The Maine Sportsman March 2023 Digital Edition

Sportsman The Maine

March 2023 • $4.99

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Overnighting on the Ice P. 24

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2 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ———————————————————————————————————————————————

Maine Sporting Camps & Lodges — An Historic Maine Tradition — Shoreline Camps

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Shoreline Camps SHORELINE, on Big Lake at the mouth of the fabled Grand Lake Stream, has been welcoming sportsmen and families to the pristine shores of Big Lake for over 60 years. Shoreline offers eight great cabins in a great location.

Open-water fishing season opens April ice-out. Spring fishing is world class. Fly fish Grand Lake Stream, or slow troll Big Lake for salmon.

June begins smallmouth bass season. Big Lake is one of Maine’s trophy smallmouth bass lakes.

Summer brings families that enjoy swimming, canoeing and kayaking, hiking and fishing, July through August. Fall brings on the landlocked salmon run, and group-event season.

Whether vacationing with two or 20, Shoreline Camps is the place to be.

Well-appointed seasonal and year-round housekeeping cottages provide everything needed for a long week-end, weekor month-long stay in the quiet beauty of the Down East Lakes Region.

Big Lake and the surrounding fields and forests are well-known for excellent grouse and turkey hunting. The island-dotted lake is a kayak paddler’s paradise, with boating, swimming, snowmobiling and ice fishing, hiking and ATV trails making Shoreline Camps a four-season Maine experience.

Big Lake is one of Maine’s largest lakes, encompassing almost 18,000 acres, a maximum depth of 70 feet, and measuring 70 miles in perimeter. It draws anglers from across the country, and Grand Lake Stream fly fishing is world-renowned.

Local Registered Maine Guides are available for hire to assist you in catching trophy fish, or finding bear, moose, or inland game birds. Traditional guide services in traditional Grand Laker Canoes made right here in Grand Lake Stream.

Each camp – waterfront or water view – has from one to three bedrooms, a full kitchen, living room and private bathroom with shower, including fresh linens, blankets and towels. Shoreline Camps offers complimentary firewood, boat docks, boat launch and trailer parking.

Shoreline Camps provides facilities for group events (catering is now available), family reunions, sporting club events, corporate retreats and work-

shops, destination weddings and event planning. Waterfront decks and fireplaces are perfect for enjoying a quiet cup of coffee while watching the sun rise, or for sharing the day’s adventures with friends and family. Join them for an unforgettable vacation, sporting trip, corporate or club retreat or family gathering.

Shorelines Camps is the ideal place for seasoned hunters and anglers to introduce nature and the great outdoors to the next generations of their children and grandchildren. Whether you are fishing, hiking, bicycling, bird watching, swimming, or simply relaxing, Mike and Jean Lombardo are there to make your stay enjoyable.

For more information about planning your visit, go to www.shorelinecamps.com, or contact them at 207-7965539; email shorelinecamps@gmail.com.

Spencer Pond Camps Established in 1901 by Mose Duty, a trapper and guide for the William Tell Hunting Club, the Spencer Pond Camps are operated May–November and staffed 24/7 by Glen Horne and Holly Todd, who are both registered Maine Guides. They provide a family and pet-friendly atmosphere in a remote, quiet and extremely scenic location.

The camps are located on the north shore of Spencer Pond, just north of Spencer Bay on Moosehead Lake. To the east, rising majestically out of the pond, is Little Spencer Mountain. Behind the camps are logging roads to Little Spencer Pond, Lobster Mountain, Eagle Mountain, Big and Little Kineo, Moosehead Lake, Big Duck and Little Duck, Golden Road, and Tom Young and Kidney Ponds.

The remoteness of the area provides almost private fishing and hunting, with proximity to thousands of acres of forestland and Moosehead Lake. The pond has perch, bass, bullhead and brook trout. The Roach River and Moosehead Lake are minutes away, offering trout, salmon, bass and togue fishing. Numerous brooks and beaver flowages provide plenty of opportunities, as does the West Branch of the Penobscot River.

For hunters, game abounds in the area’s ridges, mountains and swamps, with little pressure from competing hunters. Bear, moose, deer, grouse, and spring turkey hunters are welcome. Photographers enjoy frequent sightings of moose, bear, loons and eagles. For hikers, more than five miles of trails extend from the camp yard. Both of the Spencer Mountains, White Cap, and Kineo provide a challenge for the more avid hiker.

Six fully furnished cabins do not have electricity and are non-modernized; however, they are completely comfortable and functional. Cabin rentals include a fully furnished housekeeping cabin, canoe, kayaks, sailboat, rowboat, mountain bikes, all linens, seasoned dry firewood for your wood stove, “camp wood” for the fire pits, dishwashing soap, matches and toilet paper. Every cabin has rocking chairs, games, a library, woodstoves, screened porches,

and a charcoal grill.

Life here comes at a slower, simpler pace. There is no Wi-Fi service, and the owners pride themselves on an electronic-free camp yard. Cell phone coverage is sporadic at best. Plumbing is “out back,” and relaxation is everywhere.

In the spring, anglers, hikers, and bird watchers abound. In the summer, guests swim along the shore during the day, and toast marshmallows at night.

Seaplanes take guests up for rides. Depending on schedules, Holly is a massage therapist, and Spencer now offers massages and spa treatments upon request. As both hosts are Registered Maine Guides, the Spencer provides guided hiking, canoe trips, fishing and hunting, as well as wildlife tours.

Autumn brings couples, those who enjoy the foliage and hiking in cooler weather, along with the loyal hunting clientele. And, winter brings snowmobiling and ice fishing. Spencer now offers winter rentals and snowmobile rentals, as well as guided snowmobile and ice fishing trips.

Reservations and more information can be found at www.spencerpond.com; 207-745-1599; reservations@spencerpond.com www.MaineSportsman.com

4 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ———————————————————————————————————————————————

Editorial

“What Women Want” The title was provocative, and we’d heard that the nationwide Zoom call on January 26, 2023 was going to be introduced by none other than Maine’s DIF&W Commissioner, Judith Camuso. How could we resist joining the 800 other participants and listening in?

The women in question are sportswomen, and it turns out what they want includes: • Hunting clothing that fits • Hunting and fishing gear designed with women in mind • Equal access to natural resources, and • Respect.

Many women hunters are old enough to remember the days, not long ago, when their options for clothing consisted of garments designed for adolescent boys.

And you can bet it was not a serious outdoorswoman who designed pink camo.

Manufacturers are starting to wake up to the fact that more and more women are in the woods and fields, and on the water, hunting, fishing and trapping. They need – and are ready to purchase – quality, dependable, lightweight gear.

Equal access means acceptance at locations that have traditionally been the domain of males. One participant on the call spoke of the time a group of women went together to practice at a local shooting range. At one point, one of the women looked over her shoulder and saw that a large group of men had stopped whatever they were doing in order to gather and gawk at the shooters.

Participants in the presentation told of going to sporting goods stores to look at guns, and being asked whether the purchase was for their husband or boyfriend. Others spoke of hunting alone, coming upon male hunters, and immediately being questioned as to whether a man was accompanying them in the woods.

Respect has been slow in coming, but it’s now advancing like a freight train. It starts with role models – in the Commissioner’s office, in catalogs and on television, and in the pages of this publication – established outdoorswomen showing that they can excel at hunting, trapping, cleaning fish and field-dressing game, and that they are eager to share in the camaraderie of sportsmen’s clubs, shooting ranges and hunting camps.

And it’s a smart outdoorsman who realizes the importance of keeping the doors of opportunity and acceptance wide open.

¶

On the Cover: Ice fishing is in full swing across the state. It’s always important to bring your “best friend” along to enjoy the day. Here, Riggs, a 2-year-old yellow lab, waits for a flag to fly on Porter Lake, in Strong. Riggs lives in Sidney with Holly MacKenzie and Nick Bragg. Holly MacKenzie photo www.MaineSportsman.com

New England’s Largest Outdoor Publication

Sportsman The Maine

ISSN 0199-036 — Issue No. 604 • www.mainesportsman.com PUBLISHER: Jon Lund MANAGING EDITOR: Will Lund will@mainesportsman.com OFFICE MANAGER: Carol Lund carol@mainesportsman.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Kristina Roderick kristina@mainesportsman.com ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: Nancy Carpenter nancy@mainesportsman.com DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR: Lorry Plante distribution@mainesportsman.com Second class postage paid at Scarborough, ME 04074 and additional entry offices.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Almanac by Will Lund.................................................... 13 Aroostook - “The County” by Bill Graves..................... 32 Big Game Hunting by Joe Saltalamachia.................. 36 Big Woods World by Joe Kruse & Hal Blood................ 35 Central Maine by Steve Vose....................................... 62 Cooking Wildly by Kate Krukowski Gooding............... 66 Downeast Region by Jim Lemieux............................... 58 Editorial.............................................................................. 4 Freshwater Fly Fishing by William Clunie...................... 64 Get Out There by Staci Warren.................................... 53 Jackman Region by William Sheldon.......................... 48 Jottings by Jon Lund........................................................ 8 Katahdin Country by William Sheldon......................... 46 Letters to the Editor.......................................................... 6 Maine Sportswoman by Christi Holmes....................... 55 Maine Wildlife by Tom Seymour................................... 18 Maine Wildlife Quiz by Steve Vose............................... 37 Midcoast by Tom Seymour........................................... 59 Moosehead Region by Tom Seymour......................... 50 New Hampshire by Ethan Emerson.............................. 73 Nolan’s Outdoor World by Nolan Raymond............... 72 Off-Road Traveler by William Clunie............................ 60 Outdoors & Other Mistakes by Al Diamon.................. 77 Quotable Sportsman by Will Lund................................ 31 Rangeley Region by William Clunie............................. 69 Ranger on the Allagash by Tim Caverly...................... 44 Riding Shotgun by Robert Summers............................. 76 Saltwater Fishing by Barry Gibson................................ 21 Sebago to Auburn Region by Tom Roth..................... 63 Self-Propelled Sportsman by Jim Andrews.................. 54 Shooter’s Bench by Col. J.C. Allard............................. 42 Smilin’ Sportsman by Will Lund...................................... 76 Snapshots in Time by Bill Pierce.................................... 12 Southern Maine by Val Marquez................................. 68 Sporting Environment by David Van Wie.................... 67 Sportsman’s Journal by King Montgomery................. 10 Tales from the Warden Service by Ret. Lt. Doug Tibbetts. 52 Tidewater Tales by Randy Randall............................... 38 Trapping The Silent Places by David Miller.................. 45 Trading Post (Classifieds)............................................... 78 Trout Fishing by Tom Seymour....................................... 56 Vermont by Matt Breton............................................... 75 Western Maine Mountains by William Clunie.............. 71

GUEST COLUMNS & SPECIAL SECTIONS

Biggest Bucks in Maine Patch Club Supplement....... 39 Boating by Capt. Ron Dupuis....................................... 19 Ice Fishing by Sam Wheeler.......................................... 24 Snowmobiling by Steve Carpenteri............................. 27

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6 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ———————————————————————————————————————————————

Letters To The Editor

A Boy Named “Canton”

To The Editor: I looked forward to my February Maine Sportsman issue, since I was listed in your Biggest Bucks list – my second year in a row, to my great surprise!

But also to my surprise, I found a photo of the editor and the publisher accompanied by a caption stating that they were “in pursuit of rainbow trout in Canton, Maine.”

Canton is a very special place for me.

In the mid-1950s, my parents, from New Jersey, vacationed there on several occasions. They stayed and fished at the now long-gone Pinewood and Lakefield Camps on Anasagunticook.

It must have provided good memories for them, as they made “Canton” my middle name.

I was fortunate enough to get to Lakefield, but only once (in 1966) before it ceased operation.

But Maine got into my DNA, and after spending my first sixty-three years in New Jersey, I fulfilled a dream to retire to Maine. I did not land in Canton, but found a wonderful Ward cabin across the state in Lincoln County.

Interesting enough, I grew up in a Ward cabin that my Mom and Dad built in central New Jersey shortly after I was born.

Thanks for the memories!

Kirk Canton Silvester, Jefferson, ME

Eat More Pike To the Editor: Good article on pike (see Steve Vose’s “Central Maine column, “Northern Pike Challenge Central Maine Ice Anglers,” February issue), and good photo of Ed Goodrup and his 41-inch catch-and-release pike.

On the question of eating pike, I recommend following the instructions in the Blue Ball Book of Canning – they are relatively easy. I use the same process for togue and pike, and it’s also great for trout and salmon.

Matt Tyler caught and released this leviathan pike on January 21, pulling it through the early ice of Great Pond, Belgrade.

I fillet the fish so there is no backbone and no skin on the fish. You can use the canned fish just as you would use a can of salmon purchased at a store. As a matter of fact, in a taste test it’s difficult to tell the difference.

We use canned pike to make “salmon pie,” fish chowder, fish cakes, or a “tuna” sandwich – in short, anything you would use store-bought canned fish for.

Try it – you’ll like it!

Fern Bosse, Norway, ME

The Importance of Land Preservation To the Editor: Thanks so much for Jim Andrews’ excellent column in The Maine Sportsman encouraging folks to join a local land trust (see “Self-Propelled Sportsman,” February 2023). We are members of Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, and our son Ian is on the board.

