Maine is one of the many states in the U.S. that permits the taking of only one whitetail deer except in a very limited number of circumstances such as being specially drawn in a lottery system for a bonus permit for example.

With that said I have a hypothetical ethical hunting challenge scenario to present you with in the hope that you will search your own heart to determine what you would feel about the situation, what actions you might take if you were to find yourself in this or a similar situation and in the end to just stimulate some thought in the minds of hunters on the issues of hunting ethics.

The Scenario

You have been hunting for several days with a few sightings but no clear shot opportunity thus far.  You were lucky enough to secure some time off from your job to hunt this year but that time is dwindling down.  Additionally you travel a significant distance to and from your hunting location which carries an additional expense for you and is of course a regular issue with your spouse each time you come home empty handed.  Needless to say you’re feeling some pressure to tag out.

So on this particular day you are on stand in the woods.  It is around 23 degrees Fahrenheit and you have been on site for about two hours fighting off cold feet and really glad you wore that extra layer of insulated clothing you got for your birthday last year.  The sun has risen above the horizon a while ago and from time to time appears through the branches of the mixed hardwood forest and it’s scattered islands of spruce breaking up the terrain.

You suddenly hear some crunching in the distance and begin focusing in the direction you think you heard it, approximately your 2:00 direction.  You peer between the trunks and branches of the trees and spot some movement.  A few seconds later you make out the figure of a deer walking straight towards you!  It clearly has not seen you as it walks slowly and seemingly without any concerns about it’s surroundings.  It is about 100 yards away from you and you cannot tell if there are antlers or not at this point.  Good thing you got an any-deer permit this year!

At about 50 yards away it is still heading straight towards you as it disappears and then reappears traveling through the forest maze.  You soon see what you believe are antlers that extend beyond the ears on either side of the deer’s head.  They appear to be quite thin with little mass but a nice wide spread just the same.  You were hoping to see a buck and your heart begins to beat just a little heavier in your chest as you realize this bruiser is probably in the 180 to 200 + pound range..  If only this buck would present a clean broadside shot opportunity!

At about 20 yards the buck stops with it’s head hidden behind a clump of trees sniffing the air.  Recognizing this as perhaps your best and last opportunity to raise your rifle into shooting position you do so very slowly, your heart beating harder and faster with every passing second.  You hold this position waiting and hoping the buck steps out from behind the trees giving you that desired broadside heart/lung shot your father taught you to execute for a quick kill.  It seems like forever as you continue to wait.

Finally this buck steps to it’s left (your right) out from behind the clump of trees giving you a clear shot just behind that front shoulder!  You take careful aim confident in your rifle and your own skill for this very close 20 yard shot.  You release the safety.  You slowly pull the trigger.

BANG!

The buck, rather than bound off as you would expect from a miss, lowers it’s head and body and runs hard to your right.  It is running incredibly fast zipping past the heavy forest growth way too fast to allow a follow up shot.  You notice it is running low and hard and you feel confident you hit this majestic creature as you desperately watch it hoping to see it drop.

It doesn’t drop.  It continues to run and quickly disappears from your sight as you hear it crashing through the trees beyond your vision.  That’s ok you tell yourself.  It should be easy enough to track with such a solid hit to it’s vital area.  You wait a minute or so sitting still resisting the urge to rush right out in search of your prey.

After a minute or so you walk over to the spot the deer was in when you fired.  You search the ground and the surrounding branches, leaves and brush for blood, hair or any other sign of a successful hit.  You don’t see any.

You see the tracks of the deer and the aggressive and abrupt tearing up of the earth when it bolted.  You start to follow those tracks thinking you will see blood at any moment.

You follow the buck’s path for 10 then 20 yards.  Still no sign of blood.  30 yards, then 50 yards and still no sign of blood.

The tracks soon begin to criss cross other tracks as this is a heavily traveled area for the local deer population.  You do your best to stay on your deer’s unique trail but after several crossings with other tracks you feel uncertain as to whether you are looking at your deer’s track or one of the many others that have mingled with it going in every direction.

And you still see no sign of a successful hit.

The thought begins to set in that maybe you missed this deer.  At 20 yards you may have missed this big buck?  You took such careful aim.  You didn’t rush the shot.  You feel you did everything right.  It even ran like it had been hit.  But where is the sign?

You start to feel a combination of disgust and embarrassment.  The evidence seems to support a miss but you were sure you hit it.  But the evidence seems so clear.  You don’t want to believe it but you eventually come to the conclusion that you must have missed it.

Angry and disgusted with yourself you end up leaving the woods early starting the long disgusted drive home.

