FIRST ADIRONDACK BUCK: A Big Buck in the Adirondack Mountains in 1958

As I reflect back to 1958 when I shot my first deer near Speculator, NY in the Adirondacks little did I know the fire it would light inside me. My scoutmaster invited me to hunt with him. I was only 15 and was only in the woods two hours when I shot that deer.

Job, family and life in general made it difficult to get up north. I shot many deer near home ( rattlesnake gulch ) near Syracuse but the dream of taking a big Adirondack buck was always there. My  Uncle told me about tracking deer in the Adirondacks and then a friend invited me to his deer camp in the Moose River Wilderness Area in the Adirondacks. It was January and he told me I had to get in shape because we had to depend on each other in case of emergency. By September I had lost 43 pounds and was walking 8 miles 3 days a week with ankle weights. It was 22 miles in 4WD only and 4 more miles pulling my sled to the tent.

As I lay in my sleeping bag that first night listening to a partridge drumming on a log I thought about the vast wilderness I was in. It was overwhelming and my dream seemed far away. Moose River has the lowest density whitetail population in New York State.

We were camped on a big inside curve on the Moose River called "the Island." I hunted the Island the first day. Pretty ho-hum. The second day it rained hard all day. I remember heating a can of soup over a fire. My Dad's Remington 760, 30-06 got soaked. Most of the famous deer trackers use that rifle. Hal Blood has a collection of them.

It snowed that night and got very cold. After a mug of coffee, instant oatmeal in the same mug and making a sandwich, I was out of the tent before daylight.

Little did I know I was in for the Best Hunting Day of my Life! 

I told my friend I was going up on "the Indian" (Indian Lake Mountain). He was worried about my getting lost but I am very good with a compass thanks to my extensive training in Boy Scouts. I always carry two. You can deny one but have to believe two.

I went south about a mile and headed up. It was rough going but do-able. Looking for tracks I never saw any as I worked my way up the mountain and across the top and down the other side. At the bottom was a large beaver pond. As I circled the beaver pond there was a track. It was old but BIG! It circled around and headed up the mountain. I looked up and thought " is this a deer or a mountain goat?". I knew I was in butt-kickin' shape so up I went. It took me up cliffs, brush, tag alders and boulders pulling myself up with my hands at times.

About halfway up the mountain I found his bed. It was about 10:30. The track out of the bed was fresh! My heart started beating fast. But he wasn't running--I hadn't jumped him! After another half-mile, I came to a big tore up area and saw why. He had bred a doe. The doe track went to the right out of that tore up area and the buck track continued back up the mountain. When the buck track turned to the right I kept going to the top of the ridge and walked parallel looking down and to the right as I went. A mile or so later there were some low hemlocks below me. I saw movement. It was the doe. OH NO! I was in the open. I feared I'd get busted but she never looked my way. Lucky.

Then I saw movement behind her and out he came with his head held high looking like the magnificent animal he was. He was fixated on her and never looked my way. I shot him with my Dad's rifle and made a good shot. As I walked up to him I had feelings of remorse. I had killed a perfect specimen of the greatest big game animal on earth. The ink dot in the mountain picture is where I killed him. 

 My dream of an Adirondack buck had come true! I dragged him until dark navigating down the cliffs. It was rough going. I couldn't drop him for fear of breaking his rack and my drag rope wasn't long enough. I suspended him from the rope with my left hand and held on to what I could with my right. There was a series of 3 cliffs. By the time I got to the bottom it was getting dark so I wrapped him in my long johns and peed all around him to keep the coyotes away.

 Then my flashlight and two compasses got me back to the tent navigating thru blowdowns and a really ugly swamp saying hi to a pine marten along the way.

Next morning we got him out. It took most of the day. Then the next day to the truck. It was a happy 120 miles home.

 Three weeks later I tracked down another buck in a big tract of state land in the southern tier. Tracking is for sure my favorite way to hunt. 

Tracking is a skill for sure. You have to be prepared for failure, rough terrain and horrible weather. There are good tracking videos on you tube. Lanny Benoit and Hal Blood in Maine. Jim Massett and Joe DiNitto in the Adirondacks of NY.

On November 30, 2023 I shot a deer in Michigan. 65 years after my first. Its been a good run. My tracking days are over but a love for the woods- the sights, sounds, shadows and colors keep me coming back.

- Jerry Myers

Footnote: My friend told me later the only reason he invited me was so he could use my tag. I was the only one that got a deer that year. That made it even sweeter.

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