First day afield: 238-pound buck after 10 minutes for Warren woman

Quite regularly I get the chance to tell the story of a first-time, newly licensed hunter who enjoys incredible success right off the bat.

Rarely, however, are those stories as jaw-dropping as the one Stephanie Angelico of Warren shared with me via email this week.

Consider: Angelico didn’t complete the state’s hunter safety course until just last month. And she didn’t even purchase her first hunting license until Friday — the day before she headed into the woods on residents-only opening day of deer season. She filled her tag in just 10 minutes … and the buck was a monster.

Angelico wasted little time getting on the board. But first, she had to do a little bit of shopping.

Stephanie Angelico of Warren took her hunter safety class in October and made her first day in the woods a memorable one. Angelico shot this 13-point, 238-pound buck just 10 minutes into her first day of hunting. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Angelico)

“We didn’t have bullets for the gun I was using, so I woke up Saturday and went to Walmart to get bullets and an orange sweatshirt I didn’t have,” Angelico wrote. “My boyfriend and I went to his dad’s house in Waldoboro and hunt around a bit. Once we all got ready to go Nate Packard, my boyfriend Caleb’s dad, set me in a spot and left me.”

Angelico’s wait was a short one.

“I was there about 10 minutes and heard something coming through the woods across from me,” she wrote. “As the sound got closer I could see the deer trotting along. I waited to get a clear shot at it.”

Angelico got that clear shot and took advantage.

“I called Nate over and told him I got one and that was it,” she wrote. “He freaked.”

Angelico shot the deer with a .30-30 with open sights. And the buck was a bruiser: It weighed 238 pounds, field-dressed, and sported a 13-point rack.

“They all told me it was beginner’s luck,” Angelico wrote. “It’s the first but it’s definitely not going to be the last deer I shoot.”

 

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.