that were made for the 2017 Browning Bar 100 year anniversary . I bought two of the 50. It weighs 6 1/2 lbs and came with fiber optic front and rear sites from the factory. Fastest shooting , perfectly balanced , and a deadly accurate tack driver.

 

[Dskiper]

Been hunting Maine every year since 1981 . Wow does time fly by when you are having fun ! I built a house up there in 1992. We mostly hunt Bingham , Monson and Abbot area. We have had our share of great years going 5 for 5 taking nice deer. And a few of those 0 for 5 years after heavy winterkill from deep snow the winter before that wiped out over 50 percent of the herd where we hunt . Nothing like hunting the big woods of Maine where you can hunt all week and not see another hunter for days.

I started around 1970. was around Jackman,Me.. their winter was so bad people had to burn furniture to keep warm. 20ft. approx. of snow on the woods so I was told. very bad on deer. we started seaching for better hunting but really you must find where they feed and work off that. my spot(favorite) has acorns but they are eaten up by deer season by turkey too. anyway apples&beach nuts(everyother yr.) plus rasberry leaves are a real key! try killing coyotes to help the deer. use "u tube" hunting cotoyes in Maine!!!!

 

[SportsmanNH]

Deer are in pockets up there. One year you find a spot that is trampled with sign. The same spot the next year looks like a deer hasn't passed through in 6 months. So we have to scout hard to find where the new hot spot is. You are right about the food . Even that is different every year thanks to the logging practices. They have been wiping out the beech trees the last 15-20 years near us. They have also cut off at least 5 historic known deer yards that really put a hurting on the deer. Totally wiped out a 500 acre hemlock and cedar stand . You might of thought you were looking at the surface of the moon looking at it. It will take 35-40 years before it grows back to useful deer woods.

On the coyotes , there was a vote in committee that was proposed by the far left screwballs , to stop coyote hunting by dogs, by bait. and no night hunting. Plus restrict the length of the season on them. F+G finally threw it out by a vote of 19-2 . There was one place we hunted a while back in Brighton with 6 inches of fresh snow. I bet there were 25 coyote tracks for each deer track. Maybe 10 years ago a pack of 9-10 coyotes ran by me in Bingham howling away. I managed to drop 2 of them and hit a third that ran off..

 

[Dskiper]

Deer are in pockets up there. One year you find a spot that is trampled with sign. The same spot the next year looks like a deer hasn't passed through in 6 months. So we have to scout hard to find where the new hot spot is. You are right about the food . Even that is different every year thanks to the logging practices. They have been wiping out the beech trees the last 15-20 years near us. They have also cut off at least 5 historic known deer yards that really put a hurting on the deer. Totally wiped out a 500 acre hemlock and cedar stand . You might of thought you were looking at the surface of the moon looking at it. It will take 35-40 years before it grows back to useful deer woods.

On the coyotes , there was a vote in committee that was proposed by the far left screwballs , to stop coyote hunting by dogs, by bait. and no night hunting. Plus restrict the length of the season on them. F+G finally threw it out by a vote of 19-2 . There was one place we hunted a while back in Brighton with 6 inches of fresh snow. I bet there were 25 coyote tracks for each deer track. Maybe 10 years ago a pack of 9-10 coyotes ran by me in Bingham howling away. I managed to drop 2 of them and hit a third that ran off..

It is a shame& a sham that us hunters are the only ones to notice a very bad change in Maines economy &wildlife population. these coyotes control the deer, turkey,rabbit &bird populations! as with hunting all over if we deon't pass it on it will wane along with legal fishing. fish are so valuble that we no longer count on bluefish,fluke(summer flounder),cod or pollack! party boats at a all time low! I live in a senior developement where deer are so plentiful you caqnnot grow flowers as they eat them over nite! just last week I saw aherd of !7 deer in one lot and 8 more 1/4 mi. further.really bad and ready to drop fawns soon!years ago Maine counted on out of state hunters to spend money on gas,food,lodgeing and so on. I rarly see out of state license plates during deer season as there once was. maybe its me gettin old! with all the land available management could attact hunters if they control coyotes & poaching.