If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Maine has tried twice unsuccessfully, once in 1963 and again in 1986-1990, to reintroduce caribou to our North Woods. Does this adage apply? Did Maine give up too easily on its effort to establish a caribou population? Sometimes persistence can make dreams come true. As reported […]
outdoors in maine
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Outdoors in Maine: Maine revising game management plan
For wildlife management purposes, Maine recognizes four species: deer, bear, moose and wild turkeys. In order for state wildlife biologists and Augusta policymakers to make decisions about how best to manage our important big game animals, there must be a plan. This plan directs wildlife managers on how best to do this in a way […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Caution is the key to staying safe on ice
Each year about this time, the Maine Warden Service urges us to use extreme caution before venturing out onto any ice that may be covering Maine’s waterways. This is timely advice. On Jan. 7, Richard Dumont, 52, of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, died when his snowsled went through the ice on Messalonskee Lake. A few years […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Coyote hunt not always easy
Maine’s troubled deer population appears to be on the rebound. Two severe winters in 2008 and 2009, along with increasing predation by coyotes and bears, really took a toll. Ironically, two consecutive mild winters recently have lent to reduced deer mortality. Additionally, the deer-recovery equation has been helped along markedly by a relatively new predator: […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Dedication pays off with a rare easy buck
On average, the Reynolds family freezer winds up with some venison about every other year. The math has been surprisingly consistent over the past 50 years. Having been skunked in 2015, this past fall was to be the year to get out the Food Saver and the meat grinder. But it didn’t get off to […]
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Outdoors in Maine: ‘Threaded Journeys’ well worth the read
“Threaded Journeys” by Tom Johnson is not a conventional collection of hunting and fishing stories. In it, the author does take you on a tour de force of well-known hunting and fishing places in North America, but he spices his book thoughtfully with constructive social, political and economic advocacy. Lest this sounds like an awkward […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Backtracking on the year that was
The New Year is almost always a welcome event, even if we are all a year older. The slate is clean. As we look ahead, it’s a lot like a field of virgin snow. As we move on, the tracks we leave will take us to unseen ground. Move on, yes. But don’t forget to […]
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Outdoors in Maine: The future of wildlife management is in good hands
Every year at about this time, at all of New England’s land grant colleges, a few members of the New England Outdoor Writer’s Association (NEOWA) visit the wildlife departments of these respective colleges with a mission: to award scholarships. These scholarships are substantial. At each college, one scholarship is awarded to an outstanding wildlife ecology […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Young deer hunters need nurturing
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 […]