Now, our scenario isn’t quite over yet folks although I hope you are already thinking about the presented series of events.  Now hold on to your hats …..

The following day you are home after spending the last 24 hrs stewing over your apparent misfortune, self-doubt, etc.  You receive a call from a friend or family member.  They ask you if you shot a buck the day before!

It seems a fellow hunter found sometime after you left the woods a nice buck a few hundred yards from the very spot you were at yesterday.  It was suspected that you might be the shooter but no one that morning knew how to contact you as you had left early and in an on the spot decision one of the hunters, a friend or family member, decided it better to tag the buck than to leave it for the coyotes so that is what they did.

Didn’t expect that one did you!

Now in this hypothetical challenge I ask you to search yourself to determine what you would do in the face of this fictional situation.

Would you demand that the buck you shot be turned over to you?

Would you continue your hunting season as if you had never shot the deer?

Would you consider your season as ended?

Would you consider your killing of this deer the literal completion of your circle of life and death for this year or would you consider that circle incomplete and unfulfilled in spite of being presented with and, with your pulling of the trigger, your acceptance of this deer’s gift to you?

Would you quit hunting altogether in disgust?

Would you seek further skill training in the area of tracking your prey?

Would you feel guilty for the event the way it played out?

Would you feel at peace knowing the animal’s life was in the end not wasted in spite of your failure to locate it?

How would a series of events such as this impact your future hunts?

Would you feel you did all you reasonably could have done under the circumstances?

Would you react in some other way?

Would you not react at all to the situation?

I invite you to share your thoughts on how you would feel or react to this type of situation.  For those who do not feel comfortable sharing your responses publicly I hope you have your own internal debate to better assess your own ethical or moral reaction.

Maybe in our self examinations we will all become better and more responsible hunters.

May your hunt be blessed.

Jeff Cash

Do you take joy in little or even momentary experiences while hunting?  Maybe brief moments that really have nothing to do with the hunt itself?  This morning I had just such a moment.

After completing my drive to Waldo County I was standing outside my truck donning my outer clothing, performing my final spray down of my clothing and equipment and thinking through my thoughts of the day’s coming hunt.

As I finished up what I was doing around 5:45 AM, I glanced up in the sky to see how overcast the morning might be and in the dark early morning sky I could see a crisp and clear slim crescent moon looking back at me.

In that very moment while looking at the moon I saw a shooting star fly across my vision of the lunar lit sky.  The heavenly object burned out as fast as it appeared lasting only a split second but in that moment it provided me with an intensely uplifting and energizing feeling.  As I left my truck and began walking off into the Maine Woods I had a big old downeast smile on my face, an outward sign of the spiritual joy I was experiencing inside.  I found myself speaking prayers of thanks immediately as I walked off into the still darkness of the forest.

How strange it might seem to someone without a spiritual connection to the natural world to try to understand the effect that this momentary sighting at the start of my hunt had on my spirit and my emotional state.

All I can say is that this one small gift shared with me this morning left me feeling a sense of satisfaction even before the morning’s hunt had started that could not be overcome by the fact I saw no deer in the four & a half hours I spent in the woods.

May nature’s joy touch your life in unexpected and uplifting ways.

Jeff Cash

How do you gauge a successful hunt?  Is it based upon an enjoyable experience?  Is it based upon seeing wildlife?  Does it require coming home with your prey in the back of your truck?  The answer to this question is likely different depending on the individual.  I have my own standards for successful hunting experience and I present them to you today for your own review and consideration.

First of all, what is hunting?  At it’s most basic form hunting  is the active search for and taking of prey for use and/or consumption of that prey by an individual or group.  This definition illustrates three basic elements involved.  These are searching for, taking of and the utilization of your prey.  Again this is a very basic summary but it serves our purpose and discussion today very well.

For me a truly successful hunt requires that I have sought out, brought down and taken home my prey which for me is the whitetail deer.  That is the goal of preparing for and completing the sacred circle of life and death that is hunting.  Without the death it is frankly an open and incomplete circle.  The death and utilization or honoring of the life that was taken is the culmination of the hunting experience for me.

Now this is not to say that a hunt that does not result in venison in my freezer is not a satisfying, fulfilling, positive or enriching experience.  Quite the contrary as every opportunity I have to enter the Maine woods, to experience the solitude, the raw recharging natural energy of the land, the encounters with wildlife of all types, the opportunity to disappear into the natural environment and to experience the best part of my own higher self at the same moment …. these are the satisfying experiences of the hunt that I cherish every time I hunt.

