Steve Beckwith - Maine Hunter

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Growing Pains and Gains! New Hunting to Class Opportunities!

 


In November of 2020 amidst the Corona Pandemic I began construction on our family home in Lebanon, Maine. The upstairs was originally roughed in for a in-law apartment when it was built in the 1980's. Since I became a Maine Guide and Guide School owner, I have always wanted a Lodge with a classroom for my school and a lodge for my hunting clients. On March 8th, 2021 the lodge, appropriately named the "Attic Lodge" was officially completed with the town CEO's signature on our occupancy permit! 

With this new addition, many new things are coming for this new adventure. 


 

More outdoor related classes are in the works, primarily around map & compass, on sight and offsite orienteering, GPS usage with maps, emergency overnight survival classes and more to come!  

Overnight stays will be offered free for our Class students, Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Recreational packages on our website as they are developed.

Here are a few pictures of the Attic Lodge











I am also introducing Guided Lake Fishing trips, trolling for trout species as well as scenic lake tours will be available on my new website. http://mainelakefishing.com aboard a 1965 Starcraft fishing vessel that can accommodate up to two people trolling local lakes on morning, afternoon or multiple day excursions. The boat is equipped with a 4 stroke Honda 50, electronics, down riggers and lead core line equipment is provided.     


 




Bear Hunting in Maine
Our Leased Lodge we use is in Athen's Maine at Cedar Mill Farm and Cabins
We have openings for week 2 and 3 of the 2021 Bear season
Information for these hunting opportunities are aviable on my website.








 

I am looking forward to the new adventures ahead... Hope you will join us soon!

Steve Beckwith


 

 

     

Monday, July 29, 2019

Bear Scent Attractants 101 on a Budget!

If you bear hunt... Stop wasting money buying scent attractants...Make them yourself...

No need to spray all that expensive scent attractant you purchase onto the trees to be washed away by rain! We all have spent lots of cash each year doing this...I have experimented for many years and have come up with a way to save money and actually increase the amount of scent dispersal while in the field, without spending a lot of money!  It's even more important when watching costs of operating my bear guiding business with 15 or more bear sites! So from one bait to 100 this will save any bear hunter a lot of money and it can even be used in states that allow scents but not bait!
I recommend when setting up a bear site to soak a rag in Anise Star Oil or your favorite attractant scent purchased from a local seller is always best but there are many places online to buy scents and hanging it at your site use an old plastic milk jug and cut off the bottom, poke or drill a couple holes in the cap and run a zip tie or string through cap to the cloth, this keeps rain off your soaked rag allowing for longer scent dispersal, also when the sun hits the jug it heats up the scent reactivating it once again! This will attract bear when you're not there at your site. Once the bear find your baited site, when you re-bait your site refresh the rag with small amount of scent, it signals to the bear that there's more grub left at the site. This method uses a lot less attractant than spraying it on leaves, it draws in the bear and will save you money! Using Anise Star Oil has been a bear hunters staple attractant for many, many years!

I have also been experimenting with flavored syrups this year that I purchased from a restaurant supplier (I found https://www.webstaurantstore.com/) for about $7.75 a quart delivered when buying 12 quarts. To make flavored spray bottles mix a one quart bottle to a 3 quarts water to make one gallon. Purchase or use an old 32 oz.spray bottle you have around the house to get 4 Bottles for $7.75 or about $2 a 32 oz bottle, instead of $20 from the bear attractant companies!  I like blueberry and cherry for spray scents, but if you like something else buy that flavor. I also purchased 4 quarts of caramel flavor syrup at same price each and add 1/3 bottle to 5 Gallons of fryolater cooking oil that I get for free from local restaurants.  So for about $2.60, I get 5 gallons of caramel scented cooking oil, which bear love for the protein and as a bear hunter they track this oil on their feet back through the woods letting other bear know there is a food source close by!  


For the most part once you have bear coming you don't really need all that much added scent if you are in an area with multiple bears, in areas with only a few bear coming to a site you may need to keep the scents flowing longer during a baiting season.  Some good used fryolator oil on the ground will also help keep the bear coming by them tracking the scented oils away from your bait site back into where bear sleep, other bear pick up the scent and follow it in to the baited sites.

Now the next bit of information is my new product I sell on my website, yes it's an expense initially but read on and see why it's a good investment for any hunting you do, deer, bear, moose and any animal you attract using scent. One unit is all you need for multiple hunting situations! 
 

