BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 14, 2023
Mike Cummings of Bucksport found an antler shed in late 2019 or early 2020 that stopped him. It was the start of a hunt that lasted almost four years. Cummings learned the huge deer’s travel patterns, what it ate, its distinctive tracks, its length of stride, the distance between its front legs, its social habits, and eventually, where it lived — its bedding area. This deer became his obsession. On Halloween morning, the huge buck stepped from the woods into a powerline clearing where Cummings was patiently waiting. Cummings aimed his .270 rifle while looking through his new Vortex scope and shot the animal from 233 yards. The buck ran another 30 yards down the powerline before dropping into a ditch. The shot had split its heart in half.