So while every hunting experience I have is a totally Satisfying hunt allowing me to grow and achieve spiritual, physical and emotional enrichment, the achievement of taking my prey and utilizing and honoring it’s gift to me is what provides me with the experience of a Successful hunt and the completion of the circle and the relationship between the hunter and the hunted.

So this issue of a Successful Hunt vs a Satisfying Hunt is a personal view that I share with you today, a part of my own hunting philosophy and spirituality.  It embodies the natural cycles and circles of nature and those of my own spirit.

What makes a hunt successful for you?  What makes a hunt satisfying to you?

I wish you both satisfaction and success in your hunt.

Jeff Cash

Anyone who has spent significant time hunting at one time or another has found themselves facing a situation in which they need to make a decision to either shoot or don’t shoot.  I had an interesting situation yesterday morning which I believe illustrates this situation pretty well and I thought it would be a great idea to share it with you in the hope that it will make you think about the pertinent  issues, your own emotions, self control and your ability to weigh out safety vs your drive to shoot your prey.

Yesterday morning the sky was somewhat overcast as some overnight rain showers had just ended minutes before I entered the woods.  I arrived at my ground stand (my rock) a few minutes before legal hunting and sat there patiently waiting out the clock.  The woods around me were still dark enough that I could make out trees and other known natural features within 15 feet or so but beyond that everything was shadow, darkness and obscurity.

At legal hunting time, 5:48 AM on this given morning, I prayed and then loaded my rifle.  The lighting was not much better and so I continued to sit to wait out the coming sun.

Within just a couple minutes I heard that old familiar sound of a trotting deer coming to a near stop and then slow walking.  I couldn’t see a thing however due to the lack of light.

Suddenly in front of my position at a range of what I would estimate to be approximately 15 yards I could see a dark form moving to the right.  It then turned around facing left and stopped.  Aside from seeing a rough dark mass within the framework of a very dark forest I could make out no details aside from catching an occasional flicker of what I believed to be a white tail.  Not wanting to spook whatever was right in front of me I sat still hoping to wait it out until more light came to improve my vision.

The object began walking again heading to my left.  Then a second mass followed behind the first, then another and then another!  As each passed I could make out a flickering white tail at the hind end of each mass.  I was pretty certain that I had a group of whitetail in my immediate presence but without clear vision of them I could do nothing but wait and hope the light would come before the deer left the area.

Well off to my left (generally west of my position) approximately 35 or 40 yards away I noticed some patches between trees where the background was somewhat lighter and offered a slightly improved view.  I noticed one, then another of the deer forms passing through that slight clearing and moving around to my rear.  Details were not clear to my eyes although I could make out with much more certainty the outline of each deer’s main body mass as they passed by one by one.  I began experimenting with my rifle’s open sights trying to determine if I could make out the little white dot of my front sight and then if I could position it in what at that moment seemed a very tiny rear sight groove.  I was having difficulty even making out the iron sights in the dim light.

Each of the deer passed by the opening to my left until the last one came to it.  This one had a much larger body size and although I could not make out any details of the head I presumed that this was either a good sized buck or a very large doe.  It stood there perfectly broadside to me in the dim light at approximately 35 yards in legal hunting hours.

Would you make that shot?  Would you let them pass and hope they would return?  Would you initiate a stalk and try to track them down in the improving light in the hope of getting a clear shot in proper and safer light conditions?  Would you just sit tight and do nothing?  Or would you try to take the shot?

I’m not a hunter safety instructor and I’m not here to preach about safety issues.  I will say however that I sat tight and came home without venison or any further sightings throughout the morning.  Right or wrong that is what I chose to do.

I hope the scenario I found myself in yesterday morning will cause you to pause and maybe question yourself and reason through in your own heart and mind what you would do in that or a similar situation.

Thank you for reading.  I wish you safety and spiritual growth in your hunt.

Jeff Cash

If you hunt the same spot or location year after year that spot can come to take on a very special and personal connection.  If you have a special hunting spot you are certainly not alone.

My Rock in the Maine Woods. Photo by Jeff Cash

For me, my special hunting spot is my rock.  I call it my rock because frankly it is even referred to by some of the other hunters familiar to the area as Jeff’s Rock.  This rock is where I sat when I shot my first deer.  This rock is where I have shot most of the many deer I have taken in the last 20 years.  This rock is where I return to year after year, where I have experienced intense personal growth, the excitement of “buck fever”, the disappointment of missed opportunities, some incredible close interaction with wildlife, and the spiritual high that for me is what hunting is all about at it’s core.