When "you" or "your clients" are actually hunting your stands, I recommends running this new product, the Wicked Wickah 2.0, when you arrive to hunt and removing it when you leave the stand each day, the Wicked Wickah 2.0 will steadily push the scent to the bear and bring them in to your bait earlier during legal shooting time for your hunt or your clients hunt. 
The Wicked Wickah 2.0 constantly moves scent from the device while in a stand from it's battery driven fan that works if it's windy or if it's calm, far better than relying on natural air currents to get the scent to the bears nose! 
Using these methods will greatly reduce the cost per baited site and this method will also make your sites more productive during legal hunting hours using the NEW Wicked Wickah 2.0
The NEW Wicked Wickah 2.0 also will work extremely well in States that do not allow the use of bait, if your State allows only scents to attract bear or deer this device works incredibly well! 
http://wickedwickah.com

Here is a video of it's use on whitetail deer during the 2018 deer season. 

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

The Maine Hunter... Get's Back Into Fishing!

As a young boy and into my early thirties, I use to be a very active fisherman, I was on the ice more than I was home, I was in a brook or lake, day and night, I was on the ocean whenever I could be, but due to my true passion for hunting and when I was working 24-7 in the heating industry, while raising my family, I gave up fishing and put 100% of my available time away from work and family into hunting..No regrets there! Hunting is my top priority and always will be in the outdoors.

But with my family all grown up and my current semi-retired state at age 58, I decided three years ago to buy a boat and enough fishing gear for the ice to the ocean and get back into fishing, boat #1 was too small, so I bought a bigger boat last spring that chugs up the fuel but... so far works very well. I have been adapting it to my recent love for fishing, which is lake trolling, trolling was something I never learned how to properly do until I started fishing with my best friend, Edward Jellison, who is a well versed and highly experienced fisherman and hunter that shares his knowledge with me and has helped me get started with trolling using lead core line and down riggers. So I give full credit where credit is due to my good bud, Ed!

The old 1989 Sunbird with a 88 Horse Power Johnson motor is equipped with a trolling plate, down rigger, several rod holders, a fish finder and the Bimini top, eats up gas, but it's still cheaper than monthly payments on a new boat with a 4 stroke motor that's better on fuel. I call it a disposable craft...When the motor dies..so will the hull. I will find another used boat and fish on!

Last year was a learning curve but we caught many nice lake trout and brown trout trolling on some of the hottest days of the year.  This year I have been doing a little better, not in the size department, but in the quantity with added species of Salmon and small mouth bass to the catch. Edward Jellison taught me a lot about trolling with lead core line but one other thing I learned from him was to show respect to the fisheries and practice catch and release. In my younger days of fishing... I would keep every legal fish I caught and frankly fish out some ponds. Of course I did eat them, but I now have a better outlook on Maine's fisheries and want others to experience catching trout and salmon too. Now.. fill the boat with white perch or haddock and those will be coming home for dinner! Occasionally a nice trout will become injured in the battle of hooking and reeling them in, when a fish isn't going to live on, he becomes part of a limit and eaten. Since my friend Ed showed me his passion for catch and release only one fish has become table fare last year and so far this year all fish have returned to Maine's waters I have caught!








 

  
  With each new day dawning you probably will find me on the water... enjoying the sunrises and poles bending over trolling Maine lakes!


  

Friday, November 2, 2018

The Wicked Scent Wickah ... Works Just Pissah!


I created a scent product line based on many years of using deer scents, bear scents, cover scents and using calls to bring in bucks to my stand. Most of you know I am not an antler hunter per say, I fill my freezer first and hunt big bucks second, this year was no exception except I was testing my newest product and wanted to show results when using it and the opportunity to fill a freezer and show results presented itself!. 



To purchase any of my products please go to MaineScentSecrets.com 




I created a simple contraption out of a few components that I researched and put together to make what I call the Wicked Scent Wickah, or the Wicked Wickah. It's not like other contraptions for this on the market, simply because my wicks have a higher surface to air ratio that pushes more scent out from the way the system is set up to move scent in a constant flow, that when the natural air currents pick it up swirls the scent right from the ground where it's supposed to be coming from, right to the deer's nose. I knew if I could keep deer scent flowing steadily and strong that coupled with a doe estrus bleat and doe estrus scent it would be a double slam bucks can't resist.

It took me many years to learn I needed constant scent swirling in the air currents, and not to hang my scent pads 4-5 feet off the ground, if you are using them they should be placed 6-18 inches maximum from the ground, deer don't walk around with their noses up high smelling for things like a doe in heat, they do that for things like human odors because we walk vertical and in stands, our scent is higher in the air columns! Ever notice a deer approaching your stand and you hear them blow long before you know they are there, the next thing you hear is stamping of feet and a tail goes up and off they go, deer smell everything, but when they smell natural doe estrus urine they don't smell human and it's game on baby!