We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in the Kennebago Headwaters Project – through our Black Brook LLC, we are helping to preserve over 3,400 acres within the project lands, including the Steep Bank site along the causeway that Jim refers to.

All of this land will be put into a conservation easement, and it will be left undeveloped. Historic use will continue – fishing, hunting, snowmobiling on trails, and hiking.

This past fall, Trout Unlimited, the state, and volunteers carried out a wood loading project on Otter Brook above its entry into the River. Soon after, brook trout were observed in the stream during the spawn!

As I am sure Jim realizes, we are at a critical moment in Maine. The Western Mountains remain wild and open (of course there is logging), and our lakes and rivers and streams are generally healthy. However the threat of subdivision and poorly managed development will soon be upon us. We must all be vigilant and commit to preserving the wild places we are so fortunate to still have.

Burt Adelman, Concord, MA and Rangeley, ME —

The Mail Did Not Get Through To the Editor: I was excited to harvest a 209# buck this past season, and just as excited to be a part of Maine’s “Biggest Bucks” club.

In mid-December, 2022, I mailed out my application, check, and photograph.

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(Continued on next page)

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Imagine how upset I was when, on January 25, 2023 – more than a month later – I reached into my post office box to find a heavily damaged “Return to Sender” envelope containing the application and supporting photos.

As a retired math teacher, I know the planning that goes into a publication, and I understand deadlines. I know the pieces must fit seamlessly in the layout long before sending off to print.

However, given the circumstances described above, can I still submit the application, and is there anything that can be done in recognition of my success this past hunting season?

Kelley Wisniewski, Castine, ME ***** The editor responds: Congratulations on your Biggest Buck, Kelley. We have now received your application, and we’ve sent your patch to you. And for you and those other hunters whose applications were not received by the January 1st deadline through no fault of their own, or whose names were otherwise unintentionally omitted from the list, we have created a supplemental list in recognition of your accomplishments. That supplemental section is found on page 39.

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I Can See Clearly Now To the Editor: I enjoyed the February “Jon’s Jottings” in which the author wrote about his solar-powered LED lamp that provided illumination for the interior of a log cabin in Maine’s north woods. I, too, have had good luck with LED lights, although in my case it was with headlamps.

Last summer, while visiting a friend’s camp on a remote island, I

had a chance to walk through the nighttime woods using a headlamp equipped with a red light. After being impressed with just how much I could see, I asked for one for Christmas.

My daughter found a “Nebo” brand light that has really impressed me. The company makes several models of LED headlamps and worklights, but this particular version features two white lights – one for longer range, and another broadly focused for up-close work. It also has a red light.

The red light is intriguing. It allows the pupils of my eyes to be fully dilated to take in low light levels, while at the same time allowing me to see well enough to walk comfort-

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(Letters to the Editor continued on page 9)

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8 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ———————————————————————————————————————————————

Trapping Mice The 1928 film “Steamboat Willie” is hardly a byword today, but the short film by that name sent Mickey Mouse rocketing to stardom. Mickey is portrayed as a mischievous and zany deckhand on a riverboat.

But the film puts the mouse in a favorable and humorous light which is undeserved. Mice are real pests.

In real life, a mouse is at most a destructive critter that shares its domain with humans and has proven remarkably resistant to man’s efforts to combat the little rodent.

And they can be more than just a nui-

What this world needs, says the author, is an autoloading mousetrap. Meanwhile, he’s designed the next-best thing. sance. In fact, the neighbor of a friend of mine in Colorado cleaned and swept out an outbuilding that had been overrun with mice, and caught a fatal case of hanta-virus.

Fortunately for us in Maine, the hanta-virus is not prevalent in the eastern portions of the United States.

What this country needs is an auto-loading mousetrap.

The Bucket A friend of mine spent several summers manning a Forest Service fire tower in Maine, living in a

small cabin and cooking for himself. He soon learned that he had to deal with mice that lived in and underneath his cabin.

He used a simple way to catch mice – he smeared peanut butter on the inside of the rim of a bucket, added a few inches of water, and set it where mice had ready access. The mice would eat some of the peanut butter.

Stretching down to eat more, they would lose their footing and drown in the bucket.

This simple system was efficient and trouble-free. But it did require frequent attention to keep the bucket emptied of dead mice, baited, and re-filled with a few inches of

water.

Snap-Traps Another effective method is to set out one or more snaptraps. I have found snap-traps like Victor traps, which feature a yellow plastic pan smeared with peanut butter, are set off by the slightest touch, and they work well.

However one problem with this solution in a cabin that is not regularly occupied is that if the snap traps are not emptied regularly, flies will lay their eggs on the mouse carcasses, producing a large crop of flies, creating a new problem.

Camp Owners Beware If you have a seasonal building like a hunting camp that is not regularly occupied, and if you open up the camp and find that the soap in the soap dish is partially chewed away, and the exposed shelves and counters are littered with what looks like little seeds, be aware that those are not seeds, but are mouse droppings – droppings that can carry bacteria and other unhealthful substances. They’ll need to be cleaned up.

If you think you have a mouse, it’s more likely you in fact have a large number of mice, because they can multiply at such a high rate. A female mouse can produce between five and eight offspring after mat(Continued on next page)

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���������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 9 (Continued from page 8)

ing. Further, the pups in the litter can reach sexual maturity 35 days after birth.

Top-Secret Mouse Ramp-Trap I have found a cheap and simple solution to mouse infestation that I will share with my readers. I call it the ramp-trap.

It uses an empty plastic-screw-top two quart milk bottle, and a trapezoidal ramp made of thin plywood, masonite board or even corrugated cardboard. The milk bottle is screwed tightly into a round hole near the top of the ramp on the back side, and the bottle holds the ramp at a forty-five degree angle to the floor. A cup or so of water is poured into the bottle, and the ramp is set up.

The ramp has a few teaser pockets in the front side with dabs of peanut butter in them, and peanut butter is also packed into the hollow handle of the bottle, which is left with the handle in the uppermost position.

Attracted by the smell of peanut butter in the teaser pockets, the mouse climbs up

The ramp-trap has only two parts: A plywood ramp, and a half-gallon plastic bottle. When the bottle is screwed into the hole in the ramp, the ramp is automatically positioned at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Joan Sturmthal photos

the ramp.

While trying to get at the peanut butter in the handle, which requires the mouse to work upside down, the mouse falls into the plastic bottle and is drowned. Since the mice can’t access all of the peanut butter, the trap attracts still more mice. The water in the bottle keeps the mice from jumping out, and flies can’t get to the dead mice.

I have caught as many as sixteen mice in the ramp-trap in a short time.

If the trap is to be used in cold weather, rock salt or salt is added to the water to keep it from freezing, which has the added advantage of minimizing the smell of dead mice.

The trap is emptied by shaking the bottle upside down – best done outside.

I have looked to patent the ramp trap, but I was informed it is not patentable.

So good luck – go forth and do battle.

Recommended dimensions for the ramp. A plastic half-gallon bottle screws securely into a 1-1/4” diameter hole near the top.

Trophy Gallery

¶

Letters to the Editor (Continued from page 7)

ably on uneven ground and in the woods. Also, most animals cannot see the red light.

And best of all, this head lamp has rechargeable batteries that charge through a USB cable.

I recommend your readers look into some of the innovative products available that incorporate LED lights.

Steve Brooke, Farmingdale, ME

¶

Nebo light with red bulb activated.

S. Brooke photo

Drew Belanger of Eagle Lake holds the winning togue he caught in the Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby youth division in January. The 11-year-old has won six derby trophies over the years. Stacy Belanger photo www.MaineSportsman.com

10 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Alaska: A Kenai Mélange About 20-years ago, Elizabeth and I took our first fishing trip to Alaska when we visited the now defunct Alaska Bear Paw Lodge on the Kenai Peninsula. Here’s the tale of that initial sampling of the finest fishing on the globe, including photos scanned from my 35mm slides. It would be a number of years before I picked up a digital camera or, heaven forbid, a smartphone! Now the majority of my outdoor photos are with a phone or an iPad Pro, and my trusty Nikon SLR digital camera is nearby.

The first thing you notice about Alaska is how much there is of it. It has literally miles and miles of miles and miles, and the views range from breathtaking to merely wonderful. It seemed fitting that Elizabeth and I were flying Alaska Airlines, a people-oriented company whose roots are firmly established in the modern history of our 49th State.

On approach to

We watched bears catching fresh-run sockeye salmon at the mouth of Wolverine Creek. Just downstream, anglers in small boats were also landing salmon. So we were able to observe Alaska’s two most ferocious predators – fishermen and bears – catching fish together.

The Kenai River hosts huge salmon runs from four Pacific salmon species, plus rainbows and Dolly Varden. “Kenai” in the native language means “bear” or “black bear,” referring to the many Ursines that populate the area. All photos

by King Montgomery

Anchorage International Airport, we flew low over the extensive mud flats of Cook Inlet; the tide here fluctuates over 30 feet on this huge bay that forms the northern and western boundaries of the fabled Kenai Peninsula. The Kenai, about 1-½ hour drive from Anchorage, is an outdoors paradise for hunters, anglers, wildlife watchers, and na-

Our bedroom was in the loft, and black-out curtains were needed over the window at night because there were about 20 hours of daylight when we were there in an early June. www.MaineSportsman.com

ture photographers.

We flew out most days via float plane, visiting different remote lakes and rivers for various species of fish. We caught eight species of fish – rainbow trout, Dolly Varden, Arctic grayling, whitefish, Northern pike, and king and silver salmon. Later in the season there would be chum, pink, and silver salmon, and

Arctic char.

The Russian River flows out of the glaciers south of Cooper Landing and, by the time it reaches the Upper Russian Lake, is a clear and pretty stream full of rainbows, Dollies, and various salmons during the spawning runs.

Where the river enters the Kenai west of Cooper Landing, it and the Kenai River are lined

Brown bear abound on the Kenai, and it’s a good idea not to cause them any aggravation. Just remember -- they always have the right-of-way.

by shoulder-to-shoulder anglers making short casts to the running salmon. It is not pretty. The good news is the stretch between the Lower and Upper Russian Lake is nearly pristine and full of fish without the crowds.

Once on the lake, we hiked along a trail – highlighted by occasional bear droppings – to the river where the stream exited the lake.

We tied on a small, generic beadhead nymph and attached a colorful foam strike indicator five or six feet above it. Elizabeth soon connected with several native rainbows with the brightest colors I’ve ever seen; there’s nothing like native, wild fish for beauty.

Elizabeth’s best rainbow at around 20 inches was the largest of the day, but the smaller ones and the occasional Dolly Varden, a char related to our native Eastern brook trout, provided action and fun for all.

Some of our fishing was done to the northwest of the Kenai, over Cook Inlet and west of (Continued on next page)

The upper Russian River just below the lake isn’t crowded during the season, and the wild, native rainbows are the most beautiful ‘bows I’ve ever seen.

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Our de Havilland Otter lands at Cooper Lake to whisk us off to another superb, life-changing (in a good way) fishing adventure.

(Continued from page 10)

Anchorage, with the fishing conditions and weather dictating the destination of the day.

The Chuit is a pretty salmon river that flows through Native Alaskan property, and the Native cooperative that manages the fishery allows some anglers to fish these waters.

Here, we lobbed a huge, heavy fly called a Double Whiz-Bang, to the migrating king salmon. The fly looks like two overdressed woolly buggers articulated with a double strand of heavy Dacron line; it was ugly, but it worked just fine.

I stole the show with a 30-pound king salmon that, after many jumps and runs to the backing, was tailed by Scott and brought ashore for photos. I have never caught a stronger fish on a fly rod; several times, I was in a deadstop stalemate with my quarry.

The de Havilland

Mother Nature used every color and hue on the palette in Alaska. We caught wild, native sea-run cutthroat trout here, and were just a touch early to catch freshfrom-the-sea sockeye salmon in the little stream flowing out in lower left corner.

Otter float plane, a larger version of the Beaver, landed on the emerald lake and taxied to where a small river flowed out on its way a mile below to the Prince William Sound.

Half our group headed downstream to chase sockeye, while the rest of us spent a pleasant afternoon catching cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden on beautiful split-bamboo rods designed and built by Allen Noland of Maryland.

No, we didn’t join the multitudes of anglers with their RVs “combat fishing” on the Kenai River just off the Sterling Highway, but instead floated a scenic stretch of river in a huge Willie drift boat. We drifted for huge rainbows and Dollies that sought our single plastic bead egg patterns at the end of long leaders. There’s no overhead casting here unless the boat is beached and anglers wade. While aboard, the four of us

I counted at least seven blue glaciers poised on the mountains above Paradise Lake. The Otter would return to this remote lake later that afternoon, but now it was the time of the loon and the grayling.

would roll-cast upstream, and then set a deep drift as the boat matched the current speed. Continual roll casting and upstream mends kept the eggs in the strike zone.

I counted at least seven blue glaciers poised on the mountains above the scenic Paradise Valley east of Cooper Landing. The Otter would return to this remote lake later that afternoon, but now it was the time of the loon and the grayling. We located the loon by her calls, nesting on a nearby, very small island we paddled to in float tubes, and the Arctic grayling, another cousin of our Maine brookies, were everywhere.

