Ground Zero: New England's Record Bucks

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Check out this video to learn how to manage your small track of land to bag your trophy buck.

 

Once the signs go up they rarely come down, however, meeting with the landowner during the off-season and offering to help repair the damage or clean up the mess can give a hunter an edge down the road. Many “keep out” signs have been replaced by “Hunting by Permission Only” signs, which is a positive step especially for hunters looking to bag one of Oxford County’s exceptional B&C bucks.

Roderick Rovzar has been hunting deer in Oxford County for more than 40 years. He and his friends have taken a number of impressive bucks from his base camp in Stoneham. He employs a variety of techniques including drives, still-hunting, stands and even watercraft to fool the county’s biggest bucks with impressive (almost amazing) regularity.

“The key to success is not surprising: Know the territory you hunt, know the habits of deer, including the patriarchs within small herds of deer, and exploit them,” Rovzar said. “For hunters new to the Oxford County woods, it is important to scout for sign and trails. When the rut nears, finding scrapes and rubs heightens the prospects for seeing bucks. Hunters can usually find plenty of scrapes along wooded field edges and near water.

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“Once you find a good-looking area, look for a spot that provides a good view of the field and forest edge and plan to be there before dawn,” Rovzar advised. “Sit or stand near thick cover, minimize movement, avoid smoking and refrain from talking with your hunting partners.” Rovzar continued, “Sit for an hour or two after sunrise and then probe the woods in a big circle ending where you started; I would also plan to watch the area with the most sign for the last hour and a half of legal shooting time.” One Oxford County family of eight fills their tags every year, including some very impressive bucks, Rovzar said.

“These guys use natural barriers (ridges, streams, snowmobile trails and tote roads) to ‘fence off’ an area and conduct small drives, usually with two sitters and one still-hunter who acts as a driver,” Rovzar noted. “The drive areas are seldom more than 500 yards in length and width. Each hunter carries a radio to signal each other via ‘clicks’ on the radio. They know precisely where each hunter is to assure that no one is in the line of fire.”

And lastly, for the record, Maine’s all-time biggest typical buck scored 201 1/8 inches and was taken by Clinton Bradbury in 2004 in, you guessed it, Oxford County.