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This 10 pointer was sneaking past one of our ground blinds in a hard wood opening.


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Sure looks more like a red stag than any Maine whitetail! An escapee, perhaps? Was he taken?
 
Posts: 11017 | Registered: 14 December 2000Reply With Quote
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Good eye, this stag is in a hunt preserve in Maine. This is the only legal way to hunt red stags in Maine.




From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Hey Mark,

Are you any relation to Norman Luce in Maine? I've hunted at his place in Maine a number of times.





"America's Meat - - - SPAM"

As always, Good Hunting!!!

Widowmaker416
 
Posts: 1782 | Location: New Jersey USA | Registered: 12 July 2004Reply With Quote
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Widowmaker416,

Norman and I are distant relatives. Our Grandfathers were second cousins.

We both belong to the Maine Deer and Elk farmers Association , and we both worked with our legislature to obtain "Hunt Preserve" licences.

Norman and I both strive to provide a rewarding hunt. Thanks for asking.

From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce



Here are a couple of pictures and a testimony from this past season .



Hunter Kim Finck from Washington Missouri with her 15 point stag she harvested with her 50 cal. black powder rifle on 10/16/04.

Her husband Jon harvested a 284 lb. female with his bow.




PS...............Jon and Kim sent these kind words to us to share with our readers:

posted October 26, 2004 09:16 AM
Kim & I recently returned from a great trip to hunt with Mark Luce at Hindsite and hiking in Acadia National Forest near Bar Harbor, Maine.
The Hindsite Red Deer Hunting Preserve provides a unique opportunity to hunt a non-native species in a very challenging environment. It is also a valuable and TRUE economic benefit to the local community...(off on a tangent here....positive economic growth ONLY occurs when a natural resource is utilized to provide a consumable product.) This kind of entrepreneurial spirit is something I can whole-heartedly endorse.
Mark and Joanne's operation is top notch - beginning with an active herd breeding and management plan. The breeding stock remains wild and instinctively aggressive - prone to fight or flight at the sight of a human. (You better watch yourself around these stags - they WILL attack if they feel threatened.) The hunting preserve area is maintained to provide an over-abundance of shelter, browse and feeding areas. It is much like a person would choose to manage property for a Quality Deer Management program for whitetails, only tailored for the aggressive nature of the Red Deer and the charateristics of the Maine woods. It is SO THICK in most places that you cannot walk through it.....maybe if you got down on your hands and knees, or crawl on your belly there would be some space to squeeze through... The hunting areas/stands are accessed by trails hewn selectively into the forest. There a small areas - 30 to 50 yds. - that are 'thinned out' enough to be able to hunt from stands.
Kim hunted with her muzzleloader from a box blind. I hunted from an open (large 2-person) ladder stand with my bow....more about the hunt in another post.....

Matt and his son-in-law escorted us to and from our stands. This was as much for our own physical security as it was to show us the way. We remained on stand until they came to get us.....now, not to say that we were scared of the stags or anything, but the Red Deer do display a very aggressive nature and the possibility is there for a confrontation. As host and guide Mark and Matt take this responsibility seriously.

When we downed our respective beasts, we communicated by radio for Mark to come and get us out and retrieve our quarry. He used his mighty John Deere tractor with a loader on it to transport them out of the preserve to the 'processing' area. With chain and winch, each was weighed and inspected before the 'fun' began....

Suffice it to say that in every detail our hosts went above and beyond to make our experience one that was enjoyable from start to finish. I only wish we had had a little more time to spend with Mark and his family - they are a lot of fun too. Although, by the end of the day I think we were all pretty well whipped....and bloody....well one of us was bloody...

Being the first time 'out east', the logistics of travel, vehicle space, and keeping the meat frozen were uncertainties that made this trip sort of a 'test'. Our next trip will have fewer concerns after having sorted those things out. We hauled the meat back 'on the bone' so every nook and cranny of the Bronco was packed tight with freezers and coolers and all our other stuff. The skull of Kim's stag was trussed up with twine, the nose of the beast resting on the console between our seats, the antlers directed up and back supported at the top by the pile of cargo behind. Mark even had some water pipe insulation laying around which was applied to the more 'dangerous' protrusions. Mark had expertly caped the skull, shrink-wrapped it and put a heavy platic bag over that. The plastic bag was well sealed with duct tape at strategic places like the base of the antlers and wrapped muzzle-like around the nose. By the time we reached home 2 1/2 days later, it had only a slight, albeit noticeable, odor.... (Thank goodness we had purchased half a dozen balsam fur sa'chets while we were at Acadia National Park
).
I was surprised that when we got home, the meat in the coolers was still hard frozen. Two of them 120 qt. coolers with three bags of ice. There was only about 2 cups of melted ice water in each. That is good to know for the next trip.

