Graham has hunting season to remember
Ben Graham is coming off quite an impressive hunting season.
The 13-year-old from Presque Isle pulled off the rare feat of harvesting three of the state’s big game animals in 2015 — a bear on youth bear day Aug. 29, a moose Oct. 13 and a small buck on youth deer day Oct. 24.
According to his father, Corey, Ben began hunting three years ago and as a 10-year-old was able to shoot both a bear and a buck. This year, he pulled off the trifecta by adding a moose to his resume.
Ben used a Browning Long Trac 3006 to shoot all three animals.
He and his father baited two spots and both shot bear off the same bait site.
“We had four bears hitting one of our baits within a day of putting it out,” Corey said. “On youth day, Ben and I were sitting in a double tree stand together with a rest when his bear walked in and quickly left without offering a shot.
“Forty five minutes later, it returned and Ben was able to make an ethical kill shot that put the 200 lb. bear down at the bait site,” Corey added.
During the second week of October in Kokadjo, 18 miles north of Greenville, Ben was the sub-permittee on Charlie Merrill’s (his grandfather) bull moose permit.
“On the second day of our hunt, we were doing some calling in the morning at the end of a logging road. I was sitting beside Ben on the edge of the woods and his grandfather was to our right. Within an hour of calling, we had a young bull come running down the road in front of us responding to the call,” Corey recalled.
“Before I could ask Ben if he wanted to shoot this moose, he had already made up his mind and fired. He again made an ethical kill shot that put the 550 lb. moose down about 50 yards from where he was shot. I was quite impressed with the poise Ben showed as the moose came running down the road at us.”
Eleven days later presented Ben’s chance for a deer.
“We were again sitting in a double tree stand watching a field where several does and some small bucks had been seen,” Corey said. “After sitting for three hours and not seeing anything, we decided to take a break and as we were walking out we noticed four deer standing on a hill about 250 yards away looking at us.
“Ben wanted to get closer to see if he could get a shot so we belly crawled about 100 yards across the field to a large oak tree. Ben laid down in the prone position and used the roots of the tree to rest his gun. He picked out one of the deer and fired and killed the deer. I paced the shot at 150 yards,” Corey added.
It was all quite a thrill for the Presque Isle Middle School seventh-grader and his father.
“Needless to say our freezer is full and we will be having many wild game meals over the coming months,” Corey said.