I researched deer scents for several years before deciding on the farm I selected for my product lines, they have an annual inspection by an accredited veterinarian of 100% of their herd, as part of their CWD monitoring, which they have been doing for over 10 years and are Certified CWD free with the NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets as well as being Certified CWD free with The Archery Trade Association’s deer protection program. (ATA)

The key to your success is using the Wicked Wickah on your next trip out hunting. I recommend using an elevated stand when you can, set it up during mid day, a few days before you hunt it, make a mock scrape and re-freshen it with buck urine and doe dribbles daily or every other day, get in early to your stand location at least 30-45 minutes before legal shooting, place the Wicked Wickah about 15-30 yards out in front of your viewing area from your stand, place the fan end into the wind direction to force the scent to swirl coming out of the Wicked Wickah box housing. Stay in your stand until 11 AM each day before climbing down, remember to take the Wicked Wickah with you and bring it back when you return. Use a doe estrus bleat call every 3-5 minutes for two or three cycles, the little can works great, as soon as you can legally shoot or see to shoot. I call until about two hours after sunrise and then sit and observe without calling until I go in for lunch. I like to return about 1-2 PM, again placing out the Wicked Wickah and I don't start calling until 45 minutes before end of legal hours.


This is the results of using my new Wicked Scent Wickah in Maine this year, this young buck came in straight at the doe estrus scent at first light two days ago with no calling even made yet, it was 10 minutes into legal shooting time and the swamp was full of newly frozen water, the sounds of ice crunching made me look in that direction, at 200 yards I could make out movement bobbing and weaving through the ice ridden alders, he was on a dead trot coming straight in to my shooting lanes, when this deer made it within 75 yards he presented a perfect shot and I took it with my Savage .308 99C and down he went in a heap.  Meat in the freezer!

I hope my rambling helps you on your next hunt!

To purchase any of my products please go to MaineScentSecrets.com 

Monday, October 22, 2018

Using Scents To start Your Season

Making a mock scrape is very simple, I use my boot to scrape the leaves down to the dirt away, slinging the leaves and dirt in one direction to create the typical buck scrape we all see in the woods made by Mr. Buck himself! Bucks like to do this under a tree with overhanging branches are reachable from a deer browsing above them, they typically will bite a branch and twist it around secreting their own scent onto that branch, I snap a branch above my mock scrape jsut like they do.
  
I then start using "Dominant Buck Urine" (from MaineScentSecrets.com) in my mock scrapes in early October. I use a black out type trail camera placed to watch the scrape and soon the doe activity will begin at the scrape I made. After I see this activity, I start applying both "Dominant Buck and Anytime Doe Urine" when I re-freshen the scrapes. When multiple bucks start appearing along with the doe, I switch over to "Doe Estrus Urine & Dominant Buck Urine" through the rut season. The reason for using both scents is that doe will use these scrapes to let the bucks know they are checking them too and when the doe goes into estrus this triggers buck activity, as well as adding a new doe scent to a scrape using my scent products it will make does frequent the scrapes more, bringing better odds of bucks coming in during daylight hours for hunting them!  I will note that I will install tree stands at the same time as I start these mock scrapes to limit my activity near them when the bucks arrive. I like to keep my stands back as far as possible for effective range of my bow, crossbow or gun I plan to use.





In other areas that I place my stands on known deer travel ways I don't always create a mock scrape, I will walk about 100 yards in front of my stand leading the deer in range of my stand as I walk, I use an eye dropper or syringe to lay down what I call a Drop/Drip trail, I like to simulate a doe walking along dripping urine off her vent and legs, rather than simply spraying it about aimlessly!  I been doing this for several years using various scent company products, I now have the source of the best deer scent product I have ever used and bottle it under my own name product, name called MaineScentSecrets.com. If you would like to try it you can order it on my website.






At the time of year when activity is just starting to pick for breading foreplay, (usually pre-rut season late October) as soon as you start hearing people talking about shooting bucks with thick necks and stinking musky...start using the "Doe Estrus" drop/drip method! I also created a new contraption I call the "Wicked Scent Wickah" and this is when this should be cranking near you!  This is not a fool proof method, you still need to be where big bucks are and keep your own scent down wind, then have a lot of good old luck to get them bug bucks out in the daylight, but all this has worked at times for me over the years along with using a doe estrus bleat call about every five minutes, just as it's getting light or about 1/2 hour before legal shooting ends! See my other blog post on calling deer!

http://mainescentsecrets.com/