He almost didn’t go hunting after school Friday. But family tradition, enough time until sunset and a desire to break his two-year dry spell pushed Blake Blanchette, 14, into the woods.
In 2021, he had shot a six-point buck in the rain, the weather much like on his Friday hunt this year, Blake said. He got his first deer when he was 9 years old.
Blake Blanchette of Lebanon was one of hundreds of kids who took to the woods and fields in pursuit of deer during Maine’s first two-day youth hunt on Friday and Saturday. Preliminary numbers from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife showed Monday that 1,039 kids had successful hunts.
On Friday afternoon, Blake and his father Adam Blanchette slowly walked the trail toward the family’s tree stand, where they could see the orange worn by friends who were sitting directly under the stand. Although the friends offered to leave, Adam Blanchette told them to stay and he and his son went up a trail where they had jumped a big buck last year but missed the shot.
Blake fell asleep under a tree. His dad quietly woke him a few minutes after 5 p.m. and whispered, “Big buck,” he said. Blake slowly turned and grabbed his gun, a 7mm-08 Remington. He could see part of the deer but waited until the buck finally brought its head up and stared toward him and his father, Blake said.
Blake shot the deer in the neck, but his gun jammed on his second shot and his dad had to unjam it before Blake could kill the buck.
“When that buck turned and looked at us, I said it looked like a picture out of a postcard or magazine. Just staring at us with that giant rack. It was cool how he stared at us. Gorgeous,” Adam Blanchette said.
The 10-point buck officially weighed 197 pounds.
Blake called his mother April Blanchette after he shot the deer and she and his older brother Brayden, 17, came to help.
Brayden carried their mom through the swamp so she wouldn’t get her feet wet, he said. It was a real family moment, Blake said. Besides, his mom knew his dad wouldn’t take the good pictures, so she had to come, he said.
Brayden helped Blake drag his deer out of the woods.
Watching his big brother hunt with their father is what inspired him to take up hunting, Blake said. Brayden took part in the youth hunt in the past, but he is aged out of the program and hunts on his own now.
Hunting is a family tradition. The family has a hunting camp in Ebeemee Township, north of Brownville. Both boys have lifetime licenses their parents purchased for them when they were very young. April doesn’t hunt, but she took the hunter safety course and got her license so that she could accompany her children when Adam was not around.
Blake’s grandfather is a retired taxidermist and will mount the deer head for the young hunter.
Adam Blanchette has had his special moments while hunting too. Last November, he found two huge bucks with horns locked. One was dead and the nine-point buck was struggling to get free. Blanchette shot the nine-pointer.
The Blanchettes liked the expanded youth hunt, saying it gave kids a chance to get a deer before the animals were spooked by everyone shooting at them.
What was the most special moment in Blake’s hunt?
“Right after I took the first shot, and me and my dad stood up and hugged each other and screamed. It was the best moment,” he said.
