Maine’s rich and colorful outdoor heritage has over the years produced a parade of prominent and not-so-prominent personalities, all who helped shape and imprint this memorable and lasting legacy. Greenville bush pilot Dick Folsom was a man who left his mark in the annals of Maine’s outdoor history. After serving in the Army Air Force […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Bogs demand hunters' utmost respect
For me, Maine bogs have always held an allure. It may be the deer hunter in me. The buck of my dreams is always seen in a bog, ghosting its way silently on the mossy ground, weaving slowly between gnarled old cedar trees and grey, weathered deadfall. There is a dusting of snow underfoot. The […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Section of Penobscot River is one of the best whitewater trips in state
A long-lost former acquaintance of mine, who took far too many chances as a young man, once mused: “If it ain’t scary, it ain’t no fun.” He would have enjoyed a ride in a rubber raft down the West Branch of the Penobscot River below the dam at Ripogenus Lake. This section of the river […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Trying to get a handle on state's moose population
Maine’s newly released 10-year Big Game Management Plan clearly claims that, when it comes to managing our biggest and most popular big game animal, there is uncertainty. Moose ticks are the wild card. The 64 million dollar question is: How are moose ticks impacting our moose population? In 2010, about the time that wildlife biologist […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Pact aims to boost Atlantic salmon numbers
Not a lot of Atlantic salmon have danced off the end of my Sage 9-weight fly rod over the years, but just enough to make me a believer. There is no other angling experience quite like it. Not even the 64- pound Alaskan King salmon that a guide netted for me on the Kenai River […]
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Outdoors in Maine: The debate is still out on alewife runs
Smelt-runs up lake tributaries are always a sight to see. Some are better than others. The first one you ever see — with thousands of slithering, wiggling silver fish fighting their way upstream under the glow of the flashlight — leaves an impression. So does a run of alewives, or so-called river herring. Have you ever seen […]
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Outdoors in Maine: State has to control its excess of big game
In the realm of wildlife management, we have come a long way since the days of Aldo Leopold, the American father of enlightened wildlife stewardship. Leopold in his writings and teachings warned about the destructive impact that industrial progress and technology was having on America’s wildlife. In fact, wildlife planning, protection and well-funded conservation efforts […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Book offers insight into grouse hunting, the outdoors
Art Wheaton is the “perfect storm” kind of guy to write a classy, keepsake book about hunting the king of game birds. For a lot of reasons. Art, a son of the late Downeast guide Woodie Wheaton, cut his teeth on grouse and gun dogs. He and his family moved to Forest City (near Princeton) […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Despite lack of tally, deer permits on the rise
The scolding took place more than 20 years ago, when I was press officer for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “Hey, Paul, you’ve got to be kidding me! It’s March and you guys still don’t have the tally on last fall’s deer kill?” asked the New England outdoor editor of a national […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Is it time for a spring bear hunt?
My wife, Diane, half-whispered and half-yelled at me: “Paul, come downstairs quick.” Standing in the shadows of the half-light by the kitchen window, she was pointing out by the bird feeder. A large black bear was standing on all fours not 15 feet from the sliding glass door on which it had slathered its drool […]