By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Andrew Higgins got his buck Saturday, and it was big one.

A Durham resident, Higgins got his buck in Durham but made the trip to Burnie’s Bait Shop on Lisbon Street to have it tagged and weighed.

There might have been closer tagging stations, but he didn’t pass any on his way in. Besides, he wanted to take advantage of Burnie’s scale to get the weight verified. He was pretty sure it’d qualify for the Biggest Bucks of Maine Club, an annual listing by the state.

At 235 pounds, the nine-point buck made the list easily.

“You’re not going to see many bigger than that between now and next week,” Higgins said.

It was the ninth deer Burnie Eveleth had tagged Saturday by 7 p.m., and the biggest he’d had in about eight years.

The night wasn’t over, however. He’s had calls from two more hunters eager to bring their kill in to be weighed, so he planned to stay open a little later.

Nine deer for the first day of hunting season is respectable, Eveleth said. No record-breaker, but a good day.

Last year, hunters brought in 3,012 deer on opening day. Eveleth tagged 197 deer last hunting season. So, there’s a long way to go yet.

“I figure next week, that’s when we’ll see the real business,” Eveleth said.

Rick Stone, a state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife warden, backed him up. Saturday offered perfect hunting weather for the first day of deer season. Even so, the number of hunters out was about average.

“I checked on about 22 hunters myself, and we had about seven violations,” he said. He started Saturday in Lisbon Falls and wound his way around the county by sunset, with stops in Sabattus, Auburn, Minot, Mechanic Falls and Greene.

“That’s the way we all are, one guy covering seven towns,” he said.

Stone said he did notice hunters going out in packs of six or seven Saturday. He ticketed several for driving deer – sending one hunter out to try and scare game back to the bigger group. That’s dangerous, illegal in Maine and odd behavior this early in the season.

“Usually, you figure they want to go out on their own and try and get their deer,” Stone said. “Driving deer is something they do in desperation, when it’s late in the season.”

People with concerns about hunters or poaching should call the state police, at 800-482-0730 or the Operation Game Thief line at 800 ALERT US.