Basil Powers spreads out two buckets of corn for the white-tailed deer he and his wife feed. Feeding deer is a tradition that dates back to 1969 and beyond for Basil and Harriet Powers of Coplin Plantation. The numbers increase as the winter intensifies, with as many as 200 being spotted during the harsh weather in February. (BJ Bangs photos) COPLIN PLANTATION - - With just a few hours left in hunting season, Harriet Powers was just hoping that Allie, a large buck, would be back this winter.

She and her husband Basil, 76, have been feeding deer for years, since 1969, carrying on a tradition that was started decades ago by her mother.

Men in orange hovered near their extensive property on Kenebago Road posted "No Hunting." But when they looked over and saw 18 white-tailed deer feeding, it must have been quite a temptation —you could almost feel them hope the deer would pass over the road and become open game. Basil begins feeding the deer in late fall, feeding them out back during hunting season. Once it's over, he'll feed the deer out front, so people can have a better look at them.

Basil feeds the deer twice a day, morning and late afternoon. As the winter progresses, so does the herd. Basil says the most they've had is 200, with it not being uncommon for them to have 150 in February.

Last year was a tough winter on the deer. They haven't seen Allie since then.

Some have names, mostly the big bucks. "I had a hard enough time naming six kids, say anything about 150 deer," Basil jokes. But some are special. There's Amos. "He was pretty bad when he left here last year. The winter or the coyotes might have got him."

There's PeaWee, a little one that's hanging out this year. Then, there was Jack. He was really something. There was Archie, Charlie and Granny. Coyotes had ripped part of her hide rough out of her. These deer have particular markings on their horns, and Basil took out about a half dozen sets of horns from a box in the kitchen that had been picked up after being shed around their property and told whose they were. "See that, there's a particular spike there. There's another pair, they have that same spike."

Basil takes the grain in buckets, loads them on his tractor, and takes them out a few hundred feet from the house. Standing in the Powers' kitchen, you can see the deer coming out of the woods, across the field. It's quite a sight. A lot of people come out just to see the deer. When hunting is over, they let people drive into the driveway and get a close up look. And people enjoy the deer, so much so that they leave monetary contributions, and kids, well, they've left some outstanding hand-made thank you notes. The help is appreciated. They went through eight tons of grain last year.

Basil was once a hunter himself, but after starting to feed the deer, he couldn't see continuing with that sport. "It didn't seem right to feed them and then shoot them," he said.

However, he does have a rifle stand on his front porch, and when asked about it, he said, "that's for the coyotes." They're so many and they'll come up and five or six of them just tear a deer apart.

At feeding time, the deer go through their territorial antics. They play and run and sometimes they fight for the grain. But regardless, they are quite a sight to see and watch. They must be as the Powers have made quite a commitment to feed them and keep them coming back year after year.