Using two flies – a bushy dry with a lightly-weighted nymph dropper – we caught these numerous and attractive char in this enchanted valley. We wrapped a few grayling – salted, peppered and smeared with butter – in aluminum foil,

Chuit River King Salmon displayed at Alaska’s Bear Paw Lodge in Cooper Landing. We had fresh fillets for dinner, and the remainder was smoked for later use.

and placed them on hot coals for 5 minutes a side. They were absolutely delicious.

We dropped most of the party for a day on the Chuit River, while Elizabeth and I joined guide Scott Sager for an impromptu time of pike fishing on the next lake over, and a combination sockeye catching/bear watching later on at another location.

In the misty drizzle on a cool day, we cast large streamers to vicious, hungry Northern pike. I tied on six to eight inches of TYGer Leader, a nylon coated stainless steel wire that you can tie like monofilament. We had no problem catching these toothy critters.

After a shore lunch of grilled bratwurst with all the trimmings, we headed for Wolverine Creek, which proved to be a good place to observe and catch fresh-run sockeye salmon, and to watch bears doing the

This young bear heads to shore to eat the sockeye for lunch beside Wolverine Creek.

We all caught sockeye salmon here that day.

same at the mouth of the creek. The salmon leapt from pool to pool up the stair-step waterfall of the stream, so small a creek you would never expect salmon to attempt it. Most would make it beyond the choke point and head upstream to spawn, but we watched a mother grizzly with a yearling and three cubs catch and eat several fish.

Below the bears, we were fourth or fifth in a line of small boats that were full of anglers hooking and landing salmon. It was an interesting sight to see Alaska’s two most ferocious predators – fishermen and bears – catching fish together.

Alaska is made for outdoor sports. It is a Mecca for anglers and wildlife lovers. I believe everyone should visit this natural treasure at least once in a lifetime – and, if you are fortunate like me, to return several more times.

¶

Sockeye salmon fresh from the sea are beautiful and powerful fish -- and they taste pretty good, too. Elizabeth caught this fish, and our guide. Scott Sager, cooked it up for a shore lunch. www.MaineSportsman.com

12 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

“Snapshots in Time”

Historical Glimpses from Maine’s Sporting Past Compiled by Bill Pierce, Former Executive Director, Outdoor Heritage Museum

A Bobcat and a Deer Note to readers: The imagination is a powerful intoxicant, and when fully stimulated by fear, it can actually make one see things, it seems.

Enjoy what follows from the February 2, 1897 edition of the Rangeley Lakes newspaper, and reprinted in the New York Sun. And be sure to keep your wits about you as you venture forth to make some great Maine outdoor history of your own!

Photo credit: Cover illustration from January, 1937 edition of Outdoor magazine.

The Terrifying Combination Encountered by a Man in Search of Bounties Since his return from Stumblow, Frank Gregg of Winthrop does not care to discuss the bobcat question or any of his dealings.

Commissioner Carleton had induced him to go out and look for bobcats, as stories from Hancock County had been related every day telling of how plentiful bobcats were. They robbed hen roosts, killed sheep, and stole suckling pigs by the dozen. If a man wanted to combine courage with commerce, the place for him to go was Stumblow, where bob-

cats roosted on every limb and where the snow on two townships was trodden down with their tracks.

The state bounty of $2 a head would make the trip a profitable one, while the fun of hunting would be the event of a lifetime.

The Hunt, and Concerns Grow For four days, Gregg hunted without seeing a bobcat or the sign of one. Late in the week he discovered the track of a catlike animal, which he followed on Saturday and Sunday without stopping to rest.

The animal was chasing deer, running them down in the deep snow and eating them where they fell. Three mutilated and denuded carcasses were found between Stumblow and Nicatous Lake, and every animal had died from a broken neck.

This fact puzzled Gregg. A bobcat, an animal that seldom weighs more than thirty-five pounds, was not strong nor heavy enough to break a deer’s neck.

Gregg looked at the tracks. They were fully five inches across. He scrutinized them more closely, and learned that the animal was covering from eighteen to twenty-five feet at every leap!

No bobcat, though he was king of his race, could make such leaps.

Gregg argued the case with himself, and arrived at the conclusion that the animal he was chasing was a great American panther, or “Indian devil,” a beast that can kill a man as easily as a rabbit.

This Changed Everything This changed the complexion of things. He had gone hunting to kill something. The notion of being killed by a panther and having his bones left in the woods for the crows and foxes to pick was not an agreeable one. It was better that all the deer in Maine should

perish, and all the hens, sheep and poultry with them, than to fall a victim to so greedy and unreasoning a beast.

Gregg was drawing depicture of the panther trying to break his neck. He was making ready to go home at once, when a slight noise in the bushes at his right caused him to look in that direction.

As his glance fell upon a clump of scrub beeches, a great animal emerged from the mass of clinging leaves. The animal was fully five feet tall. Its legs were long and slim, like those of a deer; and his head had the great round eyes and black tufted ears of a bobcat.

Gregg dropped his rifle, made a swivel-like turn on his snowshoes, and fled for camp, where he told of his perilous escape from a “panther” that had come rushing through the woods and chased him for nearly a mile.

Mystery Solved The men from the camp went to look for his rifle, and located the tracks where Gregg said the animal had gone.

There were deer tracks, and on the top of these were the imprints of a wild cat’s feet, showing that the cat had jumped on the deer’s back and ridden by the place where Gregg was standing.

Further on, the men found the body of a newly killed deer, and a lean bobcat making a dinner from the tenderest parts.

They shot the cat and brought the body in to show Gregg, but he had gone home before they returned.

To his friends in Winthrop, Gregg explains matters by saying he went out for the purpose of earning a few dollars in bobcat bounties. As the State pays no bounty on panthers, he did not care to waste his ammunition.

Meanwhile, there is $12 rifle in Brown’s camp at Stumblow which awaits an owner.

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Almanac Bears and Canoe Tripping

by Lisa DeHart, Canoe Guide

Guests regularly ask about bears on canoe trips, especially when they see us cook the steaks and such over the fire.

Here’s what I always say – Yes, bears can smell the food, but they can also smell the fire. The smell of fire signifies power and danger, deep in the harddrive of a bear.

If you’re just using a propane stove, and all they smell is the food, they’re like … “Great, let’s eat!”

When she was river-guiding in Alaska, Lisa DeHart cooked salmon fillets over an open fire for customers. She feels the smell of the fire discouraged bears from approaching. Photo: Dave Conley

It’s true bears are afraid of dogs – particularly true in Maine where it’s legal to hunt bears with dogs. Depending on where you are in the world, the dog/ bear scenario has a 50/50 chance of go-

Compiled and Edited by — Will Lund —

ing like this: Dog chases bear; bear runs; while running, bear realizes he’s Muhammad Ali; bear turns the tables and starts chasing the dog.

When this happens, the dog’s first reaction is to go running back to its human. After all, your dog thinks you’re invincible … and you have opposable thumbs! This whole bear thing is gonna be a snap, thinks the dog, just as soon as the bear and I come running back to my human together.

So Do This Separate your food area from your sleeping area. Don’t take food or toothpaste into the tent. If you prefer the hammock setup, don’t eat or prep food under the hammock tarp.

• Get the barrels and NRS boxes (large plastic dry-boxes with waterproof gaskets and compression straps) that are bear proof.

• Be smart about trash and leftovers.

Before you go to bed, that picnic table should have no food on it.

My closest bear encounter to date was on the Mooseluk. A big cinnamon-phase black bear, I could only see from the massive chest up, was calling Wwwoooff, wwwoooff, like “I’m a bear – what are you?” The thing is, I was holding my boat at the top of a nice drop I was scouting to run, and I thought, if I •

lift this pole and take the drop, is that gonna be the same as if I ran? You know when you see something in the woods you just can’t make out, take a couple steps towards it, look, take a couple steps towards it, look again. That’s what the bear kept doing, because I wasn’t shaped like anything it had seen, and he knew I was in the middle of the river.

Finally he took another step, and I said a few words to him in my “Bad dog in the trash” voice.

Then, he was gone.

What a day.

—

Successfully Placing Your Tom Turkey Decoys

by Blaine Cardilli

With turkey season fast approaching (Youth Day April 29; all hunters May 1), now is the ideal time to get out there and start watching the male flocks in your areas closely. During the winter, the most important thing on the turkeys’ agenda has been food, but as spring gets closer, the urge to breed begins to take over, and the moods of the male flocks take on a whole new tone.

The battle for dominance within male flocks is an ongoing competition year round, but it amps up dramatically as the breeding season nears. Hierarchies will be changing faster than the Maine weather, and I’ve found that when it comes to considering the use of decoys, to be successful in taking a boss (Continued on next page)

www.MaineSportsman.com

14 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Almanac

(Continued from page 13)

A mature tom runs off several subordinate jakes, showing that he is indeed the dominant bird of that area’s flock.

All photos by B. Cardillli

gobbler, you need to know what’s going on in all the individual flocks within your hunting areas.

As a general rule, the sex ratio of males to females hatched within a turkey’s clutch is one-to-one, which suggests that for each number of males produced, there are an equal number of females. However, once hatched, many factors such as weather and predation can change things, and I’ve discovered it’s very important to pay attention to the number of jakes versus the number of mature toms within any given spring flock.

Question: Have you ever noticed after placing your decoys that sometimes

A boss tom beats up the author’s strutting jake decoy.

the mature toms will come in and attack a strutter decoy, while at other times a mature tom will come in, but as soon as it sees your strutter, it shuts down and leaves? I’ll bet you have. And we’ve all seen jakes come in with mature toms (usually bringing up the rear in silence, watching the boss gobbler do his thing).

However, we’ve also seen bands of what I call “bully” jakes who’ll run right into your set-up, take charge, and run off any mature gobblers that even try to approach.

My point is this – if you’re targeting mature birds, pay close attention to the jake-to-tom ratios in the flocks you’re watching, because knowing which birds are the dominant ones in that particular group can help you decide the best decoy strategy, such as using a passive jake versus an aggressive jake (or a strutter), all of which I always accompany with a submissive hen decoy.

In his 30-year turkey hunting career, the author has used pre-season scouting to enable him to kill many large birds, including this 21-lb boss gobbler.

In short, knowing which male decoy to use can spell the difference between a successful hunt and a failed one.

—

Getting Spring Fever for Trapping Spring Beaver

by John LaMarca

Although we are still firmly in winter’s grip, soon it will be that time of year when the snow melts, and rivers and ponds open from their freeze. Springtime is the perfect time to go after prime beaver furs.

(Continued on next page)

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Trapping helps keep beaver populations in check. The animals can damage large trees around camps, and their dams can flood farmland and even damage lowlying streamside cottages.

(Continued from page 14)

When beavers reach the age of two, they set out of their colony to establish a colony of their own – sometimes traveling as far as 10 miles to try to fund suitable habitat to call home.

Castor Mound Once they’ve established a new home, beavers become very territorial, and will fight to keep outsiders away. To mark the boundaries of their territory, beavers create a “castor mound” – a pile of mud about the size of a baseball or a softball, with a healthy dollop of aro-

matic castor mixed in. This creates a “ scent wick” to let both colony members and outsiders know, “This is our area.”

Beavers swim or walk up to inspect the mound, sniff it, and thereby learn whether it is from a friend or foe.

This instinct to make castor mounds provides a great opportunity for us trappers to harvest some prime fur by creating a castor mound that mimics the real thing.

After selecting a good funnel point on the water’s edge, you can create a castor mound set by placing a blob of mud on the water’s bank, dribbling some castor on the mound, and setting a trap in the water at the point the beaver will place their foot when they go to inspect the mound.

For new trappers, I recommend the “Bridger #5” or a “TS-85” foot hold trap to pair with the set. You can also get pre-made Castor Lure for the sets from local suppliers. I get mine from “Wicked Smelley Lures,” which is a Bangor-based company.

To learn about a full castor mound setup, go to YouTube and search “Castor Mound Set for Beaver.”

(Continued on next page)

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16 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Almanac

(Continued from page 15)

The author returning after a successful day trapping beaver.

Although with current low fur prices, you won’t strike it rich in the traditional sense, you will get a taste of the rich trapping heritage and legacy of the United States, as beaver trapping and fur handling are an integral part of our nation’s history. In addition, you can use the furs you harvest yourself to make beautiful garment-grade items!

—

New Book by the Caverly Brothers Tim and Buzz Caverly have each had remarkable careers – Buzz as director at Baxter State Park, and Tim as superintendent of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

And with those experiences come stories – great, wonderful stories, about deer and bear and poachers

and politicians and out-of-staters and muskrat and even a pig.

Now, the two brothers have collaborated on a brand-new book titled “Conversations with Tim and Buzz Caverly” (Leister Bay Books, Newport ME; 254 pp.; generously illustrated).

Described as an “adventure/nature/ wildlife memoir,” the project grew out of a joint radio appearance in which the two simply started telling stories (“and not a fib in the bunch,” they claim, although the story about the beavers incorporating a stovepipe with a damper into their dam so they could regulate water level, is still being fact-checked).