All in all a wonderful experience which we will look fondly upon until the next time......

Jon and Kim Finck
Washington, Missouri


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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These stags waisted no time crossing this woods road.

I was walking out from one of our stands when I heard them approaching. When they saw me they were gone in an instant. Disappearing into the heavy cover.


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Two young stags showing brute strenth on one cold winter morning.



From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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"Team Murphy Hunting"

Brian Murphy with his 13 point stag that he stalked with his bow . His Uncle Bill is shown with his 15 point heavy beamed red stag. With Bill is niece Holly, nephews Brian Jr. and Tommy. Grandfather Tom took a nice hind


Three generations of Murphy hunters !
"Team Murphy Hunting"

Brian Murphy
Tom Murphy
Bill Murphy
Holly Murphy
Brian Murphy Jr.
Tommy Murphy


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Could you send a PM or post here with examples of stags and the're prospective prices?

Thanks a ton!
 
Posts: 228 | Location: Spain Jerez (Cadiz) | Registered: 08 December 2004Reply With Quote
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Does the price include the bucket of corn that he eats before you blast him??

The best thing Wyoming ever did was outlaw game farms. No offence Luce, but red stags in this state would ruin it.

MG
 
Posts: 1029 | Registered: 29 January 2004Reply With Quote
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I guess it wouldn't be such a big problem in Maine where you have no wild elk, however in the west red deer pose a significant threat to free ranging elk populations.

I don't know if I would go so far as to call it a "preserve", but more like an "red deer jail" where your death sentence is at the hands of the highest bidder.

After hunting wild elk for many years, this of course is just my own opinion...

MG
 
Posts: 1029 | Registered: 29 January 2004Reply With Quote
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These deer are not tame and this is no small pen. This is a heavily wooded forest.

Each to his own. Smiler Most of my hunters have never hunted a preserve and are impressed with challenge. beerI have many testimonies that speak for themselves. Smiler



From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Bizzare...
 
Posts: 3523 | Registered: 27 June 2000Reply With Quote
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This could be you.....Next month we will once again Auction off a Female Red Deer Hunt in Maine.

100% of the money raised will go to the HHH ( Hunters Helping Hunters)

This Auction will take place on the North American Hunting Club B.B. on the Misscellaneous Forum this Feb.2005.

www.hhh-usa.org



Here is Ralph Jackson aka TwoTails Smiler with the female he harvested on 1/8/05. He was the "high bidder" in last years auction.




Mark,

I had a blast...any one that thinks this is not a real hunt just needs to look at the back ground...I had to thread the needle to get her... it was about 70yds I would guess...I'm telling you these buggers can hide in plain sight...the morning started pretty uneventfull...at frist...I was thinking I need a cup of coffee so I poured one and had tken a sip was just about to set it down when I saw the stags I about fell out of my seat and nearly spilled my coffee fumbeling for the one thing I forgat back at the truck...My camera...the lead animal was quite the sight..he was followed by several others with a nubby bringing up the rear...I got a good look at them with the binos...even put the range finder on one...84 yards...got evry thing hung back up in the blind and finishe what was left of my now cold partal cup of coffee and saw some movement out in the pines did not see a body but an ear, then a tail, then just the head or shall we say a bit of the head, saw a bunch of pieces of deer on this run but nothing I could ID as a whole deer..they disappeared in the thick stuff..I was watching out the other window when I caugt movement to my right...I turned my head and thee was a nice light colored female...as I turned I hit the ear muffs that should have been on my head and knocked them to the floor..deer gone... she was bigger than the one I shot and a lot closer and in a clear area...but... then I saw more...there were 4 in this group I large female but she was hanging back behind the others in the real thick stuff and I could not see much of her..the one I shot another about the same size and a Male fawn...or at least thats what we dcided it was...it had the start of the mane and just a bit bigger than my female...after the shot I was shaking so bad that I didn't think I would be able to climb down out of the box....THis was the first time I had ever killed any thing with a 7mm Rem mag...the way that deer went down...I'm going to be taking this thing back to ME with me if I can talk the wife into it...That is, if Mark will have me back Thanks again for a most enjoyable weekend..oh BTW, Irvings serves some excelent liver and onions.

