On the windy afternoon of Nov. 4, Robbie Flint, 29, and his brother Gage Boyington, 18, headed to a low-lying swamp in Maine. The site is only about 30 miles from the coast, where Flint makes a living fishing for scallops and lobster. The property itself is owned by a friend from Flint who hunted there for 20 years.
“I started hunting with my dad and I knew it very well,” Flint said outdoor living. “We captured a very large buck on a trail camera and learned it was walking through a swamp at night. That afternoon, Gage walked up to the top of a hill and sat near the swamp watching the buck, while I went to a lowland area.”
Flint sat on the ground with his back against a large tree in the woods, which provided a funnel point for deer emerging from the swamp. There were some fields and scattered apple trees nearby, providing enough food for a dollar.
“We thought about building a tree stand, but we didn’t want to scare people with all the activities required to build a tree stand,” said Flint, who lives in Cushing. “So, we sat on the ground, just like my grandfather did.”
Friend Rude in Flint scored a giant 222-inch Atypical rack. Photo courtesy Robbie Flint
Later that afternoon, Flint leaned quietly against a tree, bleating as much as Primos could call. Five minutes later, he heard something behind him near the swamp. Twenty minutes passed without him seeing or hearing anything.
“I thought that must be the deer I heard, so I slowly turned my head and looked around the tree,” he said. “I had a strange feeling that someone was watching me. I didn’t move and five minutes later I made two more half-bleats with can call.
“I looked down one of my shooting lanes, and just 10 yards away, I saw a deer’s nose, head and rack cross into the lane. I raised the rifle, put the crosshair over his shoulder, fired, and the deer dropped dead.”
The 150-grain Winchester bullet in his 7mm Remington bolt-action rifle did the job well. The deer was motionless.
“I knew I crushed him,” he said. “He had his head down, like a buck in heat. I often use doe urine, and I think the buck picked up on that smell, plus the call of the can, which made him come closer.”
His brother Gage, who was only 200 yards away, heard Flint fire. He immediately called his brother, and Flint told Gage that he had shot an 8-pointer. He walked over to where Gage was hunting, and together the brothers returned to where Flint’s huge stag had died.
“We walked up to my buck and I picked up his head and when I saw the stand, my knees went weak,” Flint said. “I didn’t really know it was a lot of money until we came back to get it.”
The brothers celebrated and then began the arduous task of dragging out the massive buck. They didn’t conduct field treatments there because of concerns the guts would attract coyotes, and Flint wanted Gage to return to the area to get the money.
Two brothers lead the stag in a brutal drag through the swamp. Photo courtesy Robbie Flint
“This was the worst deer drag ever. Sometimes we only went a foot before we had to take a break. There was a lot of downed timber and brush.”
They finally got the buck on the road, field-processed the buck, and loaded it onto a truck where they could get a better look at the antlers.
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“It’s an atypical 26 points, some people think it’s up to 29 points,” Flint said. “I didn’t try to measure it with a tape measure because I didn’t know where to start. A friend roughly measured it at 222 inches.”
Flint said his brother had just started deer hunting and seeing the huge buck excited young Gage.
“He’s trying to make money,” Flint said. “My dad gave me that rifle and I shot bucks with it before [he] Passed away… I wish my dad could be here with me and Gage. It was one of the best times of our lives. We will always relive and enjoy this moment. “