It’s a rollicking, fun read, written by two gentlemen who have spent their varied lives in Maine’s outdoors, canoeing, hiking, rescuing folks who needed help, and maintaining two of our state’s greatest and most treasured resources – Baxter, and the Allagash.

For ordering information, go to www.allagashtails.com.

—

Wilderness First Aid: Seizures

by Stacey Wheeler, RN

Seizure disorders are common, but they can be unpredictable, and symptoms can vary widely. Medical authorities estimate that one in 10 people will experience at least one seizure in their lifetime.

Not all seizures are epilepsy; however, a seizure of any kind can strike at the most inopportune time and place, including when you are in the great Maine outdoors, far away from medical facilities.

Seizures are classified in two groups: 1) Generalized seizures include absence seizures (staring into space), tonic (body goes still) and clonic (body jerks) seizures. These types of seizures affect both sides of the brain.

2) Focal seizures (twitches; losses of sensory perception) are categorized into three groups: simple, complex and secondary. Focal seizures primarily affect one side of the brain.

Not all seizures involve jerky movements, and as stated above, some may result in the subject appearing to stare into space. Most are not considered emergency events, but it’s important to know how to protect a person during the event.

Seizure First Aid • Stay calm • Help the person to the floor and turn them on their side

Photo credit: Northganeuro.com

• • • • • •

Make note of the time, and keep track of the duration of the event Keep all objects and other people clear from the area Do not place objects in the person’s mouth or restrain them in any way Cushion their head, and remove their eyeglasses Listen to the person’s breathing When the seizure is over, offer reassurance

Know When to Call 911 If the seizure lasts more than 5 minutes • If the person has injured themselves during the event For more information, visit www.epilepsyfoundation.org.

•

¶

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March 2023 Sunrise/Sunset Bangor, ME

Whatchu Want?

The drake (male) pintail duck sports colorful plumage, including around its head. When looked at straight on, the overall appearance falls somewhere between comical and baleful (threatening). Wildlife photographer Dave Small of Old Town caught up with this bird in Camden. Photo by Dave Small

DATE RISE SET 1 Wed 6:11 5:23 2 Thu 6:09 5:24 3 Fri 6:07 5:26 4 Sat 6:05 5:27 5 Sun 6:04 5:28 6 Mon 6:02 5:30 7 Tue 6:00 5:31 8 Wed 5:58 5:32 9 Thu 5:56 5:34 10 Fri 5:55 5:35 11 Sat 5:53 5:36 12 Sun 6:51 6:38 13 Mon 6:49 6:39 14 Tue 6:47 6:40 15 Wed 6:45 6:42 16 Thu 6:44 6:43

DATE RISE SET 17 Fri 6:42 6:44 18 Sat 6:40 6:45 19 Sun 6:38 6:47 20 Mon 6:36 6:48 21 Tue 6:34 6:49 22 Wed 6:32 6:51 23 Thu 6:31 6:52 24 Fri 6:29 6:53 25 Sat 6:27 6:54 26 Sun 6:25 6:56 27 Mon 6:23 6:57 28 Tue 6:21 6:58 29 Wed 6:19 6:59 30 Thu 6:17 7:01 31 Fri 6:16 7:02

March 2023 Tides Portland, ME DATE

Reader Shows Pride in her Family Avid Maine Sportsman reader Jessica Landry wrote to tell us she was pleased to see that we had featured a German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) on the cover of our October, 2022 issue. She then offered her opinion that, other outstanding breeds notwithstanding, her dogs, Bleu (in back) and Lady, are the best dogs in the world. Jessica Landry photo

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

HIGH AM PM 6:25 7:16 7:28 8:14 8:23 9:03 9:10 9:45 9:53 10:24 10:31 10:59 11:07 11:31 11:42 — 12:02 12:15 12:32 12:50 1:04 1:27 1:39 3:09 3:21 3:58 4:11 4:55 5:09 6:00 6:15 7:11 7:27 8:22 8:38 9:25 9:41 10:20 10:38 11:11 11:31 11:59 — 12:22 12:45 1:11 1:29 1:59 2:13 2:48 2:59 3:39 3:48 4:34 4:42 5:33 5:41 6:34 6:44 7:37 7:48 8:35

LOW AM PM 12:05 1:02 1:11 2:03 2:09 2:53 2:58 3:36 3:40 4:14 4:19 4:48 4:55 5:19 5:29 5:49 6:03 6:20 6:39 6:53 7:17 7:30 8:59 9:11 9:47 9:59 10:41 10:53 11:43 11:56 — 12:51 1:05 2:03 2:17 3:08 3:23 4:05 4:21 4:57 5:15 5:45 6:07 6:31 6:56 7:16 7:44 8:00 8:32 8:45 9:22 9:33 10:16 10:26 11:13 11:23 — 12:15 12:26 1:20 1:32 2:22

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18 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Maine Wildlife:

Woodchuck

by Tom Seymour

Woodchucks, Marmota monax, a.k.a. groundhogs, belong to the squirrel family, Sciuridae. This family includes chipmunks, ground squirrels, marmots, woodchucks and prairie dogs.

Despite the name “groundhog,” the animals bear no relation to any kind of hogs, and although they are known as woodchucks, their only connection with wood is when, on occasion, they might climb a leaning tree. But that is more like walking up a steep incline than really climbing.

An online search for the origin of the name “woodchuck” revealed that the name is really a corruption of the Cree word “wuchak,” which the Cree apparently used to describe various small mammals.

Now that we have covered just about everything anyone needs to know about the names woodchuck and groundhog (and perhaps even some things folks didn’t need to know), let’s discuss the critter itself.

Woodchucks weigh between 5 and 10 pounds, and nearly every ounce of that is muscle. Woodchucks are fast runners, but they run with a decided waddle. Every time I see a woodchuck running flat out, wobbling as it goes, I ask myself, “How do they do that?”

Woodchucks eat succulent tender greens such as clover and grasses, and to my knowledge there is no garden vegetable they will not at least sample.

I can attest that woodchucks even eat squash vines, as spiny and foreboding as they are. Once, after I noticed that something had done away with some of my winter squash vines, the culprit finally presented itself to me.

It was a woodchuck. As I watched, it began chewing on the end of a vine, and worked its way down as it went. It would run under my deck every time I tried to sneak around the house to shoot it, but after some creative posturing on my part, the garden raider succumbed to a well-placed .22 bullet.

Summer Home If woodchucks were people, they would spend winters in towns, and summer and fall at their country homes. Adept at digging, woodchucks construct ex-

www.MaineSportsman.com

Photo credit: Dave Small, Old Town

tensive tunnel systems, with separate hibernation and nesting chambers. In addition, they sometimes build individual dens for summer and for winter.

For four-footed mammals, woodchucks know how to live.

Want to locate a woodchuck den?

Then visit your favorite bird cover.

Look in areas that are protected by the woods, while at the same time having at least a partial view of the open terrain beyond.

When digging burrows, woodchucks will remove stones and other obstructions, and push them outside the hole.

I once found an Indian artifact, a stone pestle, at the mouth of the woodchuck burrow.

Woodchucks do some damage to private and commercial crops, but not enough to warrant full-scale campaigns against them. For those with small gardens, however, woodchucks can decimate a garden. Once, when I was a boy, a woodchuck or woodchucks ate all the radish greens and other young veggies in my 4-H garden.

My folks saw the culprits through the window one day, and it was a woodchuck family. I had permission to use my father’s .22 rifle to shoot them. I carefully raised the window, removed the screen and took aim. And wouldn’t you know, I couldn’t pull the trigger.

Those baby woodchucks were just too cute for me to shoot. The woodchucks won that round. Things changed, however, as I grew older.

Not Good Weathermen Woodchucks, as you know, can’t predict the weather. However, they do leave their dens in late winter looking for mates. This coincides with the end of hibernation, which occurs sometime in February.

Sometimes, people will spot strange tracks in the snow in late winter. These could easily be woodchuck tracks. One sure way to tell is to follow the tracks by backtracking. If they lead to a burrow in the ground, then they were probably made by a woodchuck.

The idea of woodchucks being weather prognosticators comes from ancient folklore, and is partly based upon woodchucks appearing outside of their dens in February. However, something new has developed, and it may spell doom for many woodchucks.

It has to do with our warming climate.

Specifically, our recent spate of warm winters has led woodchucks to end their hibernations earlier than normal, and to leave the dens to go in search of mates. When this happens, the animals use too much of their stored reserve of fat, and when winter conditions return and the animals go back to their dens, they may be undernourished and may perish if they cannot find green forage in the early spring.

Can woodchucks adapt to the changing climate? It’s too soon to tell.

Let’s hope they can.

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 19

2023 Boating Trends

by Capt. Ron Dupuis

Boat rentals are more and more popular. Some of the author’s friends rent so they can learn all they can before purchasing their own vessels. Others like the convenience of arriving at a marina, getting on a boat, using it for prescribed time, and then dropping it off – without concerns for maintenance or storage.

Fishing Boat Accessories Boats rigged for fishing need certain accessories, including redesigned motors, depth finders, and other electronics. And this trend is not limited to saltwater – in fact, freshwater bass boats are gaining in popularity, as more people fish for bass and attend and participate in tournaments.

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For those anglers with generous equipment budgets, Lowrance Electronics offers what they call the Ultimate Fishing System, including fully-integrated sonar fishfinder, trolling motor, GPS, powerpole, radar, and autopilot. Photo credit: Lowrance

return are a primary focus of recreational anglers. Yamaha and Mercury have continued to make improvements and upgrades to their motors.

Yamaha will offer an update to their

XTO 450 offshore motor, which includes more charging power that is supplied by a system that offers high amperage levels at low RPMs. Their “phase angle control” charging system is in-

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tended to obviate the need for an onboard generator.

Yamaha has also upgraded their “helm master system” and “helm master joystick” features, through which the bow thruster is controlled through the joystick.

Mercury Mercury is also providing innovation upgrades for 2023, offering bow and stern thrusters that work in tandem to provide (Continued on next page)

INC.

Those who are considering purchasing a boat this year should be aware of several industry trends that will affect the new and used boat markets.

Industry experts opine that fishing, accessories, cost of boat repairs, diesel engine popularity, affordability, and boat rentals, drive much of the conversation among potential boat buyers.

In the past, the most popular use for boats has been recreation, but some predict that fishing will take over the #1 spot. Large segments of boat owners are reaching retirement age, a fact that experts predict will boost fishing boat sales by several percentage points during 2023.

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20 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Boating

(Continued from page 19)

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Ethanol Concerns The boating industry is also gearing up to deal with more and more repairs of motors due to increased ethanol gas usage. In many states, automobile fuel is offered with 15% ethanol (E-15), while boat engines should use nothing over 10% (E-10). Ethanol damages rubber parts in an engine, including O-rings and other sealing surfaces.

The high price of fuel at gas docks may prompt boaters to fill their tanks at automobile gas stations. While I have not yet seen E15 sold in Maine, it is legal here, so boat owners should be careful if filling up at automotive gas stations. Use of E15 could be catastrophic to your engines.

Diesels Outboards – a Work in Progress While on the subject of fuel, it should be noted that diesel outboards are available, and are becoming more popular. Diesel fuel has long been favored by many commercial boat operators, since the fuel is more stable and far less vaporous and flammable than gasoline.

Diesel outboard engines are not a new invention. In 2019, four companies were building diesel outboards – Yanmar, Cox Powertrain, Cimco Marine, and Mercury Racing.

These companies pri-

marily targeted commercial and military customers, since those users were willing to pay higher initial costs in exchange for extended service life and longer maintenance intervals.

Research and development on diesel outboards continue, but they still have a long way to go to overcome the popularity, lower cost and high performance of gas-powered outboards.

Affordability Although boating is relatively expensive, consumer demand continues to drive boat sales and boat rentals.

Manufacturers have done a great job innovating and designing more efficient engines, and modern manufacturing techniques have kept costs in check.

Bottom Paint Developments Another small but interesting development has been less frequent use of bottom paints. I boat in Maine and in North Carolina.

In NC, boats generally do not use bottom paint, because many vessels are kept out of the water on boat lifts and in storage facilities when not in use.

For boats that use bottom paint, product innovation has made the paint more eco-friendly. The industry has moved away from biocides, in favor of less toxic coatings, as well as new strategies that repel bottom growth using ultrasonic waves, enzymes, or silicone liquids.

(Boating continued page 23)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 21

Pure Luck Wins Tuna Tourney It was the morning of the first day of the 1980 Boothbay Harbor Tuna Tournament, and neither my mate Terry Lewis nor I felt very well.

We had lingered down at the dock at Brown’s Wharf, where I kept my charter boat Shark II, the night before, checking hooks, leaders, and harpoon rigging until nearly midnight, and as I remember sipping on a few cold brews. Six o’clock a.m. seemed to come early, and I can’t say we were mentally prepared to head out fishing.

But we readied the boat and gear.

Wherein the author and his mate, while on a halfday bottom fishing trip, defied all odds to sweep the 1980 Boothbay Harbor Tuna Tournament.

