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: Big buck hunters share common threads
There are deer hunters and, then, there are buck hunters. Which are you? Of course, you say, we are all buck hunters, one way or another. Any Maine deer hunter who does not have a doe tag is a buck hunter, right? True, but there are a few stalwart deer hunters in Maine who — […]
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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: 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: The National Monument to Kafka
Anyone who follows the news closely should not have been surprised by President Barack Obama’s latest pen stroke: the formal creation of Maine’s new national monument, Katahdin Woods and Waters. You could see it coming a mile away. Governor Paul LePage’s cynical comment that “the fix was in” was not off the mark. Don’t get […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Loons can be, well, loony
We have a loon in our downstairs bathroom. No, it’s not swimming around in the tub; it is the focal point of a lovely acrylic painting we bought at a Maine art show. We also have loons out in front of our place, real ones. Our place is on a lake. How blessed we are, […]
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Buck Stockers threat to Maine’s trout resources
By now it is no secret — especially among sportsmen and anglers — that there is a monster loose upon the lands and waters of Maine: the Bucket Stocker. Like Bigfoot, the Bucket Stocker is rarely seen but is out there nonetheless. We know this because more and more non-indigenous fish species (invasives) are being […]
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Universal background checks would be a bad deal for Maine
On its face, Maine’s citizen initiative referendum process has the look of pure, unadulterated democracy in its finest hour. After all, what could be more basic than a grass roots mechanism that allows citizens with a cause to take an important social question directly to the voters. Like so much today within the political arena, […]
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Lucky ticket holders prepare early for moose hunt
Once again the annual Maine Moose Lottery is over. Like Power Ball or any of a dozen other games of chance, there are winners and losers. Fortunately, for the moose, there are far more of the latter than the former. This year 2,140 moose permits were drawn. This is 675 fewer tags than last year. […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Protecting shooting ranges
Unless you belong to a private rifle and pistol club, finding a place to sight in your deer rifle or simply to practice with a firearm is becoming increasingly problematic in Maine. There was a day when all you needed to do was to find an old gravel pit, set up a target and plink […]