The gathering of wild things for home consumption has always been regarded by my family as one of life’s most basic pleasures. Whether it’s picking fiddlehead greens along a stream bed in late April, picking fall mushrooms to accompany the anticipated November venison back straps, or plucking big, fat juicy black raspberries in late August, […]
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Outdoors in Maine: New tick removal system
It may seem early to be discussing ticks. After all, what self-respecting parasite would be caught flitting about amid ice-covered fields and sub-zero temperatures, right? But the tick season in Maine will be here before you know it. And, ticks, and the Lyme disease that they can cause, is becoming an ever-increasing welfare concern for […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Wildlife Restoration Projects: Part II
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 […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Wildlife restoration projects: Part 1
When it comes to the restoration or reintroduction of wild species into areas where they once existed — before man over-harvested them or put up a parking lot in their habitat — the well-intentioned projects have borne mixed results. Massachusetts, I have been told, is looking to reintroduce Timber rattlesnakes to the Quabbin Reservoir, which […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Crossbow rules can be confusing
Although crossbows have never held a lot of appeal for me, I have hunted with a borrowed crossbow in the deer-rich state of Maryland. For me it just seems awkward to carry while still hunting, and it doesn’t have the visual appeal of conventional longbows, recurves or compound bows. As a hunting device it is […]
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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: 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: 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 […]