For much of his deer-hunting season, Chris Francis of Hampden spent time eyeballing a different animal altogether.

“I’d gone mostly every weekend, and once or twice I had been out on a weekday after school,” the 11-year-old said.

But no matter how often he headed afield, Francis wasn’t seeing many deer … not that he didn’t have any company.

“Just turkeys,” he said.

His mother, Julie Francis, said that Chris and his father, Ron Francis, saw about 15 wild turkeys while hunting in Waldo County a couple weekends ago.

Chris kept hunting, despite the fact the deer had chosen not to participate in his deer season. And when he had the opportunity to hunt with a family friend on the day before Thanksgiving, he jumped at the chance.

That decision – and his patience – paid off.

Francis, a sixth-grader at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden, went back to Waldo County and found that the turkeys weren’t around … and the deer were.

“It was about 140 yards away,” Chris Francis said of the deer he would eventually bag. “We were in a tree stand near a field, and the deer came over a rock wall.”

Francis took aim with his .257 rifle, squeezed the trigger, and watched in dismay as the deer didn’t fall.

“We saw him and missed the first shot,” he said. Francis took a second shot, made it count, and later found out his initial estimate had been wrong.

Francis had hit the deer with both shots, and both were well-placed. As a result, Francis got to tag his first career deer: a seven-point buck that weighed in at 192 pounds, field-dressed.

“When we hung it up we realized that I got it with the first shot,” he said. “It was behind the shoulder blade, a perfect shot. The second shot struck a few inches behind the first, he said.

Julie Francis said her son’s marksmanship shouldn’t have been a question at all, even before he found the second bullet hole.

She pointed out that two years ago Chris earned a rare honor at a scout camp at Camp Roosevelt in Eddington.

Julie Francis said Chris, then 9, was the recipient of the “Top Gun” award after hitting the bulls eye five straight times.

He topped plenty of older scouts to win the award, she said.

“[They said] it was the third time in 13 years that they had a Cub Scout get the sharpshooter award,” she said, pointing out that most years, a Boy Scout wins.

Now that hunting season is over, Chris Francis has learned that by shooting the deer, he also earned some bragging rights in the family.

“He has an older brother who was pretty disappointed,” Julie Francis said. “[His brother is] 20 years old, and he’s spent a lot of hours hunting and has never seen a deer he could get a shot at.”

SI knows Maine’s bears

The national outdoor press paid close attention to Maine’s recent bear-hunting referendum, and last week, another national media outlet mentioned our state in a tongue-in-cheek way.

Sports Illustrated, which tends to focus on competitive sports, runs a feature called “Who’s Hot, Who’s Not.” In the Nov. 29 issue, “Bears” were listed among the not-so-hot entries.

According to SI, there were several reasons for that inclusion.

“Chicago’s football team lost its leader (LB Brian Urlacher) and then its dignity (to the Colts, 41-10),” SI wrote. “Things are worse in Maine, where NCAA Black Bears hockey is mediocre 5-4 at home and citizens voted to allow baiting of bears so the animals could be shot.”

While sportsmen are largely heralding the referendum result as a victory and will likely brush off the humorous reference, many UMaine-loving hunters might be less apt to forgive the inclusion of the skating bears on the same list as the punchless Chicago NFL bruins.

If history is any indicator, they shouldn’t worry much: Their own Black Bears will likely improve drastically as the season progresses … and they’ll surely defend their home den much more ferociously in the future.

Deer guidelines flexible

One of the most common questions I get at this time of year comes from hunters (or the parents of hunters) who want to know more about this paper’s rules for publishing deer stories and photos.

Strictly speaking, there are no rules. Not really. There are, however, some philosophies that govern what gets into the paper … and what doesn’t. It all comes down to a basic newspaper criteria: Is it newsworthy?

If a child is very young, or an adult very old, the newsworthiness increases. First deer are more interesting than fifth deer … unless the hunter has only been hunting for five years. Big deer are interesting. Really big deer are really interesting.

And if the hunter has a interesting tale to tell, rather than just, “I walked into the woods, saw it, shot it, and dragged it home,” that story has a better chance of ending up here, in this space.

When it comes to photos, the key phrases are “quality,” and “space-available.” Grainy or out-of-focus photos rarely get in, and if we don’t have the space, the photo can’t run. That’s all there is to it. Send photos or e-mail them anyway. If we have the photo in hand, we can make the necessary judgment call.

And of course, being timely is important, too. Contacting us in March (or, truthfully, in mid-December) about the deer you shot in November isn’t the best course of action.

All in all, it comes down to this: We want to hear your deer (or bear, or moose) stories. We want to share your stories. When in doubt, call or e-mail. We’ll take it from there.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.