Thanks again,
Ralph Jackson aka TwoTails


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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You should probably donate the funds to the national petting zoo or better yet just give it directly to the humane society. High fence operations are a blight on the butt of any self respecting sportsman. Just MHO.
 
Posts: 1010 | Registered: 03 February 2004Reply With Quote
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Nice photos! May I ask what sort of area you have under game fence? We have free roaming reds over here - nothing matches the grandeur of a big stag with 'all his rights'.

Rgds Ian


Just taking my rifle for a walk!........
 
Posts: 1306 | Location: Devon, UK | Registered: 21 August 2001Reply With Quote
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Well run hunt preserves are not a black mark on hunting..................That is what the antis want you to think !

When you agree with their view point without ever hunting on a well run preserve , they win !!!!!!!!!!

Do you honestly think that the antis would ever say anything good about any form of hunting ? The answer is "NO" !

They spread propaganda to divide the hunting community !

They want you to think bad about something you have little knowledge of.

I


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Mark, with all due respect I am not an anti and that is my view. This type of "hunting" is indeed a black mark on our sport IMHO. I also notice you do not disclose how many acres the killing area is. To each his own but for those prices I can easily go on a real "hunt" intead of a shoot and still hold my head high at the end of the day.
 
Posts: 1010 | Registered: 03 February 2004Reply With Quote
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Mr. Luce, your "anti" rhetoric is bullshit. You're framing your argument in such a way to put your outdoor slaughter house in the best possible light. When money is at stake even good people become stupid. Regarding what you're pedaling, I'm an anti and proud of it...
 
Posts: 3523 | Registered: 27 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Madgoat, it sure ain't elk hunting in the Thourofare is it?

To each his own, I would rather fill my freezer this way than walk down the meat section of a grocery store. What bothers me is many of the outdoor shows on TV hunt this type of facility and promote it. The tv guys never show all the details either. But then that wouldn't make a good show and they must have success in order to sell products and promote themselves.
 
Posts: 10478 | Location: N.W. Wyoming | Registered: 22 February 2003Reply With Quote
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I'd also add, this type of killing (not hunting) plays right into the "anti's" hand's and does potentially great harm to our hunting heritage and right's...
 
Posts: 3523 | Registered: 27 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Mark,

Please enlighten us to the acreage, if not publically send me a private message.

To the rest of you whine asses. Having done a great deal of hunting on public land, private land, and game preserves I can tell you, from experience, the only difference is the distances traversed! They decrease respectively.

Where would Wyoming's elk herds be without the winter feeding grounds . . . DEAD from starvation that is where!

Chuckwagon, handguns are a blight on every shooter, they should be banned!!!!! This is the gun control equivalent to your naive comments about hunting on game preserves. Once they ban handguns what is next, assault rifles, so-called sniper rifles, old west gunfighter guns? Once they ban game preserves what is next, private hunting leases, private land, public land? The individual State Governments manage the largest game preserves of ALL, so big they don't require fences! Believe me that is how the anti's mind functions, and they know full well the value of "baby steps"!!

The most animals I have ever shot at one time, 5 whitetail deer, in a Midwestern state, with a 12 gauge (ran out of ammunition or it would have been 6), hunting with a group of 7 guys. These guys were not too happy that I shot up ALL BUT one of our tags, either! Smiler. My reply, shit happens! This was on private land, WITH NO FENCE AKA FREE RANGING DEER (they simply picked to wrong ravine to run through)! Got a NICE 10 point non-typical buck too (had his nose buried deep in the arse of the doe in front of him)

Seriously Mark, send me some details, I will be elk hunting this year (2005) but I have always wanted a red stag, and don't feel like going to Europe or New Zealand to get one. Besides that your topography seems about perfect for my double rifle or my M1895 405 Winnie!

