Haul your 15-pointer in the trunk of a Camry? (It can be done)

For the past four weeks, we’ve been eagerly awaiting new entrants in our first BDN Biggest Bucks contest. The final “feature deer” of this year’s contest comes from Amy Prenier, who filled her tag with a beautiful 15-pointer while hunting on Nov. 19 in Cooper.

Amy Prenier shows off her first buck, a 220-pounder that she shot in Cooper. The buck had a 15-point rack. (Photo courtesy of Amy Prenier)

Amy Prenier shows off her first buck, a 220-pounder that she shot in Cooper. The buck had a 15-point rack. (Photo courtesy of Amy Prenier)

And as you’ve likely guessed after reading the headline, Prenier’s method of getting the deer to the tagging station required a bit of fancy packing.

Prenier, a lifelong resident of Lubec, said she grew up hunting a bit, but really caught the hunting bug over the last four years, when she has shared time in the woods with her husband.

“Last year I did learn a valuable lesson,” Prenier said in an email. “Never put your gun down!”

Prenier explained that in 2015, she was sitting in the woods, enjoying a snack, when a four-point buck walked by, just 10 feet away.

“All I could do was look at him because I was eating M&Ms and had my gun out of reach,” she wrote. “That was the only buck I had ever seen, and I was pretty bummed.”

This year, Prenier hoped to change that luck, so she and her husband went hunting every day they weren’t working. Most days, they’d arrive in the woods before sunrise and leave at sunset.

On Nov. 19, the duo headed to Cooper and split up for a bit. Amy saw all kinds of sign, and after they met up for lunch, they decided to back to their original hunting spots.

“As we were [driving toward] the path I was [going to hunt], the buck walked out of the path my husband was on, and was just standing there in the middle of that dirt road,” she wrote. “I just knew it was a buck, and jumped out of the car, got him in my sights and shot.”

After a short track, they found the deer.

“I couldn’t believe how big he was and was counting the points on his rack,” she wrote. “I still can’t believe he was 15 points.”

Then the struggle began.

“We got it to the car, but we were not able to get it in the trunk — yes, we hunt in a Toyota Camry,” Prenier wrote. “Thankfully, a gentleman and, I believe his grand-daughter came along and helped us get him in the trunk. He just barely fit and it was quite the sight.”

At the tagging station, Prenier learned that her buck weighed in at 220 pounds.

“I still can’t believe I shot that big of a buck,” she wrote. “It’s already at the taxidermist, and I will see him again in about 10 months.”

Stay tuned: Tomorrow we’ll unveil the winners of this year’s contest.

And that’s not all: I’m also following up on some huge deer that weren’t entered into the contest, and that I hope to write about in the coming days.

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.