By Shelly R.K. Spiers

Photo: Jody Spiers hadn't planned to rise so early, and he was going to hunt his parents' land that Saturday. Had it not been for his cousin's insistence, he'd never have shot this beauty.

Jody Spiers had endured a tough week behind the wheel of his logging truck. By Friday’s end, he’d put in 70 hours, and he was exhausted. He’d planned to sleep in until at least 7 a.m. that Saturday, Nov. 19, before hunting his parents’ land. With barely a week remaining in Maine’s 2005 rifle season, he was hoping to get a good deer for the family freezer.

But his cousin, Rodney Ouellette, had different plans.

At 5:30 a.m., Jody was awakened by his cousin, who excitedly told him that he had found the “perfect spot” to hunt that day.

Because Jody had moved to Saint Francis from Stacyville in July, he wasn’t familiar with the area. He trusted Rodney’s judgment completely. His cousin knew there was a big buck in a place he’d been scouting, and he was gung ho to shoot it. So after a hearty breakfast, the men were on their way.

There are many logging roads in the deep woods of the Allagash region. Where some of these roads converge, there are natural deer trails. The spot that Rodney had found was a big triangular piece of ground with deer tracks funneled into a ravine alongside a brook with thick cover and clear-cuts around all sides. It was a cold, crisp morning with a light breeze and a ground cover of about 6 inches of snow.

They’d seen about 14 sets of deer tracks that morning, all headed down toward the brook, into that thick, dense cover, so Rodney dropped Jody off on one side of the ravine. He went on to a clear-cut about a half to three-quarters of a mile away.

While Jody was walking from the main logging road along the brook toward the secondary road, he found a set of deer tracks. It seemed as though the big buck was dragging its feet, taking its time and checking scrapes. It didn’t take the sleepy hunter long to catch up with the deer, but the wind was blowing from behind, so Jody decided to back off a bit.

As he came out of the ravine onto the secondary road, Jody caught sight of a big pile of freshly cut timber and decided that it was just the right spot to sit for a while. Resting for a moment, he even thought about taking a short nap. After all, he hadn’t really felt like hunting so early that day, and he’d had a rough week. Just then, he heard the rattling of antlers, and jumped to his feet, reminding himself not to get too excited. He’d heard that sound a few times that season, the last time when a couple of young moose were sparring.

As he circled around the clear-cut, the wind picked up and whipped around, in his face one minute and to his back the next. The bucks winded him once, and “white flags went flying everywhere.” At least six bucks ran from the clear-cut to the shelter of the woods. But two monstrous ones stayed just along the jack spruce, glaring at each other. When the wind picked up again, one ran directly away from Jody, never giving him a clear shot, only the teasing glimpse of its rack.

Just then, the other buck broke away and ran about 75 to 100 yards straight across the clear-cut.

“For the first time in my entire life, I got buck fever,” Jody said. “When that buck came out, its rack was just so brown and the tines so tall that when I looked at it, all I could see was RACK. I couldn’t even see the deer.”

Jody shouldered his scoped .308, but he couldn’t hold it steady. He was shaking too much.
Unnerved, he lowered the rifle, turned away from the buck for a split second and took a deep breath. When he pulled up the rifle again and fired, he hit the big animal right through the heart and lungs — though it wasn’t immediately apparent. The deer never stumbled; didn’t even drop its tail.

“It was as though I hadn’t even touched it,” Jody said.

The buck jumped three or four more times, spun and ran back to where it had come from, allowing Jody to get off another shot. That time, he saw the bullet kick up snow behind the deer, and he thought he’d missed his last chance.

When Jody ran up to the line of evergreens, however, the buck was lying right there. Stone dead.

Rodney and Jody had agreed that they would turn on their two-way radios when they heard a shot fired, so Jody called for Rodney who said, “I heard the shots. I knew you’d gotten him, cousin.”

Rodney went back to the pickup and met his happy cousin on the main logging road. Jody left his rifle and heavy pack in the truck, and went back to dress the buck. As they walked back along the line of spruce, Jody told Rodney about the two bucks sparring and how one had gotten away, but that this one would be very nice in the freezer.

About that time, Rodney spotted the huge rack in their path and said, “Cousin, you don’t realize what you’ve got here.”

Rodney dug out his digital camera and snapped a couple shots of Jody with his trophy. After putting away the camera, he and Jody noticed a large hole at the base of the buck’s ear, where the other buck had left its mark.

Jody told Rodney to track down the other buck and turned back to field-dressing his deer.
Rodney grabbed his rifle and set off, tracking the other buck for most of the afternoon until it crossed a river. He never did get a shot at it. Meanwhile, Jody was sitting in the pickup after dragging out the buck, and as hunters drove past, they admired the monster that was lying across the tailgate. Many of them took pictures of Jody and his prize.

Later, at John’s Country Store, the local tagging station, 15 to 20 hunters gathered around, taking pictures and enjoying the story of the big deer sparring in the woods. The buck weighed in at a very respectable 220 pounds, dressed, but the biggest attraction was the rack. With brow tines that reached 13 2/8 and 14 3/8 inches and circumferences that range from 4 6/8 to more than 7 1/8 inches, the rack was quite an attention-getter.

For the next two weeks, hunters stopped by to photograph the deer and share hunting stories. At one point, the camera crew from Campbell’s Outdoor Challenge stopped by and taped BTR scorer Carl Lieser measuring the buck.

Editor’s Note: Both Jody Spiers and his cousin are master Maine guides. If you’d like to learn more about the hunting opportunities there, check out their website: www.branlakeguideservice.com

BTR Score: 186 3/8

–Shelly R.K. Spiers