While my rock is one of two ground locations that I hunt from within the same half mile or so of woods, I will always have a very special appreciation and connection to this rock.  To me it is quite literally one of my great points of connection to the land and to my life experience as a hunter.

Do you have a special hunting location that you feel a strong personal connection to?

Jeff Cash

Today was the opening day of open firearms season for whitetail deer here in Maine for Maine residents.  Non-residents start the season on Monday.  With a lot of shared concerns for the health and vitality of the Maine deer herd having been discussed and bantered about over the last year or so I started this season with a great deal of uncertainty and in the face of the doom and gloom,  I have held onto hope for the whitetail in Maine.  If today is any example my hope will be fulfilled.

I awoke this morning at 3:30 AM remarkably more with it than I would normally be at that hour.  The excitement of the start of my annual celebration clearly had me energized from the very beginning.  By 4:40 I was showered, geared up and on the road to start my hour plus drive to my hunting grounds.

About 15 minutes into my drive I passed a small doe partially hidden in the darkness along the side of the road.  This is good sign I remember telling myself.

Arriving where I typically park my truck I quickly noticed that I was the first of what I anticipated being a large showing of hunters in that area.  I hunt state owned public land and with the ever increasing land grab here in Maine by wealthy, mostly non-resident, anti-hunters, available land to hunt on has been shrinking up for the last several decades.  As a result this area and others like it tend to draw a good deal of hunting pressure, at least on the weekends.

A quick spray down of my outer clothing and gear and I was heading off into the woods hoping to reach my favorite hunting rock and to be in position and ready to go by legal hunting which on this morning was 6:42 AM.  With an overcast sky the woods were a little darker than normal so I took along my handy mini-mag.  I’m glad I did.

I soon found that the previous year had created some significant changes to the appearance of the area with many fresh blow downs and some significant growth of what had been very short evergreens that skirted and hid some of the pathway I take to get to my rock.  This coupled with the unusually dense darkness made the hike in a little more challenging than normal.

By 6:30 or so I arrived in the area of my rock and began setting out my scent equipment.  With that done I then tried to spot my rock.  I probably spent 15 minutes walking all over that area even with the assistance of my mini-mag and could not find my rock!  I soon spotted another faint light approaching and made a point to keep my mini-mag on so this fella would know I was there.  He came upon where I was standing and after a brief friendly exchange and sharing the general area we would both be for safety he continued on his way.  With the coming legal hunting time and my desire to get into position and remain still I chose a substantial blow down and planted myself there where I could see in two directions pretty well.  I wondered if someone had come in and removed my favorite rock as I settled in and began focusing on my movement and my breathing.  After a time check to confirm it was legal to load up I said a quick prayer and loaded my rifle.

About 15 minutes later I heard some cracking from behind me and spotted my uncle walking in.  It was about this time that I also finally spotted my rock.  It’s funny how the landscape in these woods can play tricks with your eyes.  The area I watch over is a slight downward slope heading away but it is comprised of many many small mounded knolls from which the trees and other vegetation spring forth.  I was ironically only about 30 feet from my rock and had not been able to spot it in the darkness.  Humbled and somewhat embarrassed I greeted my uncle who spoke with me for a minute or two before heading on to his traditional hunting spot several hundred yards beyond my own.  I then quietly relocated to my rock.  Home sweet home.

The next couple hours were pretty uneventful except for hearing a series of four quick shots fairly close but in a direction other than what the other gentleman had headed towards.  I did have some fun watching a fluffy tailed red squirrel digging in the fallen oak leaves for food as he scampered around just a few feet away apparently without any awareness of my presence.

Around 8:30 I heard some very faint crunching from behind me to my right.  I slowly turned to look in that direction and immediately spotted two small deer approaching my location.  I say small as the one in front I estimated to be around 90 to 100 pounds dressed weight and the second one perhaps in the 120 or 130 pound range.  The smaller of the two continued towards my rock turning to parallel me about 15 feet away.  It looked right at me and then continued walking.  The second came up to the same spot poking her head just around a tree and looked straight at me.  This one clearly saw me but must not have known what I was as she began a series of head movements up and down attempting to make me move I expect so she could better identify what she was looking at.  When I didn’t react to her prompts she continued on as well.  Debating in my mind whether or not I would try to shoot this second doe, as I have an any-deer permit again this year, I shifted, turning so as to position my Remington Model 8 in a “ready” position.  The bigger of the two doe unfortunately spotted this move on my part and bounded off into the protection of the thick stuff with the little one in tow.