ASS_CLOWN
 
Posts: 1673 | Location: MANY DIFFERENT PLACES | Registered: 14 May 2004Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by ASS_CLOWN:

ASS_CLOWN

I am an IMBECILE


Nuff' said...
 
Posts: 3523 | Registered: 27 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Our preserve is a little under 100 acres and is heavily wooded.

If you think you can easily still hunt one of these stags, think again. Most stags are taken while you patiently wait in a treestand or blind.

Brad........
quote:
I'm an anti and proud of it...


With all of your negative remarks directed towards me, why am I not suprised to find out that you are an "anti"

You know not what you talk about !


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Mark, I find it total bull when you speak about how dense the forrest is in your 100 acre pen.
Have you ever hunted outside of a fenced in pen?
Well sir, I have spent several years hunting in area's that are every bit as dense as what you picture, and they are all open range. Try hunting in 20' tall jack fir, when all you can do is get on your hands and knees and look at elk legs, no chance of seeing a body.

You are NOT offering a hunt, you are offering a red deer "SHOOT" plain and simple. A penned up animal that has NO way of exscape.

How many "hunters" have paid the $2500 and not taken a red deer?

Do your Red Deer have names?
 
Posts: 1605 | Location: Wa. State | Registered: 19 November 2001Reply With Quote
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How much less than 100 acres. A hundred acres is around 600yds x 600yds or less. I don't care how thick it is it is a shoot not a hunt. The critters got no where to go. You probably put the water at one end of the pen and the feed at the other and the stand on the trail in between. How many animals do you have on this less than 100 acres. I grew up next to Maine in NB and the bush is the same there. If we wanted to kill all the animals inside a high fenced area less than 100 acres that they couldn't get out of we could do it easily in short order 4 or 5 hunters could pretty much clean it out in an afernoon.

Testomonials mean nothing other than a bunch of people who use shooterfarms got their animals. Have these people ever hunted fair chase.

Now if you want to do this sort of thing, thats up to you, but don't call it a hunt. Your just operating another shooter farm.

P.S. if you want to advertise, why don't you pay like everyone else does.


aka. bushrat
 
Posts: 372 | Location: Alberta | Registered: 13 December 2001Reply With Quote
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You certainly are entitled to your opinion , but that does not make them accurate.They are nothing more than a point of view ,yours.

Thank you for taking the time to express them, this is America after all.

We are allowed that freedom of speech, thank God.

Jack Fir thickets, the preserve is better than 50% thickets........So thick that you could be 10 feet from a stag and not know it.

Each to his own................You will not find red stags in the wild in the US, and with the world climate the way it is , some people would rather stay in country to harvest a red stag. Preserves are the only way this is possible in the US.


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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, some people would rather stay in country to harvest a red stag roflmao

I take it you missed this question,How many "hunters" have paid the $2500 and not taken a red deer?

Out west, hunting is hunting, it is what hunting is all about, being out in the woods, camping, hiking, pre-season scouting, tracking and if you are lucky the butt dragging of getting you game out of the woods, all done in fair chase not is some 100 acre pen.
 
Posts: 1605 | Location: Wa. State | Registered: 19 November 2001Reply With Quote
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You can hunt stags that are free ranging in Scotland for only 400 bucks/day. Best deal in hunting. One stag a day; if you want more, 400 bucks per.

The ones with huge horns are left to breed; we passed on a big one. But I shot a 10 pt stag and did a shoulder mount to remind me of the fun week I spent in Scotland.


Don't Ever Book a Hunt with Jeff Blair
http://forums.accuratereloadin...821061151#2821061151

 
Posts: 7575 | Location: Arizona and off grid in CO | Registered: 28 July 2004Reply With Quote
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100 acres?! roflmao Shit fellas, you want to have a fair chase red deer hunt without freezzing your ass off come on down. Several thousand acres, and one helluva lot cheaper. $100/point, spring does(heard mgmt) $300. If that's what you want to do....




If yuro'e corseseyd and dsyelixc can you siltl raed oaky?

 
Posts: 9647 | Location: Yankeetown, FL | Registered: 31 August 2002Reply With Quote
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quote:
Regarding what you're pedaling, I'm an anti and proud of it...


Luce, you're not even honest enough to get a sentence straight... take the bullshit you're peddling and go somewhere else... no one here's buying.
 
