Posted inEncore

‘Moonlight and Magnolias’ leads to madness and mayhem

Comedic whirlwind focuses on real-life Hollywood in 1939 LEWISTON — What would you get if you put three legendary moviemakers in a locked office full of peanuts and bananas for a five-day marathon screenplay rewrite of a classic 1930s book? Why, “Gone with the Wind,” of course. And that’s the basis for “Moonlight and Magnolias,” […]

Posted inLocal Sports

Outdoors: Story of a shell game played to excess

When it comes to the surreal realm of American gun­ control politics, the adage “truth is stranger than fiction” really applies. Just when you think that you’ve heard it all, something even more utterly outrageous pops into the news headlines. In the nation’s capital, (which has for a long time been the epicenter of the […]

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Posted inLocal Sports

A women’s place is outside and in the woods, too

When my wife Diane retired from teaching in 1999 and asked me to “bring her along” as a Maine deer hunter, I, and our two deer hunting sons, thought that was great! She took to it easily, and has become a capable hunter who has put meat on the table many times. Although Diane’s late-in-life […]

Posted inLocal Sports

An abandoned cabin sparks an interest in its past

I like a good mystery. And I like it even better when the mystery gets solved. Two years ago, during a June fishing trip to Aroostook County’s DeBouillie area, a fishing buddy and I came across the bare remains of on old cabin along the trail to the fire tower above the lake. It was […]

Posted inLocal Sports

Saying goodbye and welcoming a bill with common sense

Time and tide have taken another outdoorsman from our midst. I first met Bill Irwin in his book “Blind Courage,” which chronicled an amazing God-inspired feat. Bill, blind since young adulthood, walked the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia to Maine. Most of us could not endure that arduous trek even with the benefit of […]

Posted inLocal Sports

Outdoors in Maine: Gulf offers grouper galore

You gotta love the Florida Keys, especially if you are a fisherman and have a boat or know somebody who has a boat and likes company. You have your choice of waters. The blue water of the Atlantic on the east side of the Keys peninsula or the green water of the Gulf on the […]

Posted inLocal Sports

Tony’s sharpeners on the cutting edge

To the disappointment of many who know me, I have never been a detail man. Navy boot camp tried to change me. Making a tight bunk that would bounce a quarter, buffing black shoes with tiny cotton balls for hours, or making Brasso mirrors out of Navy collar devices only served, eventually, to drive me […]

Posted inLocal Sports

Bad bow hunting law bagged before harm done

Back in September, under the headline “Sneaky New Law,” I wrote this: If you are a Maine bowhunter or recreational archer, fasten your seat belt! You are not gonna believe this. Among the assortment of new sportsmen-related state laws that got squeezed through under the public radar was LD 540, which, I predict, is destined […]

Posted inLocal Sports

Is freedom just another word for nothin’ left to lose?

Freedom. It’s a simple but powerful word in our national vocabulary. For reasons unknown to me, the word has been on my mind of late. Last week, while fishing the Back Country of the Florida Keys, my son-in-law unhooked a small shark from Diane’s fishing line. Heaving the toothy critter into the air off the […]

Posted inLocal Sports

Outfitting hunting camps with special lottery draw good idea

Maine moose are worth money. Lots of money. If you combine the revenues from the moose hunt, along with the tourism income from moose viewing, you are talking literally millions of dollars for this state. It is income that is spread out among outfitters, meat cutters, hunting lodges, guides, rural stores, gas stations, and many, […]