Ah! Rangeley, Here I Come #73

For a number of years, I have been traveling to Western Maine, and in particular, Rangeley to hunt during the first week of deer season. I have to admit that I have been rather successful over the years, but that is not the only reason I go. First, I make the five hour journey to spend time with a good friend who also has served as a most gracious host. I always look forward to spending time with Jack and he always invites other folks to join us which adds to my excitement. Some of us have been going the same week for over ten years.

Now, I want to make it clear that some of the characters that I have come to know in that area shape the town and add to the flavor it has. People like Rooster, Auggie, and the three brothers, Batman, Hoggie and Rum Belly to name a few, grace the local establishments at night and share some very interesting tales. I tend to enjoy that as it serves as my way of catching up on what had happened during the preceding 11 months when I was not there. I quizzed Jack this year about whether or not he knew their real names. With a smile he showed me that he did.

Now the visit started off with me being taught a lesson. Before I left my home, I had neatly packed two plastic gallon sized bags filled with peanuts, cashews, raisins and chocolate bits. I had put them in a bag with a gallon of water and a plastic container of dry roasted peanuts. As I was unpacking at Jack’s camp, and in my haste to get in the woods after I arrived, I left the bag on the picnic table on his deck. Jack and I took off for the woods and upon our return that evening, I noticed something out of the ordinary.  The bag was gone and the top of the picnic table was littered with chocolate bits and raisins. On the deck under the table I spotted my plastic bags and the container with the dry roasted peanuts. The cashews and peanuts in the plastic bags were nowhere in sight. The peanut container had bite and claw marks on it, but the thief had not been able to get into it. And yes, the gallon of water was still where I left it. Ok, being the savvy wise woodsman that I am, I thought about what had just happened and what probably took place. First, I had been taught a lesson. Second, I had just helped a little chipmunk or a squirrel hit the jackpot. Yes, they had carted off all of the cashews and peanuts in the bags and left the raisins and chocolate bits for me as a consolation.  When I called TC to tell her the story, she jokingly remarked that somewhere you will envision a squirrel or chipmunk having his paws up on the couch with a cigar in his mouth and a smile on his face saying, I just hit the lottery and what a winter I am going to have. Now picture this, how many trips did that critter make back and forth from the table to his hideout?

Now, I do have one more thing that happened to me while hunting on this trip and it had actually happened to me once before in Rangeley. While I was in the woods one day, I heard something running towards me. Now envision this, I am on the edge of a chopping with large fir trees to my right and they are very thick so you cannot see inside, and the sound is coming from inside the trees. It kept getting closer and my heart kept beating faster as my mind raced about what it might be. All of a sudden and about 8 feet away popped out a coyote into plain view. When it saw me, it made an immediate left turn to evade me and out of sight it went. I moved to see if I could find it, but to no avail. I stood there looking in that direction to see if I could spot it again, but that did not happen. So, I turned around and started to walk again. I had no more than moved three steps when I heard a noise behind me. I spun around to find the coyote coming up from behind and looking straight at me. Now, I do understand that I am an odd looking character which often bears a second look, but this was too much. I raised my rifle to try to get a shot off, but that coyote was not hanging around and it turned and darted away, not to be seen again.

So, on one hand I had been taught a lesson in thievery and on the other hand I had been taught a lesson in quickness and cunningness. I guess the animals are still better at a lot of things than us so called hunters.

The time came for me to leave and I packed my stuff to go. Hunting had been slow and the temperatures had been in the mid to high 70’s all the time we were there. We had not seen any deer, but I had been taught a very valuable lesson. Never trust a critter with your food and watch out behind you for that four legged animal that wants a second look.  I guess if I were him and saw what I had seen, I might run away as well.