WOODSTOCK — In just her second year of hunting Aleah Mack nailed it. By shooting a turkey, deer, moose and bear during the 2021 season she has claimed the grand slam, a feat that most hunters go a lifetime without completing.

Even the chance to go for the grand slam is a gamble requiring nothing but luck. This year Maine’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department awarded 3,480 through a lottery that drew more than 72,000 applicants. Aleah’s name was picked and the family made plans to spend a week at Rose Lake Camps in northern Maine, the same place where her older sister Lexi shot her first moose in 2014.

Aleah’s went hunting for the first time last year after completing her hunting safety course through 4H camp at Bryant Pond. She said when she went out with her grandfather, Rick Mack, she found it a bit nerve wracking. She was not sure if she would see anything. When she does, sometimes she gets a little excited.

“She was a little impatient, if you know what I mean,” said Rick. “We had the most fun turkey hunting last spring, calling them in. Sometimes they’d go right around us. It might take an hour and a half before we could get a shot.

“She got a deer last fall. We do all our own cutting and she’s been helping with that for years. So she was able to skin her own deer.”

This year, with moose permit secured, Aleah got her turkey and then shot a young black bear on her first day out. It was the first bear she ever saw in the woods.

The moose she got was a young bull, which again luck played into, just slightly. The weather when they were at Ross Lake was warmer than usual so there was not a lot of activity in the woods, but more hunters looking for opportunity. She took down the moose on the very last day of their hunting trip.

Rick has got close to his own grand slam during a couple of seasons but came up short. His Midas touch seems to be in teaching the women in his family efficient hunting skills. His wife Lisa is a hunter as well as all three of their girls. One daughter narrowly missed out on the grand slam in 2009. Like Aleah, Lexi got her grand slam at the age of 11 in her second year of hunting.

To Rick’s chagrin, his three grandsons have not shown much interest in hunting, although Lisa added that one may join in so it is not just the girls getting all the trophy glory.

At the time of the Macks’ interview there was still time to do more hunting. Aleah had one more tag she could use with a muzzle loader if she chooses, although she has never shot with one.

Next up, for sure, is to get back outside and hit the lakes for ice fishing season.