Porter High School - Outlook Yearbook (Kezar Falls, ME)

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a warning to the birds that old man winter is approaching rapidly. For weeks they gather. A few more come each day until what was a small band becomes a large flock. Then one clay they are gone not to be seen throughout the winter. Again Maine attracts many people to her great out-of-doors for the hunting season. Deer hunting is a favor- ite sport, and many deer are killed every year. The woods swarm with hunters and the deer have no place to hide. Thanksgiving and Christmas with their family reunions are the highlights of the early winter season. By Christmas Day the ground is covered with white, glis- tening snow, welcomed by everyone to make that joyous time of year complete. The high snowbanks pushed back by the plows look like midget mountains. The trees after a storm are loaded with snow and ice. The pines are especially beau- tiful. the green of the branches con- trasting with the white of the snow. February b r i n g s the traditional Groundhog Day, and spring is again just around the next bend. Spring, sum- mer, fall or winter, Maine is a wonderful place to live. Each season brings new, beautiful sights more marvelous than the last. PATRICIA Moons '51 HUNTING WHITETAILS Nothing, in my mind, can compare with the sudden thundering of a fright-- ened deer's hoofs, or the startling crash of brush as he is routed from his hiding place, or the flickering of a white tail waving good-bye as he bounds out of sight. Hunting whitetails brings many heart-pounding, nerve-racking moments as man pits his out-door knowledge and superior power to reason with the ani- mal instinct and cunning of a wise, old buck. A hunter who moves quietly and stops often cannot be beaten unless it is by someone who is extremely lucky. If you move quietly your chances of getting close to a deer are much better than they are if you crash along, paying little attention to dry leaves, twigs, and brush heaps. If you stop often and look around, a deer standing just out of sight might become restless and start to move. This is the kind of a chance you wait and hope for. This type of hunting is called still-hunting or stalk- ing. , Hunters talk about making a drive through a certain patch of woods. This is a technique used when a number of hunters cooperate to find the Whitetail. Deer have regular routes that they 'fol- low through the woods and special places where. they cross roads and high-- ways. When' hunters drive a strip of woodland, they rouse up and frighten the deer. By habit, the deer follow the routes that they have traveled previously and cross roads at the crossings they are familiar with. Men covering these cross- ings have a good chance to shoot the deer as they cross. But, often the deer seem to realize that hunters are trying to drive them across aroad and they will pick their way back between the hunters and many times go undetected. As important as the proper technique of trailing the deer is the question of when and where to hunt. Where you hunt should depend on the weather and the time of the season. Usually in stormy weather deer are to be found in thickets and on the protected side of mountains. At the first of the season they can be found close to fields and meadows, whereas, later on they move deeper into the woods. Although cold mornings make it hard to get out of bed,

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h ' 1 L lTE1f-eww-E THE SEASONS IN MAINE In Maine, spring is probably the most welcome time of the year. Everyone is happy to see the snow melt into puddles and small streams and disappear. Even the children are tired of their snowmen, and as they melt into heaps then into oblivion, nobody sheds any tears. Warm breezes that quietly rustle are more kindly received than the cold, harsh winds of winter. Trees slowly begin to bud and before many weeks have passed small green leaves can be distinguished. Then comes the most welcome sight of all: the robin with his bright red breast, returning from his long flight lets us know that spring has finally arrived. Spring fever also arrives almost simul- taneously, affecting various people in various ways. Some fall in love. Others daydream. And others cannot resist playing hookey to lie under a big elm tree near a deep pool and fish for trout. Spring slips into summer and schools close for a long vacation. The soft, fresh breezes of spring become the hot, humid quietness of summer. The leaves are large and green. The flowers are dis- playing their prettiest colors. Summer is really blooming. The lakes, creeks, and ponds echo with the laughter of children trying to get cool. Tourists are toasting their skin to a rich brown to show their friends who were not fortu- nate enough to spend a week or a month in the famous vacationland. Summer passes all too quickly and Labor Day marks a close to vacationing. Schools re-open and baseball finals are played. The temperature drops, the air be- comes cool and quite often crisp. Jack Frost visits Maine and tints the leaves in beautiful reds, yellows and browns. The various maple trees probably best display his artistry. Their lovely branches extending far into the sky look as though some wondrous painter had performed a miracle overnight. This beauty docs not last long, for as days become ehillier, the leaves fall, forming a colored blanket for the ground before the snow falls. The turning of the leaves seems to bc

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the experienced hunter knows hunting is best on cool, crisp days. Once the hunter has found his deer he must decide often in a few seconds how to bring him down. He should pick a definite spot to aim at. If he does not have time to take careful aim, he should not shoot. Once in a while a snap shot will bring down a deer, but more often than not the deer goes un- touched or just wounded. That is how many deer die-by the infiiction of a minor wound and the subsequent loss of blood. The neck is the most vital spot on a deer. Nine times out of ten a shot in the neck will drop a deer, but the neck is not a very large target. Unless you can shoot fairly well, you should pick a bigger part of his body to shoot for. The heart, just behind the forward shoulder, is what most hunters try to hit. It not only presents the biggest target, the chest, but it is a vital spot. Often a deer will carry a bullet in this region quite a way, but he will drop sooner or later. The head and backbone are two more vital spots, but, like the neck, they present very small targets. Pick a good spot to shoot for when your chance comes and take careful aim before firing your rifle. How many times has a deer stood and looked at a hunter then turned and loped off unscarred? Many, many times deer have been saved by a little thing called buck fever . The funny thing about buck fever is that it not only hits the novice but the old experienced hunter as well. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It shows that you have an appreciation for the beauty of one of nature's most majestic beasts. Buck fever may hit you when a deer bounds out quickly in front of you, or it may take over when you hear a deer walking, long before he shows himself. Some- times the hunter stands with his mouth open and his eyes popping Out, unable to move as the deer disappears through the bushes. At other times he will stand jacking his rifle rapidly, not firing a shell. It may attack the hunter in many different ways, but its effect is that of leaving him utterly powerless to bring down his prey. You can read all kinds of literature on deer hunting and you can listen to other people tell of their experiences but you cannot fully appreciate the thrill of it until you go yourself and have some experiences of your own to tell about. Find out for yourself what hunt- ing whitetails is like. Dwioufr Pu-:RCE '50 STOCK CAR RACING During the last few years stock car racing has come to be quite an exciting sport. The racing rules are drawn up by the racing club. If one wishes to enter a car on the track, he must send in his application to the club. When the club accepts him 'he is entitled to race his car. To make the racing fair and safe there are rules which apply both to the car and the driver. In order that every- one can have an equal chance of win- ning a race, rules require that a stock car may have only twenty-five percent of racing car equipment. All windows are removed except the windshield. The seats are taken out and the driver sits on a bucket type seat. All gauges except the oil gauge are removed from the dash. The inside of the car is reinforced with heavy steel for safety, and all wir- ing is metal-covered to prevent fire in case the car has an accident. Before the car is allowed to race it has to be thoroughly checked over from the