Our charter guests, John and Jackie Gooderham from Toronto (ironically, he owned a liquor business) were only scheduled for a half-day bottom fishing trip, but Terry and I figured we’d keep an eye peeled for tuna on the way out and way back, and maybe sneak out again in the afternoon to look around. Cash was in short supply in those days, so it had been hard to turn down a $85 half-day bottom charter, even though

the tournament was on.

It was one of those humid, glassy calm mornings with dungeon-like fog – something Terry and I hated, since we didn’t have radar. But our charter arrived, and we cranked up the old V-8 Buick engine. We eased away from the dock, and picked our way out through the moored boats that dotted Boothbay Harbor.

We cleared Tumbler Island Pass and headed for the east

side of Squirrel Island.

Seas were smooth, and the fog opened up a bit to give us about 100 feet of visibility, so I jiggled the throttle up until we were doing about five knots.

V-Shaped Wake Ahead As we passed Squirrel’s Cunner Point, I could just make out a small V-shaped wake up ahead. I kept my eyes on it, and as we approached, I could see the tip of a dark, sickle-like dorsal fin behind the bulge of

water. It was a tuna, pushing along on the surface in classic fashion.

I immediately backed the throttle off until we were just idling, and yelled down to Terry. All I had to do was point.

Terry scrambled up on the rail and worked his way forward to the tuna stand. He untied the harpoon, hefted it, and leaned into the stand’s belly band. He had never harpooned a tuna before, but he was ready.

I didn’t dare touch the throttle for fear of spooking the fish, but we were able to gain (Continued on next page)

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22 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Saltwater Fishing (Continued from page 21)

John Gooderham of Toronto cinches the tuna at boatside with the flying gaff, while the author is attaching a tail rope. Jean Reese-Gibson photo

The author, left, and the late Terry Lewis pose beside the 845-pound bluefin taken just a mile offshore on the first day of the 1980 Boothbay Harbor Tuna Tournament. Jean Reese-Gibson photo

on it little by little.

When we were about ten feet away I could see the entire tuna, and it was a big one. Then, in a flash, Terry threw.

I distinctly remember seeing a spurt of blood coming out just forward of the tuna’s tail, but the fish then instantly disappeared into the depths. Sixthread lobster warp flew out of the plastic laundry basket on deck, and seconds later, the orange polyball tied to the end went overboard and disappeared underwater.

This wasn’t good.

The tuna wasn’t supposed to take the ball under.

(Continued on next page)

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Polyball, Dead in the Water We quickly retrieved the harpoon pole and continued idling south, hoping the tuna was headed in the same direction. I called the tournament committee boat and reported that we had put a buoy out. Everyone on board peered into the fog, hoping to catch a glimpse of the orange ball.

But after travelling a mere 300 yards, there it was, our polyball, dead in the water. My heart sank, because that usually meant the dart had

pulled and the tuna was gone.

We retrieved the ball, and started pulling the harpoon rope in, hand over hand.

There was absolutely no movement on the end, just dead weight, like a big clump of kelp. We kept pulling, carefully, and suddenly a huge blue-green mass appeared ghostlike ten feet below. It was the tuna, dead as a doornail.

How to Get it to the Dock?

Since we lacked a gin pole or tuna door, there was no way we could get a fish of that size aboard, so we tail-

roped it and dragged it behind the boat at idle speed. I called the committee boat again to report that we had landed our fish and were heading for the dock.

A good crowd has already assembled by the time we got back just 30 minutes later.

We backed in under the scales, and when the fish was hoisted, the needle stopped at 845 pounds. We were ecstatic!

Why had the tuna died so quickly? Upon examination, we found that the harpoon dart had penetrated the fish’s skin just ahead

of the tail, gone deep enough to sever an artery, and had then exited back out through the skin a couple of inches away. The dart had actually been outside the tuna’s body the whole time, the fish being connected only by a strip of skin not much larger than a band-aid. One sharp yank of the harpoon rope as we were bringing the fish to the surface would have – well, you know.

Luck, and More Luck Everything that happened that day was pure luck. The sun sure was shining

on us.

But it didn’t stop there. The following Tuesday, the fourth day of the tournament, Terry harpooned another one, an 835-pounder. And those were the only two tournament tuna brought in during the 1980 event. We walked away with most of the trophies, as well as the money that went with them.

Pure luck. A lifetime’s worth. I don’t expect to ever see anything like it again.

¶

Boating (Continued from page 20)

Rentals The boat rental industry has taken off in popularity over the last several years, and it’s expected to continue growing through 2026.

Smaller boat rentals (up to 28 feet) are a surprisingly second in rentals to larger boats of 28-45 feet, as the larger boats attract more interest and generate more revenue.

Some of my friends have rented boats in order to learn all they can about boating before they take the plunge and purchase their own vessel. Others just like the convenience of being able to come to the marina, get on a boat, use it for prescribed time, and then drop it off – no maintenance or storage worries; just pure fun.

All the Toys Many new boats offer optional equipment designed to make boating easier, safer, and more comfortable. These items include automatic engine trims, joystick piloting systems, USB chargers throughout the boat, cameras, and remote controls.

Also available are kid-friendly options, such as extended swim platforms, and more space for float toys.

Go See the Boats While internet research is a good start, nothing beats attending sportsman’s shows, boat shows and retailers, and talking to the experts.

Happy boating!

¶

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24 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Camping on the Ice

by Sam Wheeler In late January, I did my first-ever overnight camping trip on the ice, in Western Maine. The trip itself was a success, and also a great learning experience for what I need to do better next time. It certainly came with some major takeaways, which I will share with you if you’re looking to camp on the ice for the first time.

Camping on the ice is fun, and that’s the way it should be, but plan for several things to go wrong before you even step foot on the hard water – because it could easily happen.

Know the Forecast The weather the

Why would you camp on the ice? “Well, why not?” asks our intrepid reporter, Sam Wheeler. For one thing, you get to participate in the early morning and late afternoon ice fishing (as well as the cusk fishing at night). In addition, like many outdoor adventures, you’ll have a much better sense of the capabilities and limitations of your gear – and of yourself. night I camped was in the single digits – but with no wind, it was fairly easy to stay warm. However, as we know with weather in Maine, it can change in a hurry. Check the forecast before you head out so you can make necessary preparations.

Even if there is no wind in the forecast, make sure to tie down

The author set up close to a small island, and the trees provided a wind-break. All photos: Sam Wheeler www.MaineSportsman.com

your shack. My Eskimo shelter comes with only two tie-downs, so I always pay attention to the direction from which the wind is blowing.

don’t have one, places like Cabela’s and LL Bean sell them.

Safe Air Inside One of the most important items you’ll need to have is a carbon monoxide detector – especially when using the grill. I keep the vents in my shack open when I’m cooking, and then close them when I’m done.

When it comes to my heater, it is listed as being safe indoors, but out of a sense of caution, I always keep the detector inside overnight.

Heat and Cooking When it comes to gear, you have your essentials like a sleeping bag, pillow (I use one designed for camping), cot and plenty of layers. For heaters, I use

a Mr. Buddy propane heater and I highly recommend it. It puts off a lot of heat, considering its modest size.

For propane, I have always used onepound canisters, but after going on this trip I am thinking of switching to a 20-lb tank, at least when doing an overnight.

You’ll also want a grill for food – if you

The freshwater cusk (also called burbot) may qualify as the least attractive fish found in Maine lakes and ponds, but it’s also one of the best-tasting. The author caught three on this trip. By law, lines must be checked at least hourly between sunset and sunrise.

The author’s sleeping accommodations. He recommends bringing some comfort food and a few beverages.

Close to Shore For those trying ice camping for the (Continued on next page)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 25 (Continued from page 24)

first time – go to a lake or pond you’ve fished before and know well.

Try to go to one close to your home, if possible.

When you set up on the ice, pick a spot not too far from shore, especially if you do not have an ATV or snowmobile to haul your gear. I set up a couple hundred yards from my truck,

so if I had to leave in a hurry, I could get to it quickly.

I enjoyed myself, and got in some productive fishing (see photos). I plan to go out a few more times before the season winds down, and I encourage other ice fishermen who have not done it yet, to give it a try. If you make the necessary prepa-

rations, it’s a fun and comfortable experience.

• • • • •

Gear Check-List Below is the list of items I recommend bringing if you want to do an overnight on the ice. Keep in mind I only did it for one night.

• sleeping bag • collapsible chair • small tote boxes • camp pillow • extra clothing

• • • • •

•

cooler cot food and water lantern carbon monoxide detector dishes/silverware tarp propane fully charged phone insulating floor (wood, or interlocking foam tiles) heater

• • • • • • • • •

headlamp broom grill medications (if any) lighters/matches (multiple) shovel first aid kit fish gear travel itinerary (which you should share with a friend)

¶

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— Live Bait & Tackle — Smelt, Shiners, Suckers, Worms, Dillies, Crawlers 143 Emery Mills Road, Rt. 109 • (207) 636-1325 (on Lower Mousam Lake)

NEW GLOUCESTER

WEST ENFIELD

Live Bait: Shiners & Smelt 291 Townhouse Road, Chelsea, ME Open 6AM 7 Days • 151 Ridge Rd, Monmouth, ME 207-441-0645 207-933-9499 • www.jacktraps.com CHESTERVILLE

Complete Line of Ice Fishing Tackle SMELTS • SHINERS • SUCKERS • WORMS • CRAWLERS Packed in oxygen-filled bags for travel Bait Shop Open 5am Thurs, Fri Sat 1/2 Mi. East from I-95 Exit 197 • 207-827-7032

MOONEY’S LIVE BAIT

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94 Old County Road • (207) 852-7397 LIVE BAIT • OPEN 24/7

1235 Lewiston Road • (207) 926-4621 Smelts, Shiners, Suckers, Worms & Crawlers WHOLESALE & RETAIL • OPEN DAILY

Smelts, Shiners, Suckers, Cut-Bait Suckers, 5-6” Suckers, Dace, Fat Heads, Worms, Crawlers OFFERING AIR & BAGGED BAIT UPON REQUEST

GREENVILLE

NORRIDGEWOCK

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Smelts, Shiners, Suckers, Eastern Silver Minnows, Tommy Cods, Worms, Crawlers, Ice Fishing Supplies Mon-Thu 5am–7pm, Fri 5am–8pm, Sat 4am–7pm, Sun 4am–4pm

SEBAGO BAIT

— Moosehead Lake — Smelt • Shiners • Suckers 58 Moosehead Lake Road (207) 695-0067

Shiners & Smelt Open Mon–Fri 5AM–1PM, Sat–Sun 4AM–2PM 72 Madison Road, Norridgewock, ME 207-858-5282

- Ice Fishing Supplies & Tackle 483 Roosevelt Trail, Rt. 302 207-894-7141 • Open 7 Days Reserve Your Bait Online at www.SebagoBait.com

ISLAND FALLS

OAKLAND

WINTHROP

ALL YOUR ICE FISHING NEEDS! Fishing Tackle, Smelts, Shiners, Crawlers Open Mon-Wed: 7-6, Thurs-Sat: 7-7, Sun. 9 - 5

(Taken Over by Tony’s Bait) Shiners • Smelts • Suckers • Crawlers Sun–Tue 5:30AM–Noon, Wed–Sat 5:30AM–5:30PM 1 Pleasant Street 207-458-0246 or 207-716-1494

JERRY’S FOOD STORE

207-463-2828

www.MaineSportsman.com

WILD THINGS

COBBOSSEE BAIT

Smelts, Shiners, Suckers, Crawlers Open Sun–Wed 5AM–12PM, Thu–Sat 5AM–6PM Retail 207-485-8574 Wholesale 207-557-4308 8 Little Cobbossee Avenue, Winthrop, ME

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 27

Renting a Snowmobile is the Right Choice for Many Riders

by Steve Carpenteri When it comes to snowmobiling in Maine, ITS (interconnected trail system) enthusiasts are faced with a recurring dilemma: Should I purchase a snowmobile, or should I rent one?

Purchasing a snowmobile can be an adventure all its own.

Demand is high, and supply has been short these past few years, leading to high prices, and limiting choices and options.

Not only is the sled itself a major expense, but buyers must also consider how to transport their new machine, often by purchasing a trailer, and adding a hitch to their towing vehicle.

Other concerns include off-season storage, upkeep and maintenance. And then there’s the specialized clothing that’s a must in cold weather, including boots, coveralls, gloves, face protection, and helmets.

What About Renting?

When the numbers for outright purchase of a snowmobile seem to be greater than the value of owning such a

The answers to all your snowmobile rental questions, including: Where can I find a machine for rent? Must a company hold a state license to rent out snowmobiles? What instructions must the rental agent provide to the user? And should a man be allowed to rent a snowmobile without a woman’s supervision? machine, some Mainers may come to the conclusion that something other than outright ownership best fits their lifestyles and their budgets.

Perhaps, they reason, they should just rent a snowmobile for the occasional day trip or weekend spree, and leave all the responsibilities and worries about insurance, maintenance and operating costs to the company offering the rentals.

Of course, like so many simple-seeming alternatives in this world, the realities of renting bring with them a competing set of issues. In Maine it is legal to rent a snowmobile but, as one might expect, there are liabilities, limitations and restrictions, starting with rules promulgated by the Maine Department of

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Who Can Offer Snowmobiles for Rent?