I spent the next several minutes scanning the area from which the two does had come hoping that a buck would appear on their trail but no such luck.  No big surprise there considering the high ratio of does to bucks in this area of the state along with the limited number of buck sightings on my part that seem to corroborate that information.

I did see another deer that was nearly completely concealed behind a wall of evergreens that made it difficult to identify let alone to get a clear shot at.  There was no sound and with it’s dark grayish coat it appeared almost ghostly as it slowly passed by and disappeared from my view completely.

By 10:00 my uncle wandered back by on his way out so I gathered my things and walked out with him.  He reported also seeing two doe but indicated they were somewhat larger than the two I had seen.

So, with the first day of my new spiritual year nearing it’s completion I am inspired by my observation of more deer in this one day than I saw all of last year’s season.  I am enriched by the interaction with the wildlife that presented themselves to me today and I am thankful for the opportunity.  I may not have come home with venison today but I certainly came home with a reassurance for the health of the whitetail herd here in Maine, a powerful appreciation for the hunt and a charged anticipation for next week when I will get the opportunity to continue that celebration.

Jeff Cash

CALLING ELK BOW CLOSE
Whether hunting public or private land, the fundamentals of calling elk remain the same.  By Michael Waddell

We heard the bull bugle at first light and snuck into his core area. When I hit a lick on my bugle, the bull sim­ply came unglued and stormed our position like a tank, crashing through brush and small lodgepole pines like they were match­sticks. Before we could react he was in our lap and we were pinned down, myself hiding behind a camera, too afraid to even touch the tripod for fear of my shaking hands would run the footage. All I could see of my partner wedged against a stunted pine was the tip of his undrawn arrow shaking uncontrollably on the rest. Before a shot presented itself, the bull smelled a rat and disappeared as quickly as he arrived. While this experience didn’t result in a dead elk, it did hopelessly addict me to calling them.

It seems that in all walks of life, be it the animal kingdom or humans, communication is a key ingredient for all social interac­tion. However not all living things communicate to the same degree. If you ask my wife, I am sure she will tell you I lack in the communication department, in fact I am sure she believes I don’t listen to her at all, but when it comes to communicating with animals I can barely shut up. Of all the animals I love to communicate with elk rate right at the top.

By nature elk are very vocal. The uninitiated often simply think of bulls bugling, but cows, calves and bulls make all sorts of noises year around. If you encounter a larger herd of elk while you might not hear a thing from a distance, if you get close you will hear lots of subtle vocalization. Most of the time these are sounds of contentment, but depending on what’s happening the vocalization reflects it. Elk can convey contentment, danger, curiosity, or a cow in heat. Bulls for instance only bugle primar­ily in the rut, but they also communicate to establish a pecking order. After spending a considerable amount of time chasing the mighty wapiti, I’m convinced every elk in the herd knows each other by sound alone. This happens with the cows as well as the bulls and based on my evaluation somewhere in this mix is the deadly secret to calling elk archery-close.

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

It seems that the more vocal a herd the better the odds are for success at calling them. Some cows call subtle, while others are loud-mouth ladies actively looking for a date. By listening it gives you a better opportunity to imitate the particular tones and intensity of the herd.

By calling we are automatically intruding into the social club without an invitation. The closer we can sound to a known elk, and match that intensity the better the odds are of filling a tag. Even though we may sound like an outsider to the herd, luckily for us, love crazed bulls are not looking to be intimate with just one or two cows they are looking for all the love of every cow in the world, so taking advantage of their sexual frustrations and promiscuity is what we aim to do.

It doesn’t take a world champion elk caller to trick bulls within range. By simply paying attention to the herd and under­standing simple elk rhythm, tone and more important volume when calling, a hunter can depend on an elk call to be a valuable asset to dulling broadheads.

Public Versus Private Land

Since I started hunting elk 16 years ago, on private as well as public ground, I have realize that comparing these two  different types of ground are like comparing night and day and it is all about the amount of pressure each receives. Generally speaking private ground bulls are way easier to call than public ground animals, but this is not always the case. Some private land does get a lot of pressure, which can make for some pretty tough calling duels with elk that can serve you up a humble pie every time you bust out a call. While conversely some public land either through sheer remoteness or hard-to-get tags is like calling the best private land in the nation.

Hunting un-touched land and cow calling to bulls that have never heard a Hoochie Mamma would obviously be nice and it wouldn’t take long work­ing over these uneducated elk to start feeling like an elk calling pro only to be deflated the first time we went to the national forest and mixed it up with bulls so well-known by local hunters that they have knick names. However, regardless of where you hunt the basics of calling remain the same.

