Outdoors
The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here.
A Maine couple spent much of the fall traveling dirt roads, scouting hunting grounds and pursuing four different game animals. By the first week of rifle deer season, Lauren Waycott and Melvin Waycott IV had each harvested a turkey, bear, moose and deer, completing Maine’s hunting Grand Slam.
The couple’s hunting app recorded 991 miles on dirt roads between the start of their cow moose hunt and the end of the first week of rifle deer season.
Those miles included scouting for deer in the North Maine Woods, traveling between hunting camps and even taking time to hunt partridge after their cow moose hunt.
The Waycotts decided to pursue the goal after Melvin and Lauren’s father were both drawn for moose permits. Lauren’s father listed her as his subpermittee, allowing her to hunt and tag a moose on his permit.
They knew other hunters who had completed a Grand Slam, but hadn’t heard of another married couple accomplishing it together in the same year.
Lauren got the first of her four animals during the spring turkey season, when she harvested a 19-pound tom while hunting with her father.
The couple’s next successes came during bear season.
On Sept. 15, Lauren went on a guided hunt with Good Ole Boys Guide Service and harvested a 265-pound sow, her second bear. A few days earlier, on the opening day of bear trapping season, Melvin had trapped a 276-pound boar.
Later in September, Lauren returned to some of her favorite turkey hunting spots to help Melvin fill his tag. He harvested a 17.5-pound tom, giving each of them two of the four animals needed for the Grand Slam.
In October, the couple turned their attention to moose.
Melvin hunted with Tobey Brooke Guide Service and, on Oct. 13, harvested a bull with a 42-inch antler spread that weighed 652 pounds.
Just 10 days later, the three hunters headed north again, this time to Wildlife Management District 5 for Lauren’s father’s moose hunt. They were guided by Blackwater Guide Service.
Shortly after first light on Oct. 27, Lauren harvested a 352-pound cow moose.
Rather than heading home, Lauren and her father continued north to Wildlife Management District 1, where they had already rented a camp for a week of deer hunting. They had booked the cabin before receiving their moose permits, so the timing allowed them to spend two consecutive weeks hunting in the North Maine Woods.
Melvin stayed home that week to pursue a buck he had been watching on trail cameras.
On the evening of Nov. 3, Lauren and her father decided to try some unfamiliar hunting ground. At 4:10 p.m., she harvested an eight-point buck weighing 188 pounds.
With that deer, Lauren completed her Grand Slam.
The following morning, her father harvested his first-ever patch buck, a seven-point deer weighing 208 pounds.
Then, on Nov. 7, as Lauren and her father were packing up their camp to head home, she received the call they had been waiting for.
Melvin had harvested the eight-point buck he had been pursuing. It weighed 220.6 pounds and was his second patch buck.
The couple’s season also benefited others. All three deer harvested by the family were donated to the Hunters for the Hungry program.