After year, Guardsman gets moose

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After years of applying in vain, Brian Wilson received a coveted Maine moose permit a year ago.

Unfortunately, it was a Maine moose permit he really didn’t want.

Wilson, a Nokomis High and UMaine grad, knew he wouldn’t be able to participate in the 2004 hunt, but had applied for the state-run lottery for one reason: He wanted to keep the bonus points he had accrued over all those unsuccessful years.

In Maine, you see, each time you apply for the Maine moose lottery and fail, the state gives you an extra chance the following year. Skip a year, and you lose all your hard-earned points.

And Wilson wasn’t eager to lose those points.

So when his name was drawn in June of 2004, Wilson’s wife quickly got to work, trying to find out what would happen if the moose hunter wasn’t available.

Wilson was in Iraq, serving with the Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion.

His wife spoke with officials at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, filed the necessary paperwork, then told her husband that he would be allowed to wait a year, and hunt moose upon his return.

During a wartime deployment, of course, optimism on the home front is always laced with a quiet, urgent undertone of caution.

There are unspoken words and unshared nightmares … the fact that in wars, people … good people … don’t always come back.

In December, Wilson’s convoy was attacked by insurgents outside of Mosul, Iraq.

A comrade, Harold Gray, was seriously injured. Wilson and another soldier suffered less serious injuries. Wilson, a staff sergeant, quickly returned to active duty. The 133rd returned to Maine in March.

That’s the good news.

Here’s the better news: On Monday, Wilson finally went moose hunting.

“Everything worked out fine this year,” Wilson said in an e-mail he sent me this week. “DIF&W came through with my permit for bull only in [Wildlife Management District] 6. A friend that was formerly in the Guard hooked me up with a place to stay just outside of the zone, which was super.”

Wilson said he had the opportunity to do some scouting a few weeks before the season and found a likely spot in the southern part of the zone. After calling over some fresh moose sign didn’t produce immediate results, the presence of other hunters changed his party’s plans. They started down a small side road and got lucky.

“I spotted the moose about 100 yards from the road, hidden in some spruces,” Wilson wrote. “Fortunately, he came toward me steadily, which allowed me to take a great close shot when he was about 75 feet from the road. That made for an easy retrieval for sure. The bull weighed 500 pounds and had a small three-point rack, but I’m sure it will be good eating.”

Some hunters wait all week to find the perfect moose, while others choose to take the first moose they see.

In Wilson’s case, the decision was pretty simple. He didn’t have much choice.

Duty calls. Again.

“If you happen to wonder why I chose to tag out at 7:15 Monday morning, I’ll tell you,” he wrote. “First off, I was pretty excited, as you can expect. Second, there was a time crunch: Saturday morning is the start of a mobilization of my Guard unit for hurricane relief in Louisiana, expected to last one month.”

After the work the 133rd has already done in Iraq, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that its service to our nation continues.

And with that service comes a reality that many of us don’t have to confront: For National Guard troops, there will continue to be plenty of time away from family, friends, and the places they love.

In Wilson’s case, those places are the woods and waters of Maine. He hunts and fishes and shared some of his favorite spots in an e-mail he sent from Iraq last winter.

But again, duty calls. And again, Brian Wilson is leaving the place he calls home.

“It looks like I may miss the opening of deer season (again),” he wrote, “but I’ll be back to try my luck the remainder of the season. I’m looking forward to it.”

When deer season does arrive, and Wilson returns to finally enjoy solitary walks through the Maine woods, two things are certain.

Few will have earned the privilege more than Wilson. And few will appreciate it as much.

Williams clan bags another

Over the past few years, you’ve heard quite a few tales about the Williams family of Clifton, thanks to a near-steady stream of messages from a proud grandfather.

That grandfather, Phil McTigue of Holden, checked in this week to say 10-year-old Josh Williams had enjoyed another successful hunt.

Josh, the son of John and Eileen Williams, bagged an 850-pound bull moose Tuesday in extreme northwestern Maine.

Josh shot the moose with a .270 rifle at 120 yards. The burly critter sported a 17-point rack with a 55-inch spread.

Congratulations to Josh, and to the Williams family for their continued success in their outdoor pursuits.

Getting hungry already

With October finally upon us and the leaves beginning to flutter past and coat our favorite forest floors, it’s certainly not too soon to talk about a very important matter.

Breakfast.

As I walked through my own back 40 the other day, I noticed a new nip in the air, spied some deer sign, and realized that soon enough, we’ll all be tromping through the woods again.

And for many deer hunters, opening day wouldn’t be the same without an obligatory stop at the local hunters breakfast.

This year, I’m hoping to be able to tell you about even more hunters meals than in the past, and I’m relying on your help to do so.

And since I’m asking for that help several weeks ahead of time, I’m sure responses will flood in.

If your local school or civic organization will be staging a hunters breakfast or supper, I want to know. I want to tell people about it. And (truth be told) I want to try to figure out exactly where I’ll be eating come November.

An e-mail works best, but if you want to mail the information in, that works fine. The address is P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, 04402-1329. Or, you can fax announcements to 990-8092.

Periodically as deer season progresses, I’ll let you know about your gastronomic options for a given weekend.

I can almost smell the bacon frying already … and I can’t wait.

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