Once upon a time, my BF & I used to go on annual 12-day-long Maine deer hunting trips every November, first by ourselves, then eventually with our respective Sons.
We hunted (with leverguns, natch ) in Central Maine by then (we started out around Sabattus Village in 1967), where some fairly big (200#, field dressed) hung about, idling through multiple abandoned apple orchards in the area.
One year in there, my BF invited one of his neighbors and a working friend to go along with us (I had previously agreed when we spoke about it).
The two guests were novices, so we had them range their rifles in a local gravel pit before my BF & I decided to put them in a safe/easy area (we were stump sitters).
The first area we placed them was in one of the orchards, well before sun up, telling them that we'd pick them up for brunch before the evening's sit.
Well, when we drove by the orchard, nobody was there - so we exited our vehicle.
Once out, we heard a
ruckus coming from deep in the abandoned orchard, and went in to investigate.What we found was one "hunter" wedged tightly in the crotch of an old apple tree he had chosen to climb (which he evidently did), but had immediately slipped down, straddling the crotch, his rifle fallen on the ground in the process !
The other "hunter" was running around upset, and shouting encouragement to Jack-in-the-Applestalk………….
After we rescued the first guy from the tree (he explained that he couldn't extract hisself) and calmed down the second, we went for brunch.....
THEN, planning for the evening sit, my BF & I decided that we would put them somewhere they couldn't hurt themselves - which turned out to be a short tote road in a very large swamp (aka: junk land) that the State had used as a place to run the Maine Turnpike, and where my BF & I hadn't even seen ANY deer sign (around that tote road - the rest of the swamp had plenty of deer).
In they went, promising to split up R/L at the end of the short (200yds) tote road - and we split for another area, telling them we would pick them up just after dark.
My BF, our Sons & I split for the far end of the swamp ( a few miles away ) - where both my BF & my Son each bagged a deer (a small buck & a large 190# dressed doe) early on in the sit.
After field dressing the two deer, we rolled back to where we dropped the guests off, expecting to roll/coast to a spot nearby & await dark.
What we found when we rolled up was both hunters sitting on the (tote) roadside, with two smallish does (not field dressed, of course) beside them ! !
After guiding the both of them while they field-dressed the deer, we went to a nearby deer-checking station to register the deer - after which the two guests said they were going home that night, satisfied, and that they didn't think they wanted to deer hunt any more !
We wished them Via 'con Dios, and stayed the rest of the 2 weeks - with me taking my BF's Son, and my BF tagging along in case a black bear was spotted.
Both of us eventually tagged small bucks that year, so I guess all that went well, ended well...…
(At that time, if a deer was taken, the deer license was done, but still good for bear - so my BF remained legal for being afield with a firearm & no deer tag)
I shouldn't even tell you about the year that an enthusiastic friend of my Son came wit us, got personally placed exactly on (scouted) stand well before dawn, with my Son perching 50-odd yards away.
Still dark, my Son heard what he thought was a deer approaching ( he was by then very experienced in deer hunting & in his late teens).
The faltering steps got closer & closer, but my Son still couldn't see anything.
Then, he heard the deer call out: "Steve.....Steve (my Son's name) - Where are you ? "
It seems the fella was afraid of the dark (and didn't want to admit it before the hunt), and wanted to sit next to my Son for comfort. (shake head)
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