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Her brother is jealous. Her husband is proud. And Nicole Poulin is stunned.
She has been dreaming about getting a big buck since she began hunting 10 years ago, but Tuesday was her magic day.
Poulin shot a 238-pound seven-point buck in the pouring rain shortly after legal hunting time in the morning, using the 30-06 rifle that was a birthday gift from her husband Jason three years ago.
“I love watching the sunrises and sunsets. Beautiful. I like to watch the wildlife. Getting a deer is a bonus. But the one I got this morning. That’s my dream,” Poulin said.
Poulin, 36, of Portage hunts every morning before she heads to work at Northern Maine Community College in the admissions office. She goes to the same field, often with her youngest daughter, Haily, 16.
On Tuesday, Haily, who is a student at Ashland District School and Caribou Technical Center where she studies health sciences, was busy. So Poulin’s husband joined her for her morning vigil.
There were two does in the field early, and Poulin could see the back end of another deer heading into the woods. It was raining hard around 6:17 a.m. and she couldn’t see very well, she said.
She moved to a different position a few minutes later and that’s when she saw the enormous buck. She shot it from 125 yards away, hitting the lung and liver.
It took the Poulins three hours to get the deer out of the woods, a few yards at a time between short rests, and loaded onto the truck.
“It didn’t hit me until we weighed him at the tagging station,” Nicole Poulin said. “When I filled out the papers for the Big Buck patch, I cried.”
Jason Poulin, who works for the town of Portage, got his patch last year with a 219-pound animal. He didn’t take his gun on Tuesday, his wife said.
She was with him when he shot his big buck, so it was very special to her that he was with her Tuesday, Poulin said.
This is Poulin’s seventh deer in 10 years of hunting. She waited to get into the sport until her children Jamie, who is now 20 and working as a registered nurse, and Haily were old enough to be left alone.
Hunting is in her blood, Poulin said. Her grandfather was a hunter and one of the mounts on her wall belonged to him.
The tradition will pass down too. Haily wants to try for her grand slam — which is moose, bear, turkey and deer — next year.
She plans to have her deer’s head mounted by Trappers Taxidermy in Vermont. She said the owner has Maine connections and he guides bear hunts in the state.
Poulin is excited about putting her deer mount next to her beloved grandfather’s trophy animal.
“I may even have to take one of my husband’s deer down to make room for mine,” she said.
