Last Saturday, the Mahar Fish ’N Game Club was finally able to have, in a 2020 COVID-19 style, the annual Game Supper. Instead of in a full cafeteria in March, the food was was handed out, with all COVID protocols of masks and social distancing, to ticket-holders who drove to the school Saturday. At mid-day, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., drivers pulled up and were given packed dinners to go. Believe me, it was worth the wait! When heated up in the trusty microwave, the wild game potpourri meat balls, braised venison and moose, and chili were delicious! Also provided was a portion of mashed potatoes, green beans and a great dinner roll, and that was topped off with a big chocolate chip cookie!
The foresight of high school Fish ’N Game Club Advisor Evelyn Cunha and Middle School Advisor Gerry Duguay, who decided to freeze the food when the event was the first casualty of the pandemic in March, resulted in the food not going to waste. The local sportsmen who generously donated the game and fish are to be thanked as everything turned out great, thanks to the hard work by Mahar cafeteria head cook Doug Jillson. He did yeoman’s work both in March and again this week. Advisors Cunha and Duguay were outside Saturday along with club president Sienna Moore, vice president Natalie Aptaker, Evelyn’s husband, Anthony, and Jillson. They handed out the 120 meals ordered by ticket holders.
Although the Game Supper was not held, a number of awards scheduled to be presented that night have been presented. They included the Founder’s Award, which went to club president Sienna Moore, and the Local Conservation Award to Ray Lafond for his help with the club pheasant program. Still to be presented are the State Conservation Award, presented to the Quabbin Visitor Center and the Archery Achievement Award to Kaden Vescovi. Dylan Martinelli was given the Middle School Member of the Year Award by middle school advisor Gerry Dugauy.
Keeping a school club, or any other school activity, alive and productive in 2020 is a huge challenge, as everything in a high school teacher’s life is so much more complicated and demanding. Earlier this fall, the club held a virtual fishing derby with great participation. Winners included: High School Most Fish – Nick Burnett (27 fish), middle school most fish – Haylee Paluk (30 fish), High School Biggest Trout – Zoe Vorce (17 inches) and costume contest winners Zachary Graziano and Haylee Paluk. The Mahar Fish ’N Game Club continues to provide a unique educational opportunity and inspiration to Mahar students interested in the outdoors.
My meal pickup took place a little after noon. About an hour earlier, there were about a half dozen whitetails, all bald, milling around in front of me as I sat on stand. The “pushers” had done their job perfectly and the deer were moving away from the thick cover where they spend the days after feeding nocturnally. With a Massachusetts antlerless deer permit in wallet, this was an excellent chance to put venison in the freezer. It was not a long drag, a couple of the deer were good-sized mature does and there was only one thing preventing me from taking a shot. Also waiting on stand, about a hundred yards to the west, was another member of the hunting party who also held a “doe permit.” She is relatively new to hunting and has not yet taken her first deer. They finally resumed moving nervously along the game trail through the wood lot right to where she was waiting. As they moved, there was very little cover between my position and all those eyes and noses. Something had alarmed them previously and they were still a little “antsy.” When tested, the crosswind seemed to be favorable and the last thing I wanted to do was have one of the deer then see me mounting my shotgun and have the group bolt before she could get a shot off.
My plan was to pick one of the bigger deer in the group, not the lead doe, as that would logically be the one my fellow stander would choose. Raise my gun and shoot that one after the first shot was fired. So, my eyes followed one. Unfortunately, that deer was behind a tree when the shot rang out and the entire group swapped ends and bounded back in the direction they had come from. My target froze for a second but was in motion when my shot was finally fired and that was that. The running deer were in shooting range as they ran but not being sure which deer was which, I did not shoot again. As it turned out, the shooter’s autoloader jammed after the first shot and she was not able to get off another round. After a wait, we carefully examined where the deer had been when the shots were fired, and both were clean misses. That is why they call it hunting!
My evening stands, over areas where deer feeding activity on acorns is obvious, has been fruitless as well. Each afternoon, there is a walk to a stand where ultimately sunset and the end of shooting come right on schedule but no deer to date. In truth, that couple of hours of solitude is something that really does fill a need in this writer’s life. Watching the woods turn to night has always been a special experience. Deer are crepuscular and nocturnal. That means that they are most active at dawn and dusk and carry out most feeding activities during the night-time. There is considerable evidence to indicate that the nocturnal lifestyle increases as hunting season gets underway and when you combine that with a full moon, deer are much less active during the daylight hours right now.
Bow hunters, during their earlier season, also benefit from the rut, which peaks in early November. At that time, bucks are highly active seeking does, who come into heat for only a few days, and the amount of deer activity, both day and night, is high. Does not bred will come into heat again in about 28 days so it is possible to see bucks chasing does right up into January. Food also is a dynamic factor and deer seek high-energy food sources, like mast crops (acorns and beech nuts) and shift to browsing as green succulent vegetation disappears. Deer go from food sources to bedding sites, where they can be undisturbed, lie down and chew their cud, unless something causes them to move. This schedule allows deer to adapt to winter.
We will see what this week’s winter storm brings. Maybe it will inspire me to undertake a tracking adventure, matching wits with an animal which has evolved to be well-prepared to survive predators like me.