At deer camp, when we are not out in the woods hunting deer, we are often inside the camp talking about deer hunting. One of the topics this time around at deer camp was the increasing visibility of youthful deer hunters, in this publication and in other daily and weekly newspapers. It used to be […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Gift ideas for sportsmen
Sportsmen love their toys. Of course, they prefer to consider these toys as indispensable tools for the outdoors. Sometimes the best gift one can give to an outdoorsman is a tool or device that he might not either think to buy for himself or feel comfortable buying. For example, my mother-in-law always had an uncanny […]
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Outdoors in Maine: The foliage theory
Honestly now, do you ever remember a more magnificent Maine autumn? October is always a special time in Maine, but wasn’t there something extraordinary, this time around, about the oranges of the tamaracks, the crimsons of the swamp maples and the yellows of the poplars? Or was it merely that my gray hairs have heightened […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Blood Trackers track down wounded deer
Most deer hunters will sooner or later in their hunting careers wound a deer and not recover it. It happens. The causes differ. A rushed shot. Buck fever. A gun with an inadequate caliber. A bullet’s impact or trajectory compromised by a tree limb. Often, particularly with inexperienced hunters, shots at a deer are taken […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Still deer hunting, after all these years
Back when America produced real leaders, one of them — Gen. Douglas MacArthur — said in one of his famous speeches that “old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” Maybe the same is true of old sportsmen. As a stalwart deer hunter from the Old School, I’m confronting a new social dynamic: most of my contemporary […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Question 3 would be nearly impossible to enforce
One of the best reasons to show up at the polls on election day, November 8, in Maine is the opportunity to vote against Question 3, which would require the so-called Universal Background Check (UBC) for most transfers of firearms between private individuals. There are multiple arguments advanced by proponents and opponents of this question […]
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Outdoors in Maine: A sobering trip to Elephant Mountain
On January 24th, 1963, a fraternity house at the University of Maine was my home away from home. NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s mother hadn’t been born. At about 3 p.m. that afternoon, as I headed across campus in a biting January wind, life was not so carefree for nine U.S. Air Force flyers aboard a […]
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Outdoors in Maine: The truck hunters
For me, grouse hunting has never been the same after losing my little setter Sally. She was the connection for it all, really. Watching her work a bird was pure joy. She was imbued thoroughly with the gun-dog DNA. When her adrenaline pumped and she got all “birdy,” she sometimes forgot that we were a […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Two towns allowing ATVs on paved roads
In rural Maine, the ownership and use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) of every make and description has become a way of life. This ATV presence has taken off like a rocket leaving the launch pad at Cape Kennedy. According to Maine state officials, ATVs generate $250 million dollars a year in revenue. This growth phenomenon […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Cool is the rule for meat to taste neat
Whether its hunting deer, bear, moose or elk, a meat hunter I have always been. And I have learned over the years that once an animal is down, taking proper care of the meat pays off at the dinner table. Early and proper cooling of wild meat is the key. Depending on the critter and […]