According to the MDIFW, a person or business may not of-

fer to rent or lease a snowmobile unless that person or business registers with the MDIFW as a snowmobile rental agent and is issued a snowmobile rental agent certificate

from the commissioner’s office.

Rental agents must possess a valid Maine registration for each snowmobile being offered for rent or lease.

Requirement to Provide Instruction The rental agent is required to teach each person who rents or leases a snowmobile how to operate the snowmobile, including how to use the (Continued on next page)

www.MaineSportsman.com

28 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Snowmobiling (Continued from page 27)

DOMINATING TRAIL PERFORMANCE INDY VR1 • Ferocious Acceleration • Effortless Control in Any Condition • The Most Advanced Technology on Snow

— See Your Polaris Dealer for Current Promotions Today! — JACKMAN Jackman Power Sports 549 Main Street 207-668-4442 www.jackmanpowersports.com

GORHAM, NH MOMS Jericho 461 Main St. 603-466-5454 www.momsjericho.com

LEWISTON Central Maine Powersports 845 Main Street 207-689-2345 www.centralmainepowersports.com Polaris recommends that all riders take a safety training course. Do not attempt maneuvers beyond your capability. Always wear a helmet and other safety apparel.

Read, understand and follow your owner’s manual. Never drink and ride. Polaris is a registered trademark of Polaris Industries Inc. © 2023 Polaris Industries Inc.

brake, throttle and kill switch. Further, the agent must provide each user with a pamphlet describing proper hand signals.

Businesses lawfully engaged in guiding activities and those who accompany others on guided snowmobile trips are exempt from the above restrictions, except that the guides themselves must provide the operators of snowmobiles with instructions on safe operations.

Finally, users who are renting or leasing machines are subject to all the usual “rules of the road,” and must abide by applicable Maine laws regarding safety, private-land access, public road crossing protocols, and

all other operating requirements and procedures.

Age Restrictions In most cases, rental snowmobiles are not available to anyone under the age of 18, and most agencies require the renter to be over the age of 21. Neither the rental agent nor the customer may permit a child under 10 years of age to operate a snowmobile, unless the child is accompanied by an adult. (This rule does not apply on land that is owned by the parent or guardian or on land where permission for use has been granted to the parent or guardian.) Finally, a person under 14 years of age may not operate (Continued on next page)

Visit Your Local Ski-Doo Dealer for Current Offers!

THAT SKI-DOO FEELING Discover it. Share it. Repeat.

AUBURN Wallingford Equipment 2527 Turner Road 207-782-4886 www.wallingfordequipment.com

LEEDS Reggie’s Kawasaki Ski-doo 255 US Hwy 202 207-933-4976 www.doitatreggies.com

AUGUSTA North Country Ski-doo 3099 N. Belfast Ave. 207-622-7994 www.northcountryh-d.com

LINCOLN Lincoln Power Sports - Access Auto 265 West Broadway 207-794-8100 www.lincolnpowersports.com

DETROIT Huff Powersports 284 North Road 207-487-3338 www.huffpowersports.com

WILTON Mountain Side Powersports 912 US Route 2 East 207-645-2985 www.mountainsidepowersports.com

GREENVILLE JUNCTION Moosehead Motorsports 13 Industrial Park 207-695-2020 www.mooseheadmotorsports.com

WINDHAM Richardson’s Boat Yard 850 Roosevelt Tr, Rt 302 207-892-9664 www.richardsonsby.com

JACKMAN Jackman Power Sports 549 Main Street 207-668-4442 www.jackmanpowersports.com ©2022 Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP). All rights reserved. ®, ™ and the BRP logo are trademarks of BRP or its affiliates.

Products in the United States (US) are distributed by BRP US Inc. Always ride responsibly and safely and wear appropriate clothing, including a helmet. Please observe applicable laws and regulations. Remember that riding and alcohol/drugs don’t mix. See your authorized BRP dealer for details and visit ski-doo.com.

www.MaineSportsman.com

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 29 (Continued from page 28)

a snowmobile across any public way that is maintained for vehicular travel.

Anyone planning to rent or lease a snowmobile in Maine is encouraged to log onto www.mefishwildlife.com for a complete listing of laws and rules pertaining to snowmobile use in the state. Click on the “ATV and Snowmobile” link, and then select “Snowmobile.” The department’s “Snowmobiling in Maine” page contains a link to the complete list of the fifteen licensed snowmobile rental and leasing agents. Those agents are found in most of Maine’s snowmobile “hub” locations, including Rangeley, Bingham, Stratton, Rockwood, Millinocket and Eagle Lake.

The Rental Process For details on what’s involved in renting a snowmobile in Maine, The Maine Sportsman contacted a few licensed agents for their input and insight on the rental procedure, as well as what’s expected of agents and their customers after the papers are signed.

According to Mike Boutin at Northwoods Outfitters (on Moosehead Lake in Greenville; 1-866-223-1380), snowmobile rentals are available to anyone over the age of 21. Authorized riders must be at least 18 years old and possess a valid driver’s license.

“We do take advance reservations,” Boutin said, “and we offer three types of snowmobiles including one- and two-seater models. A $1,500 (Continued on next page)

EXPLORE. DISCOVER. DOMINATE. — Visit Your Local Arctic Cat Dealer for Current Promotions — GORHAM White Rock Outboard 351 Sebago Lake Road 207-892-9606 www.whiterockoutboard.com

LEBANON Northeast Motorsports 451 Carl Broggi Hwy. 207-457-2225 www.nemotorsportsofmaine.com

JACKMAN Jackman Power Sports 549 Main Street 207-668-4442 www.jackmanpowersports.com

SIDNEY Kramer’s Inc. 2400 West River Road 207-547-3345 www.kramersinc.com

WARNING: Arctic Cat snowmobiles can be hazardous to operate. For your safety, all riders should read and understand their owner’s manual and safety instructions.

Always wear an approved helmet and other safety apparel. Be aware of natural hazards you may encounter and don’t drink and ride. All scenes depicted or described were performed by professional riders under carefully controlled conditions. Never attempt to duplicate these maneuvers or encourage others to do so. Arctic Cat recommends that all operators take a safety training course. For safety and training information, please see your local dealer. ©2023 Arctic Cat Inc. All rights reserved.

Discover Maine’s

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30 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Snowmobiling (Continued from page 29)

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See Your Local Yamaha Snowmobile Dealer for Details!

JACKMAN Jackman Powersports 549 Main Street 207-668-4442 www.jackmanpowersports.com

SKOWHEGAN Whittemore & Sons 257 Waterville Road 207-474-2591 www.whittemoreandsons.com

Offer available on approved purchases of new 2021-2023 Yamaha Snowmobile made on the Yamaha Credit Card issued by WebBank. Account must be open and current to be eligible for this offer. † Customer cash offer good on select models between 1/1/2023 through 3/31/2023. See dealer for additional customer cash available on prior year models. Always wear an approved helmet and eye protection. Observe all state and local laws. Respect the rights of others. Ride within your capabilities. Allow extra time and plenty of distance for maneuvering. Do not perform stunts. © 2023 Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. All rights reserved.

1

security deposit is required.

“We provide helmets with heated shields, complete operating instructions, and maps for self-guided rides as well as guided trips,” he added.

“Our rental customers can take their snowmobiles overnight for longer trips on local trails, but we discourage night riding or riding across Moosehead Lake.”

Assistance is also available should there be any trailside mishaps.

Boutin said he has a full range of clothing, including helmets,

gloves and bib overalls for renters, and the pro shop also has a wide variety of related gear available for sale.

Pick-up at local airports is available for incoming renters, and local lodging arrangements can be made through the facility.

If a group involves both men and women, Boutin joked that the decision on which machines to rent should be made by consensus. “After 20 years in this business,” he said with a smile, “we have learned that men should not be allowed to rent anything with (Continued on next page)

Snowmobile Rental & Guided Tour Directory

Valley Rentals

Rockwood, ME • (207) 534-2261 Open 7 Days Heated Snowmobile Storage Non-Ethanol Gas

WE RENT SKI-DOO SNOWMOBILES! www.mooseheadsled.com

2023 Polaris Snowmobile Rentals Self-Guided or Guided Trips Available On-Site Lodging • Bar & Grill Call About Our Weekday Stay & Play Special

207-834-6310

mikesandsons@yahoo.com

1489 Shin Pond Road, Mt. Chase, ME • 207-528-2900

EVENINGS OR EMERGENCY: 207-231-1203 • 207-231-1205 545 Caribou Road, Fort Kent, ME

Moosehead Region Trailside Lodging

SNOWMOBILE RENTALS

www.shinpond.com

• New Renovations & Furniture • Snowmobile Rentals • Huge Parking Lot • Ice Fishing Trips • On-Trail Access • Maine Guides Available

Greenville, ME • 1-800-792-1858 www.MooseMountainInn.com www.MaineSportsman.com

Fort Kent Area Snowmobile Rentals

• NEW 2021-2022 Skidoo Sleds • Guided and Self-Guided Tours • On-Trail Lodging

• Warm Clothing Rental • Heated Visor Helmet • Mid-Week Discounts

Greenville, ME • 1-866-223-1380 www.MaineOutfitter.com

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 31 (Continued from page 30)

a motor without a woman’s supervision.”

He elaborated, with a note of seriousness, by explaining that all of his past experiences with snowmobile accidents and incidents have involved men.

Other well-established snowmobile rental agents across the state offer similar rental packages and services that are designed to make visiting riders’ day, weekend or extended trips more enjoyable. Packages range from basic one-day snowmobile and gear rentals, to all-encompassing promotions including multiple snowmobile rentals, lodging, and food.

Advance Reservations a Must Most Maine snowmobile rental services are understandably busy during the winter months, so advance reservations are highly recommended.

Call well in advance of your trip (a month prior is not too soon) so that all of your needs can be met when you arrive at the lodge or camp.

Many of these outfitters operate remotely, and may not have the opportunity to return calls or e-mails for several days, especially during their busiest periods (weekends and holidays). Give yourself – and them – plenty of time to pre-

Quotable

Sportsman

by Will Lund

Talking to the Trees “It ain’t so bad if yer talk to yerself, but when yer start answerin’ back, you’re a goner!”

An old woodsman, quoted by Bill Geagan in the 1952 book, “Nature I Loved,” about the dangers of becoming “woods queer” (i.e., negatively psychologically affected by the lack of human interaction) if you spend too much time living by yourself in the Maine woods. On one occasion, Geaghan was considering hiring a fellow as a guide, but he noticed the guide got up and left their cabin at midnight. He spotted the guide in a moonlit clearing. “There, standing at the base of a huge pine, with his arms waving and his voice low, [I saw him] talking to the tree,” wrote Geagan. “I left for home the following day.” “Nature I Loved” was re-released in 2022, with a new forward

by Dee Dauphinee of Bradley, Maine.

— That’s All You Need to Know “We [women] have different parts.”

DIF&W Commissioner Judith Camuso, explaining the importance of having outdoor clothing that is specifically sized and tailored for women.

Renting lets you join the snowmobile crowd until you are ready to purchase your own sled. Photo taken by Al Swett, at Bald Mountain Camps Resort, Oquossoc

pare for your trip.

In addition to Mike Boutin’s outfit in Greenville, licensed snowmobile rental agents include Flagstaff Rentals Inc. in Stratton, reachable at

207-246-4276; Moosehead Mountain Inn in Greenville, 1-800-7921858; Moosehead Sled Repair and Rental in Rockwood, 207-5342261; Valley Rentals in Fort Kent, 207-834-

The commissioner was introducing a nationwide Zoom seminar titled “What Women Want,” that focused on the “Three Rs” of getting women to join the ranks of hunters and shooters: recruitment, retention and reactivation. She said the state’s DIF&W will not purchase uniforms or other official clothing unless the manufacturer offers both men’s and women’s sizes.

— What’s Going On In There?

“Some things I probably can’t tell you about – most things.”

Jim McPherson of Jim’s Smelt Camps, Bowdoinham, when asked by a reporter about the “memories and camaraderie” that take place inside the camps. Channel 13 WGME report by Aysia Reed.

— Modeling Behavior “You buy things that look like you.”

Marissa Jensen, speaking at the “What Women Want” Zoom presentation, stressing the positive impact of women seeing photos and images of other women hunting, shooting and engaging in

6310; Shin Pond Village, Mt. Chase, 207528-2900; and Lakeside Lodge, in Sinclair, 207-543-2129.

¶

outdoor sports, as a way of increasing sales to women of licenses, clothing and gear. Jensen leads the “Women on the Wing” program for the “Pheasants Forever” organization.

— Distracted Deer “Behold the deer – the deadliest beast in North America.”

Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post columnist, pointing out that automobile crashes with deer are the cause of, on average, 440 driver fatalities in the US each year. The deer threat peaks, he wrote, just before Thanksgiving — typically Nov. 7 through 14 — when you’re about three times more likely to hit a deer than at any other time of year. This is because deer are distracted by the rut – a time when “deer focus on procreation, not selfpreservation.”

— Not Your Father’s Better Business Bureau “A basic wager is called a ‘money line bet,’ but you should also become familiar with phrases such as ‘point-spread,’ ‘prop’ and ‘futures’ bets, as well as terms like ‘juice,’ ‘parlay,’ ‘total’ and ‘teaser.’”

