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The Best Stories of 2007

Staff Reports

A New New Hampshire Record

It is official. New Hampshire has a new state record archery whitetail. The lucky hunter is Rick Pesciniski, who arrowed the 255-pound 8-pointer in Grafton County. After you hear his story though, you will realize luck had little to do with it.

“It all started four years ago,” said Pesciniski in a recent conversation. “I got a picture of him [the buck he eventually shot] on my trail camera. I was amazed really. I had no idea he was there,” he said.

This picture would spark an obsession in Pesciniski unrivaled by anything he had ever felt before in his lifetime of hunting.

“I started scouting for him in the off-season. I learned every inch of the land he was on. I put up a bunch of different tree stands, and I found a bunch of sign for him,” he said, “but I never saw him.”

“Sure I got discouraged at times, but then last year [2006] I got another picture of him on the trail camera,” he said. This single event rejuvenated his passion. Finally, on the second day of the 2007 October Archery Season, he would make the most of his first face to face meeting with the monster buck.

“It was about 7:50 a.m. and I was in my treestand. I heard a branch snap and I could hear a deer moving. I was looking and looking and finally I could see his antlers moving in the hemlocks. Finally he stepped out and there he was. I drew back and hit him where I had aimed,” he said.

“I knew he was a big deer, but all I thought of was the massive antlers, it wasn’t until I checked him in I realized how much he weighed,” he said.

“The funny thing was the way I felt when it was over,” he said. “It was about a mission I was on…the hunt….” At this point in the conversation Pesciniski’s words begin to trail off, and any hunter who has ever dedicated a large part of their lives to pursuing a specific deer knows exactly the feeling he is describing.

Revenge

If you follow trophy deer hunting in the Northeast, chances are you have heard the name Roscoe Blaisdell. Most people know him as the president of the New Hampshire Antler and Skull Trophy Club, which also coordinates the NH Trophy Deer Program to recognize big bucks in New Hampshire, and eventually publishes the results in the NH Big Game Trophy book.

You would be hard pressed to find a man who has done more to promote deer hunting in the area than Blaisdell, and during the first week of the Vermont rifle season, when Blaisdell was away hunting on the west side of the Connecticut River, the deer decided to abstract some revenge.

“While I was hunting in Vermont this weekend, a buck attacked my archery targets on my back lawn,” said Balisdell, who was somewhat surprised by the incident, and took pictures to prove it actually happened. “He then had the audacity to poop twice at the scene of the attack,” he said.

“I will get even with that rascal,” vowed Roscoe, who also noted, “The carnage happened in Raymond, NH.”

Another Record Falls

John Green of Warren, NH knows a thing or two about big game hunting. His grandfather was a big game guide out West, and ran a game farm in Fairlee, VT which included a water skiing elephant. John learned under his watchful eye, and eventually developed a passion for hunting bear with dogs.

“When I was a bit younger, I took some time off from hunting to chase women,” recalls Green with a chuckle. “When my son was 12 he went hunting with a friend and became addicted. I told him I would set him up,” he said, and the rest is history.

Since then Green has become one of the most respected bear-dog handlers in New Hampshire. This culminated last October when one of his dogs treed a 552-pound boar which was shot by one of his hunting companions, John Newton.

“I had actually treed that bear a few days earlier,” said Green, “But I didn’t shoot it because I wasn’t sure it was a boar. We don’t shoot sows,” he said.

A few days later Green was in the same area with Newton, when the lone bluetick that was out, Green Blue Jed, struck up the chase. It would have taken too long to release other dogs, so they decided to let the five year-old be the lone dog on the trail.

“I am a bluetick man, just like my grandpa was,” said Green.

The actual chase only lasted about a half an hour before the bear treed, which Green admits is a bit unusual. This time they could positively identify it as a male, and Newton, who had never shot a bear before, ended its life quickly and cleanly.

“Running bears with dogs is not as easy as people think,” said Newton. “We let a lot of bears go.”

When asked why he didn’t shoot it, Green’s answer is simple. “If I shoot one, I can’t run my dogs anymore,” he said. It is obvious this is something Green enjoys much more than the kill itself. In fact, Newton’s bear was the 52nd one Green’s dogs treed last season, and the only one they shot.

While it is still unofficial, Newton’s bear is expected to shatter the previous NH record by over 20 pounds.

Didn’t Give Up

By Richard LaBounty

I have taken some very nice deer over the years but have always dreamed of getting a buck that would score 140 plus to make the NYS Big Buck Club. Over the past nine years, I have hunted the remote areas of the Adirondacks where the deer rarely get hunted and die of old age. This kind of hunting is very hard because you need to travel to find a nice track in an area that probably has less than one deer per square mile. There is no driving wood roads looking for a big track to follow or any guides to hold your hand.

This year, my older brother Matt and I departed to this remote area of the Adirondacks; which is about 13 miles from the nearest public road or access. Over the past three years, we have pursued a nice buck near our tent camp and started to figure out his pattern or circle. This nice deer was very smart because he was always able to put the slip on us and get away! On November 5th, we hunted very hard but the weather was too warm leaving the travel conditions very noisy. In the morning, I did see a nice spike horn standing in a stream and I passed him up to let him grow up. I was able to take two photos of the deer before moving on.  We got back to our camp about an hour before dark so I decided to go up behind our camp and watch a runway that the alleged nice buck traveled on.

After sitting there about twenty minutes, I heard a spruce brow break in the swamp down below me and then I could hear the sound of a deer walking towards my location. After about a nerve racking minute, a big bodied deer stepped out of the swamp and stepped onto the hardwood ridge about 100 yards below me. After I saw the deer had a big beam, a shot with my .30-06 dropped the deer out of my sight. At that moment, I was horrified when I heard a deer running away! After gathering my wits for a few minutes, I worked my way down to the edge of the swamp and was relieved to find my deer dead in his tracks. I cannot describe the emotions that went through me, especially when my brother reached my location and saw the size of the horns. I wish I could have seen the size of the deer following my deer!

Although the left side drop tine G-3 broke off causing severe deductions, the deer is still a trophy to me. Taking a deer with this style of hunting means more to me than taking a 200 class buck that I paid a guide to do the homework on. It was a very happy moment when my brother and I visited my parents and showed my nice deer to my father who couldn’t be there with us.

I was very glad that I never gave up on November 5th, and that last minute effort made the entire difference.