Time and tide have taken another outdoorsman from our midst. I first met Bill Irwin in his book “Blind Courage,” which chronicled an amazing God-inspired feat. Bill, blind since young adulthood, walked the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia to Maine. Most of us could not endure that arduous trek even with the benefit of […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Gulf offers grouper galore
You gotta love the Florida Keys, especially if you are a fisherman and have a boat or know somebody who has a boat and likes company. You have your choice of waters. The blue water of the Atlantic on the east side of the Keys peninsula or the green water of the Gulf on the […]
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Bad bow hunting law bagged before harm done
Back in September, under the headline “Sneaky New Law,” I wrote this: If you are a Maine bowhunter or recreational archer, fasten your seat belt! You are not gonna believe this. Among the assortment of new sportsmen-related state laws that got squeezed through under the public radar was LD 540, which, I predict, is destined […]
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Is freedom just another word for nothin’ left to lose?
Freedom. It’s a simple but powerful word in our national vocabulary. For reasons unknown to me, the word has been on my mind of late. Last week, while fishing the Back Country of the Florida Keys, my son-in-law unhooked a small shark from Diane’s fishing line. Heaving the toothy critter into the air off the […]
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The lion in winter
Maine’s tallest mountain attracts hikers even at the height of our coldest season Imagine yourself waking before dawn in a strange frozen landscape and squirming out of your sleeping bag under an open-air lean-to to greet sub-zero temperatures and biting wind. Bundling up in several layers of your warmest clothes, and taking extra care not […]
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Outfitting hunting camps with special lottery draw good idea
Maine moose are worth money. Lots of money. If you combine the revenues from the moose hunt, along with the tourism income from moose viewing, you are talking literally millions of dollars for this state. It is income that is spread out among outfitters, meat cutters, hunting lodges, guides, rural stores, gas stations, and many, […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Antler restrictions merit further discussion
More and more Maine deer hunters I speak with are asking the question: Why not impose antler restrictions as part of Maine’s fall deer hunting regulations? The belief is that if we restrict the antler size on a legal deer we will in time be bagging more trophy class bucks with bigger racks. Other states […]
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Outdoors in Maine: The ‘B’ waters redo
The carpenter who I helped rebuild my lakeside camp into a year-round house had a saying that he used whenever one of us made a mistake. When a nail wasn’t driven straight or a stud was cut too short, “Paul,” he would quip,” it’s only a mistake if you can’t fix it.” A rationalization maybe, […]
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Comprehensive hunting licenses make sense
If you buy just a resident Maine hunting license, the cost is $25. If you buy all of the other optional licenses to go along with it — archery license, black-powder permit, turkey licenses and so forth — the cost, according to Bill Swan the director of licensing for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Baxter Park brookies
If all goes according to plan, Baxter State Park’s fabled brook trout waters will be stocked next fall with a different strain of brook trout one more native to the area. Let’s back up a minute. Over the years, Maine’s hatchery-raised brook trout have traditionally been the progeny of wild trout of two different […]