Start with mastering the cow call and all its various inflections. Your basic reed type calls are the easiest to learn as well as get proficient with. You will find two kinds; both are bite down reed-type of calls, one being enclosed and the other having an open reed or reeds. These calls make a very realistic sound and before your wife can run you out of the house you will master the basics.

I rely heavily on the cow call and think most of the time hunters are better off sticking with it over a bugle no matter where he is hunting. But learning how to make a basic bugle is important, especially for locating bulls at a distance before getting close and working him with your cow call. In addition, sometimes it is the bugle that finally provokes a dominant bull to commit, especially during the early season when bulls are still sorting out their peckin’ order.

Earning Your Public Ground PhD

Lets face it, unless you have deep pockets much of the private ground in the West is pretty much off limits, so you have to learn to hunt public land. This is not a bad thing as public ground comprises millions upon millions of acres across the West and happens to have some of the biggest bulls found anywhere. While it can be tougher than private, once you learn how to hunt it you won’t be disappointed. Over the years, one of my favorite places to hunt is the Gila National Forest, in New Mexico, and even though this is a trophy area tags are fairly obtainable through application.

In the Gila, the trophy potential is off the chart, sporting some of the biggest bulls in the country, but just because the big ones live there doesn’t mean that you automatically make one call and they come running to get in the back of your truck. These mature jokers have a PhD in avoiding hunters.

Over the last six years I have hunted this area religiously and have had the op­portunity to shoot some nice bulls all by using elk calls as an aid to close the coffin.

Notice I said, “as an aid”, meaning the call was just one thing in a bag of tricks to help smoke these monarchs. My biggest bull that came out of the Gila was a 378 P&Y bull that had earned the name Professor because he always seemed to take you to school when you applied too much pressure. However, this bull was vocal and would bugle his butt off. He also seemed to be fairly easy to find, not only by his gnarly, raspy bugle that set him apart, but frequently he could be found early in the morning in a large meadow just south of a particular water hole that always attracted a large herd.

The Professor was not the only bull in the area that had large headgear, but it was The Professor that seemed to call the shots. I had caught this bull in the open several times, but calling seemed to really make him uneasy when you were in close. The Professor however would bugle hard to distant cow calls and seem to be whole heartedly interested, but had a sixth sense when you moved in for the attack.

Finally we decided to have a caller stay behind as we worked him coming off the meadow at daybreak. By doing this we could keep him interested and bugling as we stalked in closer. The caller always was no closer than 80 yards behind me. While the caller kept him occupied, I slid within 50 yards and gave him a G5 Tekan right behind the shoulder. This hunt was really a stalk, but the call and caller had a big part to do with his demise. Once we started quartering the bull up, we found a piece of an old arrow lodged just below the backstraps, so obviously someone had him in close before and gave the Prof and education, which explained why he was so wary.

The Double Team

As this old bull showed, hunting with a partner can work extremely well. It not only puts the hunter out in front of the call, but it gives the hunter a chance to move and adjust the angle based on where the bull might be ap­proaching. Likewise, the caller has the flexibility to move as well and apply a lot of different calling techniques.

The double team plan worked again on another hunt. It had been hot and the bulls were only bugling early and late. As soon as the sun would rise the elk woods would turn in to a ghost town.

Just after daybreak on the fourth day of our hunt we heard this bull bugle. He hit it only two times, both very weak and he sounded like the littlest rag horn in the land but with no other game in town we went after him. Getting as close as pos­sible to where we thought the bugle came from I eased up and sat down by a pine stump while my buddy moved back and to my right about 40 yards. Neither of us were very optimistic about our chances. My buddy made one or maybe two very soft cow calls on a two reed diaphragm then he started raking a tree and rolled a few rocks. We sat there for possibly 10 minutes in silence, then out of nowhere appeared a wide 340 inch 6 x 6 coming directly to us, at 25 yards the bull let out a soft chuckle, looked over his surround­ing and kept walking in the direction of where the last rock had been rolled, which led him 16 steps from my pine stump. By now I was at full draw waiting for a broadside shot. When the arrow left my bow, I knew we had killed a call shy monster by keeping it low key and stay­ing patient. Needless to say, I was never convinced by the two times he had bugled earlier that he was a shooter. This was a lesson in itself. Never judge a bugle until you can see what is making the sound.

The most exciting way to bag a bull elk is to get him in close, and the best way to do that is with a call. Confidence in your call is critical, because if you’re insecure about using your call there is a good chance you will spook elk. Have confi­dence in your calling ability and become just another elk in the herd where you are hunting. Find a call that works for you and not what works for some else. Think like an elk and do as elk do. Real­ism, rhythm, and volume control can make the difference between bringin’ them in or running them over the next ridge. And remember its not always about calling, it can be just patiently listening to the sounds around you and applying minimal calls, while practicing good woodsmenship, and stalking skills that could help you put that monster on the back of the truck.

