Doug Kane II, 23, of Dover-Foxcroft has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He shot his 13th buck — an 8-pointer — during Thanksgiving week.
Kane said hunting is a family tradition, which makes the experience of getting a deer more special.
Right: He was 16 in 2017 when he shot his 213-pound buck. Credit: Courtesy of Douglas Kane II
The family has a big hay barn on their farm where the deer is hung before it’s butchered. He likes it when there is a deer hanging in the barn for Thanksgiving and family and friends can come see it.
That’s also part of the family tradition.
Kane, whose father Doug Kane is a regional biologist in Greenville for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said he shot the 129-pound buck from the family’s double treestand that overlooked a deer food plot the family maintains.
The plot has nutrient-rich fodder such as clover and alfalfa in it, and Kane II had seen the animal on camera during the summer. It wasn’t the biggest buck. There were two that likely would weigh in at more than 200 pounds that had frequented the food plot, Kane II said.
Kane II shot the buck with a 30.06 in the last half hour of daylight while the animal was intent on looking for does. He hit the top of its lungs and the bottom of the backbone.
“It’s a lot of luck, but not as easy (to get a deer in the food plot) as it may seem,” he said.
The family has plot hounds and hunt a lot of different animals, he said.
Kane II, who is the director of the Jim Robinson Field House in Dover-Foxcroft, has the racks from his 13 bucks on his walls, including his two biggest animals, weighing in at 213 and 208.
Kane has a criminal justice degree with the intent to be a warden, he said, but may go for his Maine guide’s license instead.
“We live and breathe the Maine woods and we’ve been successful,” he said.
