As you get on in years you’ll discover many new things about yourself — I mean besides wrinkled skin and age spots. Some things in your life take on a different perspective: food, for example. The question, “What’s for dinner?” seems more important than it might have been a few decades ago. So it only […]
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Posted inLocal Sports
Keep an eye on bear hunts in Colorado, Massachusetts
Back during both of Maine’s bear referendums, there was a common refrain from the Humane Society of the United States ( HSUS) and others bent on closing down Maine’s traditional bear hunts over bait. It went like this: “Bear hunters in Maine do not need to set up bait sites in order to hunt bear. […]
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A fish story that you can sink your talons into
As every angler who has ever wetted a line there knows, the West Branch of the Penobscot River — not far below Ripogenus Dam — is a special tailwater. The Big Eddy, below the Telos bridge, has been attracting devoted salmon anglers for decades. The Big Eddy is aptly named. The cold, fast-flowing water that […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Guide candidates face stiffer test of skills, knowledge
The testing procedure to become a registered Maine guide just got a little tougher. The Maine Fish and Wildlife Department ( DIF&W), recently announced that successful guide applicants will now face a new testing component: a test of hands on skills. Previously, a guide applicant had to pass a written exam and an oral exam […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Managing moose numbers best left to pros
There was a time, a decade or more ago, that Maine’s wildlife officials were making educated guesses about Maine’s estimated moose population, which was said to be between 20,000 and 30,000 animals. Wildlife planners did a pretty good job calculating our deer numbers using an assortment of timetested formulas and indices. Not so with moose. […]
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Tales of a dedicated Maine warden — part II
Sometime in the 1980s, Warden John Ford’s dream job took a turn for the worst. Under the leadership of the then controversial Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Glenn Manual, Maine Game Wardens were ordered to work no more than a 40-hour week and to vastly curtail their mileage. “It got to a point where I just […]
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Tales of a dedicated Maine warden, part I
John Ford’s Story: Part 1 Warden Sgt. Roger Wolverton gently suggested that Ford and Crabtree unstrap their gunbelts before going behind closed doors. “The bad guy shot the state police dog. I was in the bushes and suddenly I was facing a gun barrel. It wasn’t my first brush with death. My heart was pumping, […]
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Deer management study raises eyebrows, plenty of questions
The Fish and Wildlife Department recently released its official deer harvest report. Deer hunters in Maine harvested 22,490 deer last fall. This number is a far cry from the deer harvests in the past. It’s a slight improvement, however, and the Fish and Wildlife Department, understandably, made the best of a bad situation with a […]
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Good or bad, bass’ popularity grows in Maine
Bass vs. brookies. Which do you prefer? Why do anglers tend to gravitate toward one of the other? When I was a youngster, my Dad broke me in on small, alder-choked streams that gave up small trout when the worm passed them by. I loved it. Later, as a teen I spent many June hours […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Deer are big business
For more than 100 years Maine has been the deer hunter’s destination spot for those who want to hunt big deer in the North Woods. Although a decline in deer numbers in Maine, especially in the big woods, has resulted in fewer nonresident deer hunters flocking to the Pine Tree State, deer hunting by residents […]