One week from today at this very point in that day I will be home after my first day of hunting the 2009 whitetail open firearms season here in Maine.  This much anticipated event has me spending this day in preparation.  I have been digging out and cleaning my gear that has been stored away for the last year, my hunting clothing has been washed, dried & sealed away in totes, I have made a special trip to my local gun shop for some last minute scents & supply purchases and my mind and spirit are starting to focus more intensely on the joy of the coming hunt.

As a matter of fact I anticipate spending the rest of this week struggling to pay attention to the matters at hand instead of drifting off in day dream to the thought of getting back out to the Maine woods and getting in touch with the more carnivorous side of my inner omnivore.

It’s interesting sometimes to think of how my whole being seems to spring to life at this time of year while that same vibrant and intensely physical side of my spirit seems to go dormant at the other extreme sustained through that dormancy as if by some sort of spiritual battery that is charged again and again each year by the hunt itself.  Just one of many naturally occurring cycles within the circle of the year I suppose.  It seems this cycle however is the one which sets the pace for my life, my personal identity, the one upon which all other cycles in my life seem attuned.

Much like the cycling tides bring food, life and cleansing to the rivers, coves and inlets of our coastline here in Maine, the hunt feeds and refreshes my spirit with the energy it needs to sustain it throughout the year until the next tide comes repeating the same powerful cleansing and invigorating effect year after year.

So like the fisherman whose labors are coordinated and performed in harmony with the tide resulting in a bountiful catch, I prepare this afternoon to start my hunt next week, harmonizing myself with the natural environment, with the whitetail deer that I seek and synchronizing my spirit with all the energies of the forest and of the hunt itself.

That and doing my laundry.

May your hunt be blessed and your spiritual catch bountiful.

Jeff Cash

On this chilly October day this writer is hearing the distinct call of the coming whitetail season here in Maine.  The Maine open firearms season for whitetail deer begins for residents on Saturday October 31st.  Ironically this date is known by many different names by different groups of people throughout history but perhaps it’s oldest known importance to the masses was as a spiritual high day in which the end of the Summer and the harvest season were celebrated, spirits of loved ones and deceased Ancestors were honored and people reflected on their own physical mortality and the nature of change and transformation in the cycle of life and death.  As a man who identifies himself as a Spiritual Hunter this defines pretty well what hunting is all about for me.

This year, just as I did last season, I will be carrying the great Remington Model 8 chambered in .35 Remington.  This particular rifle was handed down through my family starting with my great grandfather until a few years ago when my father handed it down to me.  Last year was the first time I carried this grand firearm since I was a teenager and it served it’s purpose and design perfectly downing my whitetail and allowing me to bring home my annual supply of venison.  This year my Model 8 is 102 years old and if given the opportunity I have every confidence that it will assuredly perform it’s purpose yet again.

I share this information with you to demonstrate just one way in which my hunt is so special to me.  Not only do I hunt using the techniques and skills taught to me by my father but I also will be using the very same rifle that my great grandfather hunted with, that my grandfather hunted with, that my father hunted with and finally that I have also hunted with more than a century later.  In what more grand manner could I celebrate and honor my ancestors than that!  Experiencing that very special connection each year adds greatly to the incredible nature of the activity and the emotional and spiritual connection I cherish more and more as time goes by.

Today, at least for us westerners, October 31st has been socially reduced to a day in which children go out door to door in search of candy as soon as the sun has set exclaiming “Trick or Treat”.  For many people throughout the world it has held much greater importance directly connected to survival, issues of life & death, religious and celebratory practices.  For me that historical and spiritual significance eternally echoes the very nature of hunting and the full spectrum importance of all that it has to offer each of us.

May October 31st bring you more than candy this year and may your hunting season be a blessing to you.

Jeff Cash

Last week I shared an unanticipated life lesson I stumbled across from an unexpected source.  Since then I have been remembering and revisiting in my mind a very powerful experience I had many years ago.  That experience had a lasting affect on me and as it has been stirred up by my writings of late I want to take this opportunity to share it with all of you.

Twenty three years ago, back in October of 1986 after I completed my training with the United States Air Force I took a brief leave for a week or so going home to visit my folks before reporting to England where I would serve for the next three and a half years.  That was a great time for me but the experience I mean to share with you actually happened in transit after my visit home.