Better Business Bureau, February 1, 2023 in the “Tips for responsible sports betting” section of a press release titled “What to Know Before Placing your First Sports Bet.” www.MaineSportsman.com

32 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Ice Fishing Continues Strong in Northern Maine Although it’s still somewhat of a secret, in the Limestone/Fort Fairfield area, ice fishing on three ponds was authorized for the first time this winter.

Trafton, Durepo, and Monson Ponds are all easy to visit using well-plowed shoreline roads. And all three locations received generous late-fall stocking visits, with over 2,000 brook trout from 7 to 13 inches released at each spot.

The old adage stating March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb is generally very true for Aroostook County. This was a confusing winter for us, however; in mid-January I was still able to walk the 100 yards to my storage barn in ankle-high boots and never be in more than three inches of snow.

However, cold air hit in early February, and things returned (closer) to normal.

March generally

offers a good number of sunny, pleasant days for ice fishing.

Any time after the Ides of March (the 15th of the month) yields comfortable conditions with diminishing snow depth, longer hours of daylight, and usually far fewer anglers out and about. Some years, the snow levels don’t even require snowshoes or a snowmobile to explore shoreline coves on many lakes.

March on Long Lake Some waterways

Allagash Lakes Region

just don’t need a lot of hoopla and regular reminders of their attributes and likely rewards. Long Lake, in Aroostook County’s Fish River Chain, is just such a location.

I’ve not touted it heavily over the last forty-plus years of columns, simply because Long already gets far heavier attention than other local lakes.

In truth, I believe this Crown of Maine gem produces the most consistent year-round action – and the largest

Danielle Lavway lives in Sinclair, and she knows first-hand what’s happening on Long Lake, in the Chain of Lakes. The results speak for themselves.

Photos: Bill Graves

salmon – of any northern lake. In fact, in my opinion, it should be listed among the top three best trolling and ice fishing spots in the entire state.

Due to vastly vary-

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ing depths and its expansive size, early in the season Long Lake often has open water in one location, and six or more inches of ice allowing safe ice (Continued on next page)

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��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 33

Bill Levasseur runs a busy realty business in Sinclair, but still occasionally finds time to sneak out for a short pre-work outing.

Often, he’s able to hook a nice salmon.

(Continued from page 32)

fishing at another location. Most ice drillers, especially smelt jiggers, want to be ice fishing as soon as safely possible, since the best action may be enjoyed the first couple of weeks.

There’s another huge influx of anglers for the week prior to, and the week of, the annual winter derby. This month, however, numbers decline and pressure diminishes on most favorite coves, corners and inlets, and safe ice depth will maintain until past the end of the month, under normal conditions.

The Coves Van Buren Cove is definitely worth a visit for salmon enthusiasts – check out Barn, Mud and Daigle Brook inlets, and set traps in 15- to 25-foot depths. Along Sinclair Road, from the Long/ Mud thoroughfare outlet clear up to Long Lake Sporting Club, are over a dozen small coves only a short snowshoe walk from

March offers a few perfect days with warm sun and mild temperatures for a family outing on neighborhood ponds. This group used an old-school hand ice auger to make holes in the ice.

the highway.

Many shoreline houses and camps have paths onto the lake, and most owners allow anglers to utilize the trails upon request. Some even offer ice shanties for rent.

The shallower coves are often very productive brook trout spots for tip-ups and hand jigging. Small DB Smelt lures, THKFISH, Rapala jigging Raps, and Swedish pimples all produce strikes, and several of my friends with decades of Long Lake experience swear that

adding a piece of cut bait or a small, colorful dropper fly boosts the bites.

At the St Agatha end of Long Lake, jig rods and handlines produce steady smelt and yellow perch all winter, but the catch rate will be more intermittent in March.

Tip-ups for salmon tend to be steady in coves, around Pelletier Island, in 20- to 30-foot depths between the two boat launch sites and Cyr Brook Cove.

About one trout will be iced for every five salmon. Snowmo-

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Penny Charrette of Portland visited granddad Sherby Morris in Fort Kent and enjoyed some first-time smelt fishing from a cabin on Long Lake. She and her brother caught a bucket of fish.

biles are not an absolute requirement, since well-plowed shoreline roads offer close, simple access on both sides of the lake.

Route 161 between Caribou and Fort Kent will deliver anglers to Route 162 all along the western shore, then Cleveland and Beaulieu roads hug the northernmost finger of lake. Delorme’s Atlas & Gazetteer, Map 68,

grids B & C-3 offer an overview for visitors.

New Options For hard water anglers in Limestone, Fort Fairfield and several neighboring towns and villages, three waterways are open this winter for the first time. Trafton, Durepo, and Monson Ponds are all easy to visit via well-plowed shoreline roads, so while a (Continued on next page)

Loon Lodge in the Allagash Lake Region “Just the Way You Like It”

ALLAGASH LAKE OPEN JANUARY-MARCH 2023 Cabins Open by Reservation • Just 3 Miles from the Lake! www.loonlodgemaine.com loonlodgemaine@gmail.com • SEE US ON FACEBOOK! P.O. Box 404, Millinocket, ME 04462 • 207-745-8168

Presque Isle Fish & Game Club

SPRING SPORTSMAN’S SHOW Saturday, March 25th, 9AM–5PM Sunday, March 26, 9AM–2PM UMaine Presque Isle, Gentile Building, 181 Main Street, Presque Isle, ME ADMISSION: $5 • KIDS 10 & UNDER ARE FREE!

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www.pifg.org/springsportsmansshow www.MaineSportsman.com

34 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

The County (Continued from page 33)

snowmobile offers complete access and ease of hauling gear, walk-on access is very feasible.

All three locations received ample late-fall stocking visits, with over 2,000 brook trout from 7 to 13 inches released at each spot.

Fishing pressure has not been overwhelming despite the ponds being less than 30 minutes from over a dozen communities, and is likely to be even

less in March. From recent conversations, I’ve learned many sportsmen weren’t yet aware ice fishing was open on this trio of sites.

Due to the proximity of these spots, it’s very feasible to visit a couple during a halfday outing, if the first lake proves unproductive. DeLorme’s Atlas, Map 65 overviews travel routes for this trio of first-time options.

Early March often throws a few nasty storm days throughout Aroostook County. However, a few hardy hard water anglers ignore the weather, dress in warm layers, and reap the benefit of limited competition with bragging size silver finned footballs.

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AMP BU W S E

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¶

Nola Mclennan joined old friends Bill and Lisa Levasseur at their top-notch fishing shanty near their house on Long Lake. She took a break from jigging for smelt to tend a tip-up – see the results!

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A Perfect Day Tracking

by Joe Kruse & Hal Blood Looking back on this past deer season, it’s easy to recall many instances that stand out as memorable. From jumped deer and near misses to fun moments guiding sports, there is plenty to reflect on. But as trackers, we daydream during the off season about days like I experienced on one specific November day.

It was Friday, November 18, and we had received about 4 inches of fresh snow on top of the inch or two that we already had. After meeting at the Lodge for breakfast with the crew, I headed out alone to try to look for a track from the truck.

It didn’t take long for me to find what I was looking for. It was still predawn, with 30 minutes to spare before legal shooting time began. Finding a good track so quickly is always a bonus, because you know you’ve got all day, if needed, to get the job done.

On The Track There was a decent breeze as I took to the track at first light. The snow was quiet, and I felt confident that I would get a shot at this buck. I was in a very familiar area, and as I moved along looking for the buck, I began thinking ahead as to what his next move might be.

He took me through old cuts and young fir stands before crossing through open hardwoods in his search of a hot doe. Up to this point, he had been traveling alone. I was in hopes that he would find a doe to distract him and slow him down, but the ease of staying with a single big buck track on fresh snow was also appealing.

The best part of days like this is the feeling that you are always in the game.

There is no second guessing the age of the track, whether the walking is too noisy or not, or if the buck you’re after is on a straight-line mission to cover miles.

There were enough does in the area to keep him local, but not so many that I had to waste time working out tracks.

I jumped him for the first time shortly after he found a doe he liked. Although he split from the doe, he wasn’t bothered by me. He slowed down after only a couple hundred yards and was back in search of another doe.

I moved along quickly and quietly,

The author jumped the big buck once, and then a second time. Then the tracks when straight up a mountain. “I pushed as hard as I’ve ever pushed going up that mountain,” he writes, “as I knew where the big buck would bed on top. I felt good about catching him there.”

A scene like this is what keeps a deer tracker motivated. Photo taken in the Jackman area by Joe Kruse

hoping to catch him in the open. I soon jumped him for the second time, but still couldn’t get a good look at his head. He still wasn’t that bothered by me, as he hit a road and walked it for a hundred yards or so before slipping back into the firs.

Familiar Territory At this point, as he made his way straight up the steepest part of the mountain, I realized I was on a very familiar

chase. I had a pretty good idea that I’d followed this buck before. I pushed as hard as I’ve ever pushed going up that mountain, as I knew where he’d bed on top, and I felt good about catching him there.

After reaching the top, I made my way through the softwoods that were loaded with fresh powdery snow, waiting for him to jump at any second.

The feeling that I had at that moment is why I love to track. It’s what all deer trackers live for. It’s the anticipation of knowing he’s not far from you, and the confidence that you’re going to make the best of the opportunity.

Like many times in the past, I jumped him again without getting a shot. I stayed on him for another three hours, jumping him one more time before running out of daylight. I was exhausted, but completely content, after the day’s chase. I felt, more than ever before, that you don’t need to kill a deer to have a perfect day. You just have to be in the game.

Hal’s Thoughts I have had literally hundreds of days on the track like the one Joe describes.

Hunters who choose not to track, often don’t understand why we do.

Let’s face it – tracking is a tough sport. Tracking is proactive, meaning the hunter is in pursuit, using skills to try and outwit a buck.

A tracker sets out every day on a new adventure and most likely in a new place. There will be many things seen along the way that most people may never have the opportunity to see.

Each day there is also the opportunity to learn new things. It might be something about the buck, or it might just be something about the woods that you travel through, or other animals that inhabit them.

I have learned far more on the days on a track without killing the buck than I have the days that I did kill one.

Some hunters may consider themselves unsuccessful if they don’t shoot a deer, but I look at every day in the woods as a successful one. A tracker’s life is a journey that never ends.

¶

www.MaineSportsman.com

36 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

It’s Not Too Late to Work on Apple Trees A common complaint from deer hunters all over Maine in 2022 was, “There’s no food for the deer.” My own observations were that the properties I hunted last season were nearly devoid of acorns, beech nuts and apples.

In reality, the local deer were still fat and happy, as they had plenty of other food stuffs to eat. Good mast crops, however, are an added benefit to deer and, when they’re available, they can aid in hunting success.

The author takes readers step-by-step through the process of selecting, pruning and “releasing” lowproducing apple trees, and then applying proper fertilizer to increase blossoms in the spring and apple production in early autumn.

Instead of relying solely on mother nature to provide mast crops to hunt over, deer hunters can increase their odds of having mast crops like apples. (The term “mast crop” includes any seed, fruit or nut that falls to the ground and can be eaten.

Acorns and beechnuts are forms of “hard

mast” crops, while apples and blackberries are examples of “soft mast.”)

Normally I’d be taking care of apple trees in late January or February. However, an injured back prevented me from getting out and working on local trees when I should have.

However, March

is not too late to do some work on trees, which increases the odds those trees will produce apples for archery or gun season. March can bring warmer temperatures, so it’s important to be smart when working on trees once the sap is flowing.

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Produce More Benefits It’s okay to work on trees after it warms up and sap is flowing. However, the work that gets done shouldn’t be the same as it’d be if the temps are still below freezing. For instance, taking healthy branches off when a tree is dormant, is ideal. Once the sap is running, however, taking only dead branches off a tree is the rule.

You can also remove neighboring non-apple trees on the south and east side of the apple tree. Often, these other trees are blocking much-needed sunlight.

On one of the new properties I’ll be hunting in 2023, there are many old, non-producing apple trees. The knee-jerk reaction would be to release as many of these as possible (“releasing” trees refers to pruning certain branches on the primary tree to increase air flow and sunlight, as well as clearing out competing or overhanging surrounding trees). However, running headlong into the property and pruning or cutting around trees randomly isn’t the best approach.

My plan is to work on the right trees.

One might ask, “How do you select the right trees?”

The first thing to look at is tree location, and how a big producer could be hunted.

For instance, if a prop-

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erty has apple trees on the east edge of a green field and on the north end of the same field, it’s the trees on the north end that’d get my attention first, as they’d be easier to hunt on a north wind.

The trees on the east side wouldn’t get my attention, because we’d rarely have the proper wind to hunt them. So, the potential “hunt-ability” of a tree is the first thing to determine.

Apple trees in the middle of heavy cover might not get my attention first. Sometimes, trees are completely grown in, with other trees blocking sunlight. The work required here might be more involved than on a tree with fewer surrounding trees blocking the light. All else being equal, the trees that require less work to bring them back into production, will likely get my attention first.

