A friend and I are going to try and hunt Maine this year, 2nd or 3rd. week of November. can anyone recommend a hunting camp for deer and bear. He was up for a 3 day un-guided hunt a few years ago. any link would be helpfull. Thanks Dave
Posts: 2134 | Location: Ohio | Registered: 26 June 2000
Probably really, really big deer gave him the idea !!! I live in Massachusetts and have seen some monsters taken from Maine. One of my Maineiac buddies has a picture of a deer his father took. It weighed over 400 lbs and ranks as either the 2nd or 3rd heaviest deer ever taken in Maine. I personally have seen whitetail rubs and scrapes that you couldn't believe the size of. They have doe contests up there for the heaviest doe, and it's not uncommon to see does over 200 lbs !!!! I like central Maine the best. Way up in the North Woods is good, big deer, but not many of them . Central Maine is where my friend's father got his monster, so the big ones are there in addition to good numbers of them.<br /><br />bowhuntr
Posts: 931 | Location: Somewhere....... | Registered: 07 October 2002
Probably really, really big deer gave him the idea !!! I live in Massachusetts and have seen some monsters taken from Maine. One of my Maineiac buddies has a picture of a deer his father took. It weighed over 400 lbs and ranks as either the 2nd or 3rd heaviest deer ever taken in Maine. I personally have seen whitetail rubs and scrapes that you couldn't believe the size of. They have doe contests up there for the heaviest doe, and it's not uncommon to see does over 200 lbs !!!! I like central Maine the best. Way up in the North Woods is good, big deer, but not many of them . Central Maine is where my friends father got his monster, so the big ones are there in addition to good numbers of them.
I've hunted north of the St. John the last two years.
2nd or 3rd week is definitely when you want to go.
Only guide service I know is Allagash Guide Service -- the owner, Sean Lizotte, is a friend of my hunting partner up there. I haven't hunted with Sean but do know that he busts his a** for his clients and did the same helping find me when I got myself lost in the woods my first night out -- d'oh! We stopped at his lodge many evenings to check the game pole on the way home, and the food sure looked and smelled good.
Just remember this is tough hunting -- cold weather, rough terrain, and not many deer.
John
Posts: 1246 | Location: Northern Virginia, USA | Registered: 02 June 2001
HV: I am a partner along with three retired Marine Corps Officers at what I consider to be a pretty good outfit in Maine. Go to www.bowlincamps.com and take a look. We ran close to 90% last year on bear. We have standard packaged hunts, BUT we also Taylor hunts for the self guided. Call or email LTCOL Ken Conatser (USMC ret). jorge
Posts: 7149 | Location: Orange Park, Florida. USA | Registered: 22 March 2001
Thanks for the links, John and Jorge. bowhuntr you sure sound enthused. I have hunted all over the eastern U.S. Pa. OH. WV. Va. Tenn. Mo. and a few others that I cant remember right off. My friend sounds the same as bowhntr when he explains the size of the deer he saw in Maine a few years ago, so man I got to go.
thank Dave
Posts: 2134 | Location: Ohio | Registered: 26 June 2000
Try www.wilderness-escape.com . Randy Flannery is a good friend of mine. My father and I hunted at his place last year and we're going back up this year. Nice place, great food, and hard working guides.
The hunter success rate in Maine is very very low. I can't see how a guide will help all that much if the hunt is fair chase. For bear that's a different story as baiting is common.
I hunted Maine three years and got a deer in two of them. I have not gone back because the woods there are very difficult to enjoy walking in with all of the swamps, slashings and blowdowns.
If I lived there I would find a way but I don't have to.
quote:Originally posted by Savage99: The hunter success rate in Maine is very very low. I can't see how a guide will help all that much if the hunt is fair chase.
It's exactly because it's so hard to hunt that a guide is helpful. There's a lot of ground to cover to find a few deer so it's a great advantage to have someone who knows the area.
Overall success rate is often 10% or less, I believe some of the outfitters push 50%.
Posts: 1246 | Location: Northern Virginia, USA | Registered: 02 June 2001
savage what part of maine do you hunt in. From looking at the maps, there is alot of water. Georg how did you and your father do last year? Looked over the wilderness site looks promising. What are the laws on ATV. I have been on the DNR site for maine and could not determine if i needed permit to use it. Thanks Dave
Posts: 2134 | Location: Ohio | Registered: 26 June 2000
I'm from ME originally and hunted there for 23 years before coming to AK. If I were going back for a serious hunt I would do an internet search for Registered Maine Guides. Then I would talk to a bunch of them that specialize in deer hunting and have been at it for a long time. A lot of those guys now don't really do much big game hunting.
Another thing that you might want to consider is that the mid-coast counties have much higher deer densities than the "North Woods". A good deer guide on the coast might have a better chance of getting you a deer than one in Aroostook county. There are big deer on the coast too. We shot one that weighed 247 lb. field dressed after hanging for four days.
Maine is a tough hunt and I wish you well. I'm doing my whitetail hunting in TX these days. Of course the deer are smaller body wise but I don't freeze, it's lots of fun and I can depend on seeing lots of deer and shooting a couple of nice bucks.
Posts: 13023 | Location: LAS VEGAS, NV USA | Registered: 04 August 2002
Sorry to be negative about anything let alone a New England state. It's just that I have really favored Vermont, Connecticut and Pennsylvania for most of my deer hunting. I did hunt deer in South Paris, Patton and Hartland. South Paris is unlike the rest of Maine and more like the New Hampshire border that it shares. It has rolling hills, many small farms and some wooded mountains. Very pretty country. Patton is way up north. Northern Maine is a country of low lands, swamps, slashings and blow downs. It's very cold up there and the climate is better suited to moose and very big deer. Many of the roads in central Me and Northern Me are higher than the woods and you better have a compass.
It's true that if you have not scouted an area out your better off with a guide. I was wrong about that. Since I don't live that far from Me I would do my own scouting. Maine used to start hunting on a Saturday then they changed it to Monday for nonresidents. They used to allow does to be taken but now it's only bucks for nonresidents. You can see that I am not all that keen on Maine.
This is an idea. The Maine coast is really beautiful. Many from our yacht clubs take their boats up there for the wild, clean and serene harbors. Take a ride up there this summer with the family and stay in the York Beach area one night and then drive up into the state and look around. Maybe you could meet a guide there and say hello.
Hey gang...I have been hunting in Maine for 21 years in the same area my dad has hunted for 56 years. We hunt in the Zone 17 area, around Guilford, Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft and surrounding towns. This area has turned into a great bet for a good balance of big deer and the potential to eyeball deer on a daily basis. Any day I get to see deer in Maine is a good day. There may be areas that have more big bucks, and there may be areas with more deer in general, but it would be real hard for anybody to argue that this area isn't about as good a spot to find the balance of big bucks and total numbers. It's been a rare year that we didn't get at least one deer (this past season was a skunking) but we've also shot a few real good deer between us...especially Pop.
If anywhere is huntable without a guide, it is Maine....but don't tell anybody. Big secret. Maybe get yourself hooked up for a year with a guide, grill him for info on deer habits and habitat in the area, then go it alone. DL
Posts: 3 | Location: New England | Registered: 01 March 2003
We've been over 85% on bear over the course of the last two years. A guide knows where they are, knows the terain. Now if you want to do it by yourself, the odds go down dramatically. jorge
Posts: 7149 | Location: Orange Park, Florida. USA | Registered: 22 March 2001
Hey Dluke, Don't go telling secrets, Im from up in Northern Maine and Im sure it is the same down your way we don't need any more help with "outta statas"