Posts: 3523 | Registered: 27 June 2000Reply With Quote
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I want to ammend my stance slightly. I do think the 100 acre enclosed petting zoo with an outrageous fee does serve a very select group of individuals. Azzclown you would be right at home there.
PS. Get beck on your meds !
 
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Thank you for your many opinions..Some are from open minded people and some are from closed minded people.

I will step back and let you bash me . It seems to make you feel better even when you do not know the facts.

100 acres of dense forest will challenge you more than you will ever admit.

To the gentlemen that thinks he and a few of his friends could depopulate the preserve in a forenoon, dream on. You apparently don't know much about an elusive red deer.Their nose is as keen as a whitetail and they will use it.

This is not a petting ZOO like some of these fine folks would like people to believe.


It is funny how many experts we have and they never hunted in a preserve.Where do you get your expertise, from reading anti preserve hunting propaganda?

Brad , I owe you an apology......You are not an anti hunter, you are just anti towards what I do.Fair enough.


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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Mark, FWIW it matters not to me about you're doing with your 100 acres. If you have customers, fine. Compared to what is available in my neighborhood you run a smallish and expensive operation. I don't know exactly where the transition occurs between "petting zoo" and fair chase country, but I would not consider 100 acres enough. I do not hunt such operations for other than quail, and the one I visit is near 1000 acres. I have hunted a 100 acre patch with dense timber a lot, having owned such a patch in middle Georgia at one time. It was not fenced, had a lot of bottom country and dense timber/brush as well as a 10 acre clearing in the middle amidst hilly countryside. Your clients may not know your turf very well, likely they don't. Having spent a lot of time hunting a piece that size, knowing it like the back of my hand as I did, it was not much of a contest between whitetail, hog, turkey, coyote and me. Gotta call it the way I see it in regards to quality of hunt. Red Deer aren't any craftier than whitetails either.

If you're trying to advertise your business over the Net, that's fine too, but don't expect folks such as are found here to fall all over themselves in a dash to your field of dreams. This "Band of Brothers" ain't your client base...




If yuro'e corseseyd and dsyelixc can you siltl raed oaky?

 
Posts: 9647 | Location: Yankeetown, FL | Registered: 31 August 2002Reply With Quote
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I have received several inquiries from this forum re: a hunt. So apparantly there are a few of your "Loyal Band of Brothers" that are interested in what I have to offer.

Here is what another hunter had to say about our preserve.

http://www.huntingreport.com/current_issue.cfm?id=74

This is the article pupblished in the
Hunting Report Newsletter with information submitted
by Richard Lawson
Here's an interesting find. It's a red deer hunting preserve in Maine of all places. Subscriber Richard Lawson brought it to our attention this month in a report he sent us about a hunt he enjoyed there this past September. The place is called Hindsite Hunt Preserve and is located in Newport, about 25 miles from Bangor International Airport. Formerly a dairy farm, owner Mark Luce began breeding red deer on the 155-acre property in 1997 and now offers trophy and management stag hunts, as well as meat deer hunts for hinds. Seems Luce invested in some New Zealand hinds breed to German blood lines, and a stud stag from Yugoslavian bloodline, intending to breed red deer for a variety of markets, including velvet antler production, meat, breeding stock, hard antlers for art projects and furniture and a limited number of hunts. Most of those efforts required the production of large antlers, so Luce has focused on enhancing trophy quality the last few years. So, what is the hunting experience like? According to Lawson, the stags here are the most skittish animals he has ever hunted. After 20 years of hunting whitetails, mule deer and elk, he characterizes this as a challenging and well-rounded hunt. He says Luce placed him and several friends in tree and tower stands near travel lanes and feeding areas around dense timber. He says the property is a mix of hardwood and softwood forest and thickets cut with deer trails. Since Lawson and his friends hunted during the rut, he says they were able to hear the stags roaring and watch them chasing hinds. He says several trophy stags came by his stand before he finally shot a 12-pointer. He says his two hunting buddies also took 12-point stags. Lawson says the guides provided them with walkie-talkies to call for help when they shot their deer and that Luce took care of all the field dressing and trophy preparation as well. He says he also had a butcher and local taxidermist lined up to take care of the meat and trophies for them. He gives Luce high praise for the operation, writing, "He has set up a five-star preserve hunt, and with his internal drive, it will only get better. Don't hesitate on this. Once the word is out, booking a hunt here might take years." Lawson reports this was a three-day hunt that included lunch and one mature red stag with 12 to 16 points for $2,500. Hunts for management stags of eight to 10 points cost $1,300 and meat hunts for hinds cost $700. As for accommodations, Law- son says Luce lodged his group in nearby lakefront cabins, featuring a small kitchen and a washer and dryer, but no television set. He says a small grocery store nearby made it easy to prepare breakfast and that there were also several restaurants in town just two miles away.

