Traditionally, the first Monday after Thanksgiving is opening day for deer season. This year, that day is Nov. 26, and Massachusetts deer hunters will take to the woods at the break of dawn. Because of the mild winter conditions of last year, wildlife managers are predicting deer at record-breaking seasons. If you are planning to hunt this season, take advantage of the opening day crowd. Remember, the average hunter never travels any more than two to three hundred yards into the woods from his vehicle. Get up and out an hour earlier and put your compass or GPS unit to work. Take a reading and get in deep! Determine where the most hunting pressure will come from, and position yourself to be on the receiving end of a wary buck. Typically on opening day whitetails will be out of their comfort zones and moving unnaturally. Set up near a major escape route that leads to the thickest of the thick, and play caution to the wind. Be patient, stay put, and be ready, it usually takes a while for deer to get there. Remember, mid morning is when antsy hunters get up to move and could unknowingly push a heavyweight buck by a patient hunter. Locally the season will be open for two full weeks until one half hour after sunset on Dec. 8. The best opportunity to encounter a deer is still from the central part of the state to the east. As a bonus, Black Powder Season starts on Dec. 10 and runs to the end of the year. Don’t forget, you need an antlerless permit to shoot a doe and a primitive firearm stamp. Good luck!It looks like we’re going to have a banner year at deer camp in Maine. On opening day we had over a dozen deer sightings; all were does except for one. That is the most we have ever seen on an opening day! Since then we have hung two deer. On the first Saturday I was fortunate to take a nice 8-point buck, and Don Murray took a nice doe last Saturday morning. And yes, there is a tale to tell about the hunt. A well-placed shot does not guarantee a harvested deer! Often you hear about the deer that you know you hit, because of the body reaction of the deer. Well, here is a heads-up. Just because you know that you hit them doesn’t mean that they will bleed! This deer never bled whatsoever. We kept making circles around where it was last seen and it took us over an hour and a half of tracking. If it wasn’t for Murray’s last hunch about where to look, we never would have found it. We were really lucky to find this deer!Opening Day for New Hampshire’s firearms deer season took place last Wednesday, on Nov. 14. Many of the state’s estimated 60,000 deer hunters will go afield during this season, which runs through Dec. 9, except in WMU A in northern New Hampshire, where it closes on Dec. 2. Early indications suggest that an abundant, healthy deer population is providing excellent opportunities for hunters, according to Kent Gustafson, the Deer Project Leader for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. As of Nov. 4, 2007, archery and muzzleloader hunters had taken an estimated 4,518 deer, a 28 percent increase from 2006 at this point in the season.If you are lucky enough to harvest a deer, the following is a list of local deer checking stations in this district: MassWildlife District HQ, Harris St., Acton, 978-263-4347; Willard Brook State Park, Rte 119, Ashby, 978-597-8802; Martin Burns WMA, Orchard St., Newbury, 978-465-8012; Harold Parker State Forest; 301 Middleton Rd., North Andover, 978-686-3391; Hunter`s Trading Post, 427 Washington St., Weymouth, 781-331-1151; Merrimac Sports B&T, 130 E. Main St., Merrimac, 978-346-8835; Danvers Fish and Game, 20 Birch Rd. Middleton, 978-774-9870, and Haverhill Hounds R&G Club, Chadwick Rd., Haverhill, 508-688-6991.In closing our column, I would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.All for now.