Over the past month and a half, Ashfield’s Drew Haerer spent time in the woods hunting along an old rock wall on his family’s land that once served to keep cattle in a pasture.
Haerer’s time walking along the rock wall began around Oct. 15, the day that archery season opened to deer hunters in the western and central parts of the state. During his time with bow in hand, Haerer hadn’t seen much of anything, although he knew there was a big buck around after spotting it on his trail camera chasing does several times.
Monday proved to be a different story, however, as Haerer had better luck finding his deer on Day 1 of the Massachusetts shotgun deer hunting season. Haerer was one of several hunters who stopped into the checking station at Gould’s Sugarhouse during the two hours I spent at the station with co-worker Jeff Lajoie.
Gould’s is the oldest checking station in the state, opening back in the 1960s, and Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife biologist Dave Fuller has been checking deer at the site for well over a decade. Gould’s will be open through the end of the day Saturday, but does not check deer on Week 2 of the season. Other area checking stations are Bitzer Hatchery in Montague, the Sunderland Hatchery, Grrr Gear in Orange and Overwatch Outpost in Charlemont. Each site has a biologist on hand to collect data during the first week. Many of the sites will also be open during the second week of the two-week season, but hunters can now check deer online during Week 2.
With the luck he had during bow season, Haerer may have been a bit surprised to hear some commotion coming through some pine trees. He waited to see what it was and sure enough it was the large buck he had seen in pictures from his camera. The buck spotted him, so he didn’t have too much time to waste, but he managed to drop the 129-pound, 9-point buck.
“I would have liked a better shot but he had seen me,” Haerer said.
Haerer stopped into the station along with his family. When he got out of the truck, I recognized him but wasn’t sure from where. As I introduced myself, he also admitted to recognizing me from somewhere. It suddenly donned on him that his family and mine both take our children to the same “Water Wonders” swim class.
“You’re used to seeing me with my shirt off,” he quipped.
He was fully layered for the elements on Monday, which included chilly but not freezing temperatures, as well as plenty of fog and drizzle. Haerer remarked that it was nice to see some green on the ground, since where he lives in Ashfield still has several inches of snow. He arrived with his family, which included 2½-year-old son Cullen, and 6-month baby girl Petra, as well as wife Mary May (Pratt) Haerer, who is somewhat of a hunting legend in these parts.
According to Mary May, in 2005 she shot a 195-pound, 15-point buck when she was 17-years-old, which I was told was a record by a female hunter in the state. It was also the first deer she ever shot. She said that at that time she decided to name the dear Talisman, due to the luck she felt she had to shoot it. She said that it was her way of paying homage to the beautiful creatures, and was a way to cope with taking an animal’s life. Hunting is important to the family, which base their diet off venison as well as vegetables grown on their family farm. Mary May said that ever since that first deer, she has continued to name the deer her and her husband have shot, the names based upon the story of the hunt. There was the “Christmas Buck” and the “Frost Buck,” and this year’s buck was yet to be named. I suggested the “Stone Buck.” We shall see.
When I arrived at Gould’s just past noon I spotted Jason Deane chatting with Fuller, as two people in white suits combed through the 107-pound, 3-point buck Deane had in the back of his truck. Deane, part of the family that owns and operates Foster’s Supermarket in Greenfield, took the day off from his usual trip to the market in Boston. By 7:15 a.m., Deane had what he called “a perfect Vermont deer.”
As Deane left, Russell Rosinski of Vernon, Vt. pulled in and backed up to the scale where he unloaded his 104-pound, 2-point buck. Rosinski said that while it was no trophy buck, what made his hunt special was that the buck initially took off on him when he didn’t have an initial shot, forcing him to put his tracking skills to use. Rosinski managed to track the buck down and got into a more favorable position to get a shot off.
When he left, I spoke to Nolan Fernandez, one of the two people in white suits who looked like they might have been extras in “Breaking Bad.” Fernandez works for the UMass Laboratory of Medical Zoology and is tasked with studying ticks. He and his volunteer collected ticks off many of the deer checked into Gould’s on Monday. The Great Barrington native said that his lab had three main goals. The first was to collect as many engorged female ticks as possible in order to take them back to the lab and hatch baby ticks, which would give the lab a constant supply to study. The duo was also going to be testing the ticks for pathogens, as well as collecting blood samples from the deer to check them for infections. Third, but certainly not least, the scientists were looking to identify Longhorn ticks, which are invasive species of ticks that come from Asia and first appeared in New Jersey, but have since popped up in many other states including New Hampshire. What makes the Longhorn ticks particularly nasty is that not only do they carry the same diseases as deer ticks, they are also asexual, which means the females do not need a male to reproduce. Fernandez believed that he had in fact found Longhorn ticks, and if correct, he will contact the USDA to confirm it.
The next truck to pull into the lot had an Edge Hill Golf Course sticker on the back window and belonged to Mark Graves, who owns the golf course in Ashfield. He was driving friend Michael Douglas of Danville, N.H., who brought in a 116-pound, 4½-year-old doe. Douglas got into a tree stand by 7 a.m. on Monday and when the hunting party did not see anything, Graves suggested that Douglas climb down and move into position at an opening near a stone wall on the property where they were hunting. The two men believed they were pushing deer in the direction of another member of their party, but suddenly Douglas said he was facing the nice-looking doe from 35 yards out.
“She just looked at more for three or four minutes,” he said.
Before the men left, another truck pulled up. Out jumped 22-year-old Josh Hall, who I recognized from his days playing football at Franklin County Technical School. Hall actually won the Turkey Day MVP award in 2014. On Monday, the Colrain resident who has been hunting since he was 15, was checking a small doe into Gould’s. He said that he saw a group of seven deer but he could not get a clean shot. He came upon the group again and managed to shoot what he said was the smallest of the bunch.
Next up was Chip Woodruff of Guilford, Vt., who was checking a 96-pound, 2-point buck while hunting with Paul Harvey of Putney, Vt. Woodruff said that while in the woods a fisher cat came upon them and they saw a total of 14 deer. Woodruff spotted his buck chasing a doe when he put it down.
The final person in was Dave Thibault of Conway, who only saw one deer on Monday. Thibault said he was about ready to call it a day and head home to do chores when a 145-pound, 4-point buck came up to him.
Thibault put the buck down and proceeded to drag it out of the woods.
No word as to whether gutting and extracting the deer was better than vacuuming and doing the dishes.
It was a good day for local hunters, with 91 deer checked into the five area stations. Keep checking back on the sports pages for all the reported checks of the next two weeks.
Jason Butynski is a Greenfield native and Recorder Sports Editor. His email address is jbutynski@recorder.com.