Here is another:

My name is Kraig Keiger from Grand Rapids Minnesota. I have hunted from Canada to Mexico and from Montana to Maine and found Mark Luce and Hindsite Red Deer Hunt Preserve second to none. Marks professional approach to his operation takes care of the hunter and non-hunter from start to finish. The quality of game on the preserve was excellent and from the tour of breeding stock there are many more trophy's to come. My wife Bev accompanied me and Mark and crew made her feel welcome as well. You can contact me at 218-327-0583. Kraig also bought his hunt on eBay .
Kraig's wife Bev really liked the Lake side cabins at Christies Camp Ground in Newport............... Ph. 207-368-4645
Kraig's 12 point stag weiged 335 lbs.


More words from Kraig:

Yep thats him, Mark Luce one of the hardest working Outfitter's I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with.

Allow me to introduce myself, My name is Kraig Kiger, Life Member NAHC, NRA and Director of the Minnesota Shooting Sports Education Center. www.mssec.org

I have been very interested in Red Stags for quite a long time, collecting video hunts, lots of German collectables for my den, and pictures for the walls when I met Mark on line here at NAHC BB.

Mark and I spoke off and on for over a year before I booked my hunt, not because I was'nt interested or the distance or cost but I had just started a new job with the MSSEC and was tring very hard to get my ideas started here in Grand Rapids.

Finially I was able to get everything put together on this end and Mark handled everything on his end lodging, hunt dates and plannig some side trips to do some site seeing from the Maine Coast and inland.

The days before we could leave seamed to last forever and Mark would send us emails and photos to fire my intrest. Some friends of our's had recently returned from visiting thier son in Maine and provided us with directions and suggestions on where to stay along the way.

In my excitement to get there I push on, getting half way across Indiana the first day. Day two we where off again and talked about stopping at Niagra Falls but pushed on to Albany, NY before calling it a night. So far everything was going great, the motels where not 5 star but clean and comfortable and reasonable for the area.

The Friends that gave us directions felt it would take us two and one-half days top reach the Freeport area and suggested a stop at L.L. Bean and the Outlet Malls. By the time we finished dinner and even thought about getting a room it was after 8:00 P.M. and nothing was available for miles around as it was a perfect weekend for viewing the fall colors, a local college had a parents weekend, the paper company was conducting a maintenance week, and HBO was filming a movie in the area.

A call to Mark and we had a cabin on the lake a day early and we where on our way to Newport. I grew up in northern Minnesota and have lived here most of my life. US Hwy 2 runs through our town and here in the wilds of Maine was the same road I had known and ran right to Mark's operations. We arrived around 10:00 PM and settled in to a very nice cabin at the waters edge.

We awoke to loons calling on the lake and the Maine woods a blaze with colors reflecting across the lake. Little did I know the tree line I was snapping pictures of would be the very woods I would be hunting in.

Mark arrived as I was getting the rest of our bags from the truck and asked if everthing was fine with the cabin and if there was anything we needed. After getting direction to the store. We made plans to meet and take care of sighting in my rifle around lunch time.

Mark has a great spot to sight in and after a disapointing time with the first rifle I planned to use, I went back to my old faithful Weatherby. I've used that rifle on everything from Pronghorn, Elk, Whitetails, Mule Deer and now Red Stags. I shoots where you point it and the results are always the same.

The Night before a hunt tends to be the same for me every time, hard to sleep and when you finally get to sleep you dream of the hunt to come. Morning came all to quick but what a morning the winds had calmed down the lake looked like glass. Mark's guide arrived to pick me up and we where on our way.

We arrived at the Preserve and entered through a gate, that was the only time other than leaving when you will see it, and made our way into the very thick woods. As we slowly stalked along the trail you could hear the roar of the stags establishing their place for breeding rights to the females. Suddenly a band of hinds where moving from right to left about 75 to 80 yard ahead of us and a large stag moved through an opening in front of us and was gone.

