With Bald Mountain looming over me I thought for sure this must be deer country. Vermont is still very wild and with a low human population and primary industry being rural farming, tourism and forestry big game should be plenty. Vermont is 78% forested and boasts game species such as whitetail deer, moose, black bear, bobcats, coyote, beaver, fox and other fur bearers. Human population is a mere 650,000 and relatively confined to the valleys.
The Green Mountains are old and worn, with the highest elevations at just over 4000 feet. Bald Mountain resides in part of the Northfield Range, a finger of the Greens. Pictured below is Bald Mountain.
So here I was, living on a mountainside residence that was surrounded in over grown fields and a mixed forest on the high slope. I began in July when I moved in to size up the situation. The fallow fields were five feet tall in over growth and consisted of primarily milkweed, golden rod and some sort of woody shrub. Not particularly attractive plants for big game. I brush hogged them in hopes of bringing up fresh forbs that deer would be attracted too. An old apple orchard was also mowed and in some places the fields were left as is to provide cover and a few trails were mowed for access.
Once mowed, the fields showed promise with fresh grasses and red clover coming up very quickly. Some of the larger weeds also re grew but their tender leaves attracted a different visitor. The soft milkweeds produced huge populations of Monarch Butterflies and their stripped caterpillars. Wildflowers thrived and soon I was seeing plenty of deer sign. Often I would see does bringing their small spotted fawns out to nibble and play.
The woods on the mountain side were covered in mixed hardwoods such as sugar maple, white and yellow birch, ash, and softwoods such as big tooth aspen, white pine, hemlock, spruce and balsam fir. Vermont is quite famous for its maple syrup and is a huge industry here. A renewable resource and truly makes a wonderful addition to more than breakfast cooking!
I often climbed Bald Mountain during the warm summer with my Labrador Briar and feline Zena in tow. We saw many deer and plenty of deer sign even high up. We saw where they would often bed and found their favorite crossings for the numerous brooks, which wind their way throughout the rocky mounts.
Some of the views, this is Camel’s Hump mountain across the valley and some of us call it Sleeping Lion.
Fall came and it was finally archery season. The hunting seasons are brief here compared to my Midwestern experience and the numbers of deer are smaller. Hunters must draw doe tags or they can take one during the archery season in certain deer management units. I was in one of those units and hoped to tag a doe. I set my stand up on the edge of one of my now managed fields backed up on a huge old white pine. Below, on my right side flowed a noisy brook, which often swelled with rain in this very wet year. Only once were deer nearly close enough to tempt my arrow but they never made it quite close enough.
A view of Mt. Hunger from my tree stand.
With the end of archery season there is a break in the hunting period before firearms season begins. So now I had the difficult decision to decide which rifle to use for this hunt. My Mauser action 30-06 won out being a long flat shooter, it did well for me on African safaris and northern caribou hunts. This would be the first time I could hunt a deer using a firearm other than a shotgun or muzzleloader. It would be a buck only hunt, due to the regulations.
Vermont is a QDM state and recently set into motion, by popular demand, antler restrictions. This is so to protect the yearling spike bucks and give them the opportunity to mature and at the same time improve the buck to doe ratio. The antler minimum is basically a no spike rule so a buck had to have two or more points on one side. My personal minimum has always been six points and I decided to stick with that for this year. It’s been a few years since I have killed a buck and perhaps this may be another dry year but I have made my choice and I would honor it and do without if need be.
Opening morning rolled around and it dawned with a light fog and cool temps but the wind was nearly still. The moist air made for quiet movement but I still shivered in the damp coolness. My .30-06 was ready and loaded with Nosler partitions. One is not required to wear orange in Vermont but I opted to wear it, as safety is important. A traditional hunting kit here would consist of a plaid outfit purchased from Johnson Woolen Mills located in Johnson, Vermont.
If you were driving down the roads, it would be a common sight to see hunters walking the roads in their Johnson plaids with their rifles shouldered coming or going from the field. Town folk gather in the numerous country stores to discuss the days’ hunt over a mug of hot Green Mountain Coffee or hot chocolate and a sandwich. Here, in the east, it is what a buck weight is that gets the prize, not his antler point count.
So with the opening morning still very young I was over looking the now verdant fields I prepared in the past summer. I saw movement, which caught my attention right away, a deer and it was a buck, I could clearly see the mahogany stained antlers from my position 100-yards away. His path took him right across the middle of the field. I took a steady rest and fired once, cycling a fresh round into the old Mauser as habit. The one shot was all that was necessary; I saw the buck hump up and trot off to the tree line.
