Hunting tradition rich for Corlisses

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Long before sunup on Saturday morning, Jim Corliss flipped bacon, cracked eggs, and kept up a running conversation about deer, family, business and the hearty hunters breakfast he was busily preparing.

“We had kind of a tradition here,” Corliss said, remembering the days when plenty of hunters made a point of beginning their deer season on Piper Mountain. “I’d be [cooking] for probably seven, eight, nine people every opening morning.”

Then Corliss grinned, walked across the kitchen, and returned with a surprise.

“[My wife] Norma makes a beef stew for lunch, so when we come down we get our beef stew,” he said. “And this is for breakfast. This is what you finish off your bacon and eggs with.”

This was an apple pie. And according to a local expert – Jim Corliss’s 12-year-old grandson, Dillon – there was plenty to go around.

“She has two more in the refrigerator,” Dillon Corliss said with a grin.

There are all kinds of ways to begin a memorable day afield, I figure. Enjoying a delectable dessert after an already-gut-busting breakfast is as good a way as any.

On Saturday, I took advantage of an invitation from Brian Corliss, Jim’s son, and headed into the deer-rich woods of Newburgh.

Brian Corliss had heard I was still deerless after more than four years of hunting, and thought he could help change that.

Piper Mountain Christmas Tree Farm – the family business that sits on this beautiful hillside 20 miles or so from Bangor – is full of deer, Brian Corliss told me.

And one might be mine.

Maybe.

During our morning hunt, I sat on a chilly hillside, peering into the thick poplars, looking for a glimpse of a passing deer.

“I could put you in a hundred places where you could see farther, but I know there’s deer running through there,” Jim Corliss had told me, shortly before heading to his own secret sitting spot – book in hand – to spend a few hours.

On this morning, there weren’t. And when we met back up at the truck (beef stew at 10 a.m., you say? Sounds good to me) Jim Corliss had done a few interesting calculations.

He had forgotten his glasses, he said, and couldn’t read his book. Reading and hunting has paid off for him in the past, to the tune of about 30 deer over the years).

“And most of the time, I’m able to keep my place,” he joked.

Without that book, Jim Corliss had time to figure out that it might not be my time to fill a deer tag … yet.

“I figure that by the time I shot my first deer, I had spent 800 hours hunting,” he said. “And I’ve probably averaged about 100 hours per deer since then.”

Both Corliss men are accomplished hunters and born storytellers.

Brian Corliss is more than willing to poke fun at himself and his frustrating initiation into the sport.

“I shot at a lot of deer when I was a kid. I used to walk in the woods and they used to run me over,” Brian Corliss said. “I shot at a lot of them.”

At them. But hit them? Not often.

Finally, a friend told Brian that he’d load his rifle for him on one November morning. When a deer showed up, Brian shouldered his rifle, pulled the trigger, and learned he had a tendency to flinch … even when no shell had been loaded into the chamber.

“That made me feel so stupid,” Brian Corliss said. “He said, ‘Brian, I did that on purpose, because you flinch. Take a deep breath and let it out nice and easy and just keep squeezing. The bullet will scare you when it goes off.'”

The lesson was learned, and fully absorbed.

“I said, ‘All right,'” Brian Corliss said. “I haven’t missed much since.”

On Saturday, none of us saw any deer. A flock of turkeys showed up in front of Jim. Brian and Dillon saw plenty of squirrels … as did I.

But when the sun finally set, and the hunting was behind us, all of us agreed that it had been a worthwhile day nonetheless.

Brian Corliss was happy because Jim was back in the woods, after a couple years when a balky knee and tree farm chores conspired to keep him away.

“It is the first time in quite a few years that my dad will be going back into the woods, and he is the one who taught me to love this sport and enjoy the outdoors,” Brian had told me in an earlier e-mail.

And Jim Corliss, who had a knee replacement surgery earlier this year, admitted that he was eager to head into the woods, too.

“For the first time in four or five years, I was a little bit excited,” he said. “And that felt good.”

No, no deer participated in our Saturday foray in the Newburgh woods. That’s the way hunting goes, we all realize. And that’s OK with us.

When we loaded back into the truck for the bumpy ride down Piper Mountain, Jim Corliss offered a succinct summation of our day’s efforts.

“Another day not wasted,” he said with a satisfied grin.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Wildlife park closing for winter

The Maine Wildlife Park in Gray will close for the season on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m., but not before recognizing the state’s veterans and current military personnel for their service.

The park will offer those past and present military personnel one free adult admission to the park on the final day of the season.

If you’ve never gone to the park before, it’s well worth the trip. According to park officials, the last few weeks of the season are a great opportunity to see moose and deer in their full winter coats and sporting large antlers. Cats, bears, and other furbearers also sport thick winter fur.

The Maine Wildlife Park has more than 25 species of native wildlife on display, in addition to wildlife gardens, nature trails, and other interactive exhibits and displays. The park gates are open daily through Nov. 11 from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

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