We continued down the path and arrived at a box blind over looking a forest opening. I was placed in the stand and left to watch much the way we hunt whitetails here in Minnesota.

I sat for about an hour and watched as an 8 and a 10 point feed into my shooting lanes and thought about how regal these animals looked as the early morning sun shown through the trees. As time passed I watched a red squirrel run around my stand and song birds in the trees.

Movement in the tree line caught my eye and a nice stag slowly came out of the woods into a small clearing to my right. As the aniaml approached I was checking for the number of points and found six on his left side but his right side was behind a tree. He continued to feed and finally moved to where I could look over his rack and desided this was the animal I had driven 2000 miles to get.

One well placed shot and it was over, Mark arrived shortly after hearing the shot and assisted me out of my stand and we went to recover my Stag.

At Marks opeartion they bring the animal out and dress it and begin the cooling process with blocks of ice to help assure a quality animal, after weighing it's off to the local butcher for processing. Mark caped my stag and boiled the skull for transport back home.

Mark had planned some sightseeing trips for us and we headed for Bar Harbor to have dinner and a look around. The land scape looked a lot like the north shore of Minnesota and the BWCA with conifer and rocky out croppings.

The next morning we headed inland to do some antiqueing and found the HBO movie set took some pictures and my wife highlite of the trip was getting to see Ed Harris one of the stars from the movie. When we arrived back at Newport our meat was done and we decided to start for home.

I had purchased a 7 cubic chest freezer, which fit perfectly in the back of the truck, to bring our meat home with us. When we stopped for the night an extention cord ran into the motel room kept the meat frozen all the way home

We did spend a day at Niagra Falls so the return trip took 4 days but was well worth it.

Guys if you are looking for some thing differant to try this was a great trip for us.

Mark has a first class operation and some day I just might find my way back to the woods of Maine.

Contact me at 218-327-0583 if you have any questions about my hunt.

Kraig Kiger


Testimonial submitted by Rick Bunce who hunted with us in Feb. 2003:


What an incredible hunting experience! Once the gate was closed behind me, I could have been in one acre or one thousand acres. This gave me the rare opportunity to watch multiple red deer double-back within 50 yards of Mark and his guides without them ever seeing the deer. With the density of the forest, I could have walked right by a stag & never have known it was there.


Mark and his staff went above and beyond the call of duty to supply an excellent hunting experience. It was a challenging and fun hunt with excellent guides and quality animals. The stag I landed is impressive to say the least! Definitely the biggest little hunt I've ever been on!


I'll be heading back North soon for another hunt with Mark and his guides at Hindsite!



Rick Bunce
Maryland

Now I know you think these people who come from many backgrounds are wrong , but this is how they felt about our preserve. They must all be wrong. Big Grin


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
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posted Hide Post
Mark

If you haven't figured it out yet.....WE DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR "HUNTERS" HAVE TO SAY ABOUT
YOUR OPERATION!!!!!

Your posts are nothing but




and we are SICK of seeing them!!!

 
Posts: 1499 | Location: NE Okla | Registered: 22 May 2002Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of hikerbum
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Luce
nobody was biting a few weeks ago when I asked you how big your deer pen was.

100 acres is nothing.

Go way, nobody wants it.


Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
 
Posts: 2590 | Location: Western New York | Registered: 30 December 2003Reply With Quote
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Picture of Mark Luce
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Please don't shoot the dog. I will stop posting as of now. You must also stop posting and let the topic die.

I posted the testimonies to prove a point, There are a lot of open minded people, good people that don't share your close minded opinion of hunt preserves.


Each to his own..........!


From the woods of Maine,
Mark Luce
 
Posts: 46 | Location: Newport, Maine 04953 | Registered: 16 January 2005Reply With Quote
one of us
posted Hide Post
Maybe we could post a few testimonies from the DNR about how crappy little pits like this are often the breeding grounds of disease that infects the native wildlife. What a SKLEEZE BALL ! troll Take some of that "hard earned" cash that you get from the city dwelling Massholes and go advertise someplace else.
 
Posts: 1010 | Registered: 03 February 2004Reply With Quote
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