State officials will use numbers to determine whether its first two-day youth hunt was a success, but the people at tagging stations who registered the kids’ deer see it as one now.
School on Friday and rain on Saturday may have kept the numbers of youths who participated or their success rates lower than expected, but neither obstacle dampened their spirits, according to one store owner.
This was the first year that Maine has had a two-day youth deer hunt. It was a one-day hunt for more than 20 years, until the state Legislature expanded it this year.
“It’s been an excellent opportunity for kids to get out there early. It’s a good thing for the state. Our next generation (of hunters) is coming up,” said Jim Spraggins, owner of Moosehead Trail Trading Post in Palmyra.
His store was swamped all day, with people buying orange clothing for their kids and related gear, including youth guns, and registering deer, he said.
He had registered about a dozen deer by mid-afternoon Saturday, with two weighing more than 200 pounds and another 193, he said.
Spraggins was looking forward to leaving the store at 4 p.m. to take his 8-year-old grandson hunting. Last year his then-9-year-old granddaughter shot her first doe, and a few minutes later his grandson shot his first buck — a five-pointer.
Old Town Trading Post said that things were slow Friday because of school and rain delayed people Saturday morning, but the pace was picking up by mid-afternoon. The largest deer registered there by then was a 136-pound doe.
The clerk said there were a few kids gathered in the store at that moment who were getting ready to head out for their hunts.
Bingham General Store hadn’t seen any deer either day, but the clerk said they haven’t registered any on youth hunt day for the last couple of years.
Jack’s Trading Post in Farmington saw six deer each day by mid-afternoon Saturday. The largest doe was 122 pounds and the biggest buck was a 120-pound spike horn on Friday. The biggest deer Saturday was a five-point 106-pound buck, followed by a 105-pound doe.
The youth deer hunt was slow at Gateway Trading Post in Ashland, according to Brenda White, who was just finishing tagging animals for Maine’s second week of bull moose hunting when the youth hunt began. She had registered eight deer over the two days, compared with 10 last year for a one-day hunt. There was a six-point buck weighing 141 pounds and a couple of 135-pound doe deer among the eight, she said.
The hunters told her the unseasonably warm temperatures and the rain were keeping the deer from moving around much, White said.
She enjoys seeing the kids come in with their deer.
“What’s cool is a child comes in with their parents, and then their grandparents, aunts and uncles all pull in in their cars and it looks like we’re really busy. It’s really beautiful how they celebrate it,” White said.
This story was amended to correct the number of deer tagged in Ashland
