11/01/2008
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Staff photo by Thomas Michael Corcoranfrom the Kennebec Journal
Rep. Pingree hears varied proposals for health-care solutions
HALLOWELL Fire that cut communications labeled arson
MONMOUTH Police defended after slim budget rejection
State's schools chief to parley
Wasser will lead newsrooms at KJ, Sentinel and in Portland
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Hockey still in picture for Harrington
Portland boxer to face legend's son
All of today's:
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from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
$1.3 MILLION FOR HEALTHREACH
Families Matter grows to meet special needs
Chellie Pingree listens to ideas on health care reform
FARMINGTON Rain alters plans for 4th of July
District regroups after budget failure
Vote on county budget hits snag
Burnham driver wins checkered flag at 2 tracks on same day
Maine boxer gets unique opportunity
All of today's:
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from the Morning Sentinel
BY TRAVIS BARRETT
Outdoors Writer
It's all about the look.
Butch Cunningham has three sons, two of whom are of hunting age. His oldest son, Chase, headed off with a family friend last Saturday to hunt one tract of land near the family's home in Oakland; Butch took Jared and went off in another direction.
Walking out behind Chase, Butch and Jared jumped a deer standing along a power line. Not long after, they heard a gunshot. Excited as they were -- knowing the only other hunters on the property were part and parcel of their party -- they started running, Butch practically tearing the rifle out of Jared's arms on the way so they could hurry.
What Butch saw when he got to Chase, he'll never forget.
Not ever.
"I'm telling you, you should have seen the look he gave me," Butch said, his voice elevating in both pitch and pace. "I mean, Chase is usually a very calm kid, and he was just freaking out. He was like 'Dad, no offense but I think this one's bigger than anything on your wall!' He's just smiling and bouncing up and down, practically.
"Just the look on their faces when I walked up there..."
And then Butch's words trail off. He's privately reliving what will be a very special moment in his family's history.
For Chase, he's likely going to relive the first three years of his hunting career, too.
Three State of Maine Youth Hunting Days, three deer.
"There's just not enough kids doing this nowadays," Butch said. "There are too many kids sitting around, playing video games and text messaging like crazy. This day is just a great opportunity to get out there."
Perfect timing
Each year, one week before the firearm deer season opens up to the general hunting public at large, Maine's fields and woods stretch their collective arms to welcome our youth hunters for one Saturday.
Only hunters between the ages of 10 and 16, in the presence of a licensed adult, can shoot deer on youth day. Though accompanying the youngsters, adults cannot carry a gun of their own, and the youth hunters may shoot one deer, either a buck or a doe.
"That's the best thing," Butch Cunningham said. "You want kids to see deer. You want them to have that excitement, because that's what keeps them coming back. And that way, too, it's not just about shooting the first thing you see."
But not shooting the first thing you see can be the hardest part.
Just ask 15-year-old Jimmy Weymouth of Pittston, who thought he was going to run out of time last Saturday afternoon.
"I was sitting on the edge of the field, and that deer came out from the other side of the field," Weymouth said. "I kept waiting for it to turn broadside. It probably went on for five minutes. It finally picked up its head like it had seen me, and when it did, I took it."
That five minutes seems like very little now, but when it's after 5:30 in the evening and you're running low on daylight -- and legal shooting time -- the waiting can seem like it's simultaneously taking both a few seconds and a few hours.
"It kept a steady pace right toward me the whole time," Weymouth said of the eight-pointer tipping the scales at over 200 pounds. "Finally it got to within 75 yards, like I said, like it had seen me. I was starting to (worry about time), but I could see that it kept moving at a pretty good pace."
First crack
Jimmy Weymouth may be relatively young, but as an outdoorsman, he's wise beyond his years. He knows that having been out on youth day -- and not, say, the week of Thanksgiving -- likely turned last Saturday's hunt in his favor.
Early in the season, the deer aren't quite as wary.
"It's great to go on youth day, before everyone else has gone out and shot at them," Weymouth said. "Early in the year like this, the deer still haven't even started to rut, really. But come a couple of weeks from now, it will be different. Once they start hearing shots, they'll be a little more careful about moving around."
10-year-old Hunter McCaslin of Winslow can relate. Hunting with his father, Wayne, he found a deer that seemed far more curious and wary.
After heading out to their blind on the edge of a field, they were spotted by the deer that would eventually become their target. It bounded off to the safety of cover.
A few minutes later, it was back in the same field. Again, it spotted the McCaslins and took off.
A third time it returned, when Hunter shot the first deer of his life.
"It started walking right toward us in the field and saw us and took off," Wayne said. "(Hunter) was a little excited. I was pretty darn excited. I'm pretty proud of the little guy for (getting) his first deer."
Up and out
What's the worst part of youth day?
Ask a boy's father, and he'll tell you that it's dragging that little guy out of bed while it's still dark.
"He got up at five, and he really didn't like it all that much," Wayne McCaslin said of his son, Hunter. "But he coped."
Even with the grand prize being a 185-pound buck, Butch Cunningham said his son needed a little coaxing to get out last weekend.
"I told him, 'Chase, you can't shoot one from the living room,'" Butch said.
But Butch Cunningham also revealed that he had no trouble at all leaping out of bed last Saturday, as if youth day were all about him.
"Youth day, I mean I was up at 4:30, I was just so excited for it -- for the boys," he said. "I had to go take my hunter's safety over when I was 21, and we didn't have much time for hunting growing up. Now, I do it so much, I'm out there from the first day of the expanded archery season -- so it's not quite the same when it's just me. But I love going out with the boys."
Because once they are out in the woods, the chance exists that they will one day become one of the more than 200,000 licensed hunters in Maine, part of a $240 million annual boost to the state's economy.
When he was 10, on a youth day, and on his first day of hunting ever, Chase Cunningham shot a buck.
"That first night ever, I remember I told him how fortunate he was that it was like that," Butch said. "As the normal season goes on, you don't see as many deer around. But having the kids go out on youth day, seeing deer and having a chance to shoot one, that's what's going to keep them interested in (hunting).
"If you take a kid fishing, it's the same thing. Not catching anything after so long, ready to go home. You've got to keep it exciting and they'll be hooked on it forever."
Hunter McCaslin may well be hooked.
"Yeah, I was really excited when it happened," he said. "I don't think I can compare it to anything that's ever happened."
Travis Barrett -- 621-5648
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
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