You have to remember that this was still in the day of the cold war, of terrorist attacks on U.S. Servicemen stationed internationally such as the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, around the time of the attack on Libya by U.S. F-111 Fighter Bombers stationed in England, of significant paranoia around U.S. Servicemen traveling internationally and a whole host of issues around all of that.  The Air Force had done a great job of scaring all of us new recruits making it clear that if we flew overseas we should do everything in our power to keep from identifying ourselves as Americans and certainly not as American servicemen.

So in October of 1986 I found myself flying out of New York’s JFK Airport heading to England.  I was of course in civilian clothes although the haircut must have surely been an indicator of who and what I was.

I was seated in an aisle seat with an elderly woman seated to my immediate left.  We had not been airborne for much of our five hour flight when this woman turned to me and in a very kind and gentle voice with a clearly foreign dialect asked me if I was an American.  In my mind all sorts of well trained alarms began to go off.  Why was she asking?  Is this old woman a terrorist?  My God, I can’t tell her!!!

So after assessing her demeanor and the situation in whole and in complete contradiction of my training I responded “Yes ma’am I am”.  She nodded in acknowledgment.

A few moments later this same woman turns to me and asks me “Are you serving in the military?”.  Red lights and sirens went off again!  What had I done telling her I was an American?  Stupid, stupid, stupid ….

So again after assessing her very kind and gentle demeanor I responded “Yes ma’am I am”.

Well I had done it.  My nerves were freaking out inside!  My whole mind and body were on alert.  I had no idea what was coming next, whether or not I would ever see my folks or my small home town in Maine ever again.  Why did I do that???  Why did I do that????

Then this white haired woman with kind eyes turned to me again.  She looked me in my eye and told me that she wanted to share a story with me.  She began by telling me that she was born in Czechoslovakia which was even at that time a country controlled by the Soviet Union and secured behind the Iron Curtain.  She described a terrible life controlled by a constant police and military presence, a struggle for survival with little money or food and an utter absence of personal freedoms.  I remember feeling the sorrow in her voice and her words.

She went on to tell me that she and her family decided they would escape from Czechoslovakia in the hope of making their way to America where they knew they would have an opportunity to live a life free from oppression.  She was still a small child at that time.

She described her entire family, her parents and siblings and several others all working to cross the border patrolled by armed military units and attack dogs.  She described watch towers, barbed wire and spotlights.  It was in the midst of all this that she became separated from her family as they split up hoping to more easily cross the border individually or in small numbers to avoid being detected.  She shared her memory of hearing gun shots and yelling after she became separated but exhilaration when she realized that she had made it across safely.

This woman turned away as if to catch her breath.  After a few moments she turned to me again and continued.

She told me at that moment that she never saw any of her family again.

This woman shared how she to that day had no idea if any of her other family had made it out or if they had been killed by the patrols.  She simply knew that she had never seen or heard from them again after splitting up.  She shared her belief that her family anticipated being caught and that they had actually sent her alone in the desperate hope that she might make it.  Had they drawn the attention of the soldiers to ensure her safety?  She did not know.

Then this woman told me that she wanted me to know how much she appreciated America and what it meant to her and her family to have the opportunity to even try to leave their oppressed country to get here where they would have the chance to be free.  She shared with me that in spite of the high price and sacrifices that she and her family had paid for her freedom that it was worth it.  She simply wanted to share her story and her gratitude with me, a U.S. Serviceman, to thank me for what I was doing to preserve the America that she had fled to and the America she had been permitted to enjoy for the remainder of her long life.

I remember having to fight back the emotional response that wanted to come bursting out in response to hearing this woman’s story and her thankfulness.  I remember thanking her several times for sharing her life story with me.

That experience has and will always stick with me as one of the most incredible and blessed moments of my life.  I think back on her and her story regularly and it moves me every time.  That woman and my memory of her help to keep me straight whenever I feel our freedoms threatened or that America might be turning to something other than the bright light that this woman and her family knew it to be.

Whether the issue is related to hunting or the right to keep and bear arms, whether it be about taxes, health care, privacy, religious freedom, basic assurances of safety and security or any other issue that threatens or celebrates what this country and it’s sovereign people were created and envisioned to be, I think of this woman and what freedom meant to her, what freedom cost her,  what she believed it would always be and the fact that she chose to thank me of all people for it all.  I have never been more humbled or blessed by a perfect stranger in my life.

I hope this woman’s story speaks to you too and that you too will remember her when it matters most.

Thank you and I hope you have an incredible and inspiring weekend.

Jeff Cash