Colbie Page, 14, of Dixfield used a gun passed down from her grandmother to shoot her first buck.
Her grandmother Nancy Page had used the .35 caliber Remington to shoot her first deer. Her father Michael Page of Lincoln also used that gun. It was a family tradition.
Colbie was with her father and her grandfather, also Michael Page, to get a heater for their hunting shack in Penobscot County. The trio were riding down the camp road when they saw an eight-point buck standing just off the road.
Colbie got out of the vehicle, grabbed her gun and walked toward the animal in the woods. She shot it with her grandmother’s gun. It bolted deeper into the marshy area where there were trees down. Colbie wanted to run after it, she said, but her father told her to give it a few minutes.
They found the dead deer a few yards away.
The young hunter tried to gut the deer herself, but her grandfather saw her struggling so he took over and used the opportunity to teach her some techniques.
She helped drag the buck out of the woods.
“I tried to do it by myself but it was too heavy,” Colbie said. “They always get hung up on the trees.”
The buck weighed 160 pounds.
A taxidermist will make a head and shoulder mount for her and the family will eat the meat.
Colbie shot a doe last year and she has killed several grouse.
What was her favorite thing about the hunt?
“Hunting with my Dad to get my first buck and using Nana and Papa’s gun,” Colbie said.
