We adventure hard.

There is no stream, mountain or field we won’t explore. We have hunted birds, bears and turkeys together, and fished all over central Maine. We are always planning our next Girls’ Day in the woods.

So I didn’t think anything of it when Staci told me to call her now. I remember it was a Monday in February. I had stepped away from my Rotary meeting to make the phone call. I heard her say “triple negative” and “breast cancer” and “treatment.”

Staci was going to throw everything she had behind beating cancer, and it would be my job to be a part of her cheer squad. It is a role I took very seriously. 

The mastectomy took place in the spring, and because of the surgery and removal of lymph nodes, Staci was too weak and sore to turkey hunt. Chemotherapy was exhausting and she would be sick for days after the treatment. 

In June, while she was off the grid seeing if she could fish, I watched as Maine Game Warden Kris MacCabe read Staci’s name in the moose lottery. Zone 5 bull for September. I yelled. I left voicemails and texts, and when Staci came back into cell range, we decided she needed to get her grand slam. It was a lofty goal: Wrap up surgeries and chemo to beat breast cancer, then kill a turkey, bear, moose and deer before December. After that, we would get matching grand slam tattoos. 

First up: Bear season

Staci is an avid bear hunter and helped me get a bear for my grand slam in 2021. Her husband and son helped get the sites up and running while Staci struggled with exhaustion, nausea and weakness. She and I spent a day freshening up the sites and checking the cameras.  She lost her hair but worked to be able to climb into her stand with her rifle. In September, she was able to notch her tag, and was a quarter of the way to her goal. 

Next up: Moose week

Staci said she almost asked to bump the permit to next year because of how she was feeling but decided to stick with it. The September week was hard, with temperatures in the 70s. Moose were not moving or answering to calls. Along with her husband, Staci camped and hunted hard from sunup to sundown. She passed on a small bull the first day. She saw cows and had a bull come in but couldn’t get off an ethical shot. Finally, on Saturday the stars aligned and Staci brought home a nice bull moose. She was halfway there. 

Fall birds

I am not a fan of turkey hunting and it can be even harder in the fall. Staci had not been able to hunt in the spring, so time was limited, and being able to call in a bird was unrealistic. Luckily in the fall, we can take a bird of either sex. Staci would hunt before and after work. She was determined to get one. Instead, Staci got two birds and was a deer away from her second grand slam.

If it’s brown

Staci went into deer season with a doe tag, so she was able to shoot any deer she saw. 

Sheepishly, she told me she passed on a spike during the rifle opener because she didn’t want to use her buck tag already. Holding out for a mature deer, she hunted as much as she could during archery season and into rifle season. 

On Nov. 4, as I was having dinner with a fellow writer, I got a text. It was a photo of a doe. Grand slam complete. She had done it. 

Getting a grand slam is hard. The time and energy that goes into each hunting season is exhausting. You put in hours sitting, walking and driving with the hope an animal will walk by and you can make a good clean shot.  

Staci did not have the luxury of heading into the fall with a successful spring turkey season, but throughout the entire summer and fall, she had the drive and determination to accomplish her goal. She went through surgeries to remove the cancer, and even after chemotherapy left her feeling horrible and exhausted, she still got outside to hunt.

I am grateful for all of the adventures we have had and so happy those outings won’t stop anytime soon. Staci beat breast cancer and accomplished an incredible hunting achievement all within a year. She is an incredible inspiration. 

Next up: Those tattoos.

Erin Merrill, an award-winning writer based in central Maine, writes “Hunt & Harvest” monthly. She welcomes emails at: [email protected].