A critical component of my work, be-

cause I am not a landowner, is to make sure my property owner is okay with me cutting and pruning trees.

Keeping my landowners happy and asking permission to cut is the only policy I’ll follow.

Fortunately, most of my landowners will walk or ride to the exact spots I’ll do my work. My preference is for them to see and approve, first-hand, the work to be done.

If a landowner cannot get to a spot, showing them a map and writing a plan on paper for them to follow, is the next best thing.

Lastly, don’t forget the fertilizer! An application of 10-10-10 at ½ a cup per DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) around the drip line of each tree is what I use.

If a tree is located in an area where manure is being spread and the tree will benefit from this application, I’ll back off on the nitrogen, and go with a 0-10-10 mix. Over-fer-

The author and a friend prune apple trees on a farm in preparation for bowhunting this fall. The author follows the “rule of thirds” when releasing old apple trees. The first year, he removes dead branches and water sprouts. The second year he takes another third of the new growth and other branches off the trees. On the third year, he gets more aggressive, with the result that a wild tree ends up resembling a domestic farm tree. Removing branches allows air to move freely through the tree, keeping molds and fungi at bay, and making a better environment for each growing apple.

tilizing a tree can actually cause more of the undesirable vegetation to grow, instead of apples. This can also cause pests to target a tree before others, so be alert and ready to protect a tree from pests.

After pruning, releasing and fertilizing are completed, it’s important to keep an eye on the hard work that

was done. Hopefully, come late April and early May, blossoms will cover these trees.

With a little luck, and some warm, dry weather during the blossom stage, bees and other insects will pollinate the flowers, and by the end of May it’ll be obvious which trees will get the trail cameras on them, long before August.

Pruning and releasing apple trees on a property is a great way to increase the chances of harvesting a deer, especially big bucks, early in the season. It’s also a great way to benefit critters other than deer. Let’s hope work done this month will lead to bigger smiles in the fall.

¶

Maine Wildlife Quiz: WOODCHUCK by Steve Vose

The woodchuck (Marmota Monax), also known as the groundhog, inhabits a native range stretching across the Eastern United States, Canada and Alaska.

Here in New England, the resilient and adaptable woodchuck inhabits urban yards, as well as rural fields and woodland clearings.

These members of the rodent family grow to a length of 16-20 inches, and weigh between 6 and 12 pounds.

Woodchucks have short, round bodies covered in coarse grayish brown fur.

For their size, woodchucks have incredibly powerful legs, tipped with heavy claws used for digging and even climbing trees.

Woodchucks consume a wide variety

of plants, including grass, clover, plantain and wildflowers. To the dismay of gardeners, woodchucks also eat broccoli, peas, beans, lettuce and squash, and entire gardens may be destroyed because of their voracious appetite.

Woodchucks feed primarily during the day, and at night – to escape pre-

Questions 1. By what name is the woodchuck also known?

2. What is the native range of the woodchuck?

3. How much does a woodchuck

typically weigh?

4. What is the primary diet of a woodchuck in the wild?

5. What animals prey upon woodchucks?

6. How long do woodchucks typi-

dation – they retire to the protection of their extensive maze of underground borrows. Woodchucks have many natural enemies, including foxes, coyotes, dogs and humans. If they can avoid falling prey to a predator, woodchucks usually live 5 to 6 years. Woodchucks in captivity have been recorded living as long as fourteen years.

One of Maine’s few true hibernators, woodchucks hibernate from October to March. Shortly after emerging from their winter dens, woodchucks breed. Females give birth in April to a single litter containing between 4 and 6 kits. At six weeks, young leave the burrow with their mother, and by fall the young woodchucks venture off to seek their own territories. cally live in the wild?

7. How long can woodchucks live in captivity?

8. Do woodchucks hibernate?

Answers on Page 65 www.MaineSportsman.com

38 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Everybody Has Jumper Cables I was walking along Commercial Street during my lunch hour when I noticed two women standing in front of two cars with both hoods raised. Being an old Boy Scout, I stopped and asked if they could use some help.

“Do you know how to hook these up?” one of them asked, holding up a set of jumper cables.

“Sure – glad to help,” I replied.

I fastened the clamps to the batteries. “OK,” I said to the lady whose car had the good battery, “start your engine.”

I waited a few minutes and looked around for the woman whose battery was dead. Where had she gone? Apparently, she had no idea that using jumper cables required someone to turn the key.

I found her busily carrying on a conversation with another friend. “Um – ma’am,” I interrupted, “are you going to start your car? Please get in and try to start your car.” It was obvious she had no clue what it meant to jump-start a car.

Somewhat reluctantly it seemed, she got in and turned the key, and the engine fired right up. I disconnected the cables and instructed her not to shut the car off until she got home.

As I helped the other lady close the hood of her car, I thought to myself, “These couldn’t be Maine girls; otherwise, they would have started that car an hour ago and been on their way.”

I never did figure out where they got the cables.

“Busier Than a Set of Jumper Cables” We grew up knowing how to jumpstart an engine, just like we knew how to start a fire, change a tire, use a clutch, row a boat, and prime a pump.

Everybody we knew carried a set of jumper cables in their car and truck.

When we were at UMO, my buddy Dick and I made a little business out of jumpstarting cars and towing them out of snow banks. We cruised the university parking lots in Dick’s one-ton truck right after a snowstorm, searching for www.MaineSportsman.com

I could tell they weren’t Maine girls – otherwise, they would have managed to get their car started an hour earlier.

Photo: Ace Hardware

coeds in distress. We found our little towing business was a good way to meet women.

I remember a joke told, I believe, by Maine comedian Bob Marley. Marley was trying to get the point across that someone or something was in huge demand. What he said was, “They were busier than a set of jumper cables at a Maine family reunion.”

Savior of the Blueberry Barrens One time, we were picking blueberries on the barrens in Washington County – just Jean and me, the three boys and two dogs, cruising the gravel roads looking for free-range berries. We had not seen another person or vehicle all afternoon.

We were just about to head home when I spotted a man running across the berry patch. He came up to us and gasped, “Can you jump my truck?’ Turns out he, too, had been picking, but when he got into his truck to leave, the battery was dead. Like us, he’d seen no one all day.

He directed us across the fields to where his truck was parked. Did we have cables? Sure. And him, yes – he

had a set, too. We cozied our van up to his truck and stretched out the cables and within a few seconds started his engine.

He was most grateful. You could understand why. A million miles from nowhere and a dead battery would have made for a long, lonesome walk home.

Back in the 1990s, Steve Smith hosted the “Red Green Show” on Canadian TV. One of the running gags showed Red standing on the roadside in front of the Possum Van, holding a set of jumper cables in his hands. Car after car passed him by, but none of them ever stopped.

In one of the episodes, Bill Smith used jumper cables to light a campfire.

The Size of a Big Bar of Soap Do they teach about jumper cables in driver education? I remember we spent an afternoon in the high school parking lot changing a flat, but I don’t recall jump-starting the car. Maybe it was just something we learned from our fathers.

I knew jumper cables were a dying art when my brother-in-law arrived one summer and didn’t need a jump to start his father’s old Chevy pickup. After spending the winter in the garage, it always took a jump to get the Chevy going.

In the past, Bob and I always linked two sets of cables together to reach from my truck out on the street into the garage and up to the truck’s battery, but not this time. Bob opened his suitcase and picked up a little white gizmo, about the size of a big bar of soap. He wriggled along the side of the truck up to the front end, lifted the hood, and attached the tiny battery. He turned the key, and the engine roared to life. Bob said buying that little lithium jumper battery was the best fifty bucks he’d ever spent.

Even so, I still carry jumper cables in my truck, and another set in our car.

You never know when some out-of-state ladies might need a jump in the Walmart parking lot, or your brother-in-law forgets his fancy electronic bar of soap.

¶

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— Biggest Bucks in Maine Club 2022 — SUPPLEMENTAL LIST * denotes youth hunter

The names of twenty-one hunters who qualified for The Maine Sportsman’s “Biggest Bucks in Maine” patch club list, were not included in the list contained in our February 2023.

So here’s our “supplemental” list. Congratulations to all!

LAST NAME Beardsley Calhoun * Carson Chubbuck Colson Dewley Gregoire Harnois * Harnois, III * Lancaster Jr Lee Leighton Marshall Paquette Polvinen Shea Tibbetts Towns White Wisniewski Woodward

FIRST NAME Chantal Micah J Michael Colton Adam Bradley Matthew Damyn Stanley J Carroll Justin Eric Bruce Daniel Adam William Donald C. Tom Wendell Kelley Jonathan

CITY Union Ashland Sanford Bowdoin Corea Millinocket Enosburg Falls Princeton Princeton Athens Jay Machiasport Oakland Freedom Hebron Hiram Vienna Beddington Hudson Castine York

STATE ME ME ME ME ME ME VT ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME

WEIGHT 200.2 201 219.2 205 224 237 206 232 218 215 200.5 220 214 205 208.4 232.5 204 215 203 209 201

DATE 10/29/2022 11/25/2022 10/31/2022 10/29/2022 11/8/2022 11/11/2022 11/8/2022 11/3/2022 11/2/2022 12/2/2022 11/10/2022 11/11/2022 11/18/2022 11/17/2022 11/3/2022 11/9/2022 11/1/2022 11/1/2022 11/22/2022 11/4/2022 11/11/2022

WHERE Union Ashland Sanford Dresden Hancock Hopkins Twp Tim Pond Skinner Holeb Athens Weld Whiting Oakland Freedom Auburn Hiram Vienna Beddington Hudson Jefferson New Portland

The lists of the Biggest Bucks in Maine Patch Club members from 2012-2022 can be found online at www.mainesportsman.com.

Matthew Gregoire, of Enosburg Falls, Vermont, was awarded his “Biggest Bucks in Maine” patch as a result of taking this 206-lb., 8-pt deer with his 30’06 on November 8, 2022 in Tim Pond, Maine. The buck’s weight was certified at Flagstaff General Store in Stratton.

William Shea of Hiram was awarded his 2022 “Biggest Bucks in Maine” patch after dropping this 232.5-lb., 8-pt. buck while hunting on November 9, 2022 in his hometown, using a .308. The monster buck was certified at Village Variety, in Parsonsfield.

2022 was an incredibly productive hunting year for William, as this whitetail was part of his four-part qualification for the Maine Sportsman’s “Grand Slam” Club. He also harvested a tom turkey in Hiram during the fall season, a boar black bear in Parkertown Township in August, and an 898-lb. bull moose in September in T19 R11.

On November 4, 2022, Kelley Wisniewski of Camden was hunting in Jefferson when she downed this 209-lb., 7-pt. whitetail, using her .308. The accomplishment qualified her for the Biggest Bucks in Maine patch club. The deer’s weight was certified by Brendon Moody at The Meat Shop, in Warren.

While hunting in his hometown on November 1, 2022, Tom Towns of Beddington, Maine used a .308 to harvest this 17-pt, 215-lb whitetail buck.

The deer, which earned Tom a “Biggest Bucks in Maine” patch, was tagged by Blake Smith, a registered Maine guide in Cherryfield. www.MaineSportsman.com

40 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

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42 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Shooting Through Mud Season March, the nadir of the sporting year, offers little opportunity and even less comfort to most shooters. Only a couple of hunting seasons are open. Trap and skeet fields remain covered in slush.

Club ranges drip with melt water, or require wading through crusty snow to reach the target line. With so few open seasons except for coyote, the best course of action keeps us in the gun room loading shells and cartridges for better times ahead, or exercising with a bore brush and a bottle of Hoppe’s Number 9 solvent.

Just such a day, featuring scudding low clouds, wind-driven flakes in the air, and copious amounts of mud underfoot, led me to stay indoors and dig around in the back corners of the gun safe. I came out with a long-ignored 20-gauge shotgun, now more

My grandfather’s older brother George left the Springfield Arms 20-gauge single shot, external hammer shotgun hanging on the wall when he went to France to fight in 1918. The least I could do was to carry it into the woods and fire off a few shells in George’s honor.

Overcoming the winter blues by heading out with the dogs, carrying a familyowned, 108-year-old 20-gauge. Gail S. Allard photo

than a century old.

Under the faded gray patina and rem-

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nant case coloring, the old gun’s receiver is marked as a product of the Springfield Arms Company of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts.

With little reference material to draw on, The Blue Book of Gun Values “assumes” that

Springfield Arms was an imprint of Stevens Arms, a subsidiary of the well-known Savage Arms. In any case, guns marked in this way remain plebian enough that no one is concerned with their lineage.

So far as my lineage is concerned, my grandfather’s older brother George owned the gun, and he left it hanging on two nails in the old homestead when he departed for the trenches of France in 1918. George died in France from wounds and pneumonia, likely caused by the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic.

George’s shotgun remained on the wall, and I doubt my grandfather ever used it before or after the homestead passed to him in the 1940s. It hung there in the shed, midway between the barn and the kitchen door, along with little-used wooden tennis rackets and wood-shafted golf clubs, for 58 years after George put it there, before Grandpa passed it to me.

First Shotgun After Grandpa gave it to me, I cleaned and lubricated all the working parts. Then I used a chemical stripper to take off the old worn-out finish on the stock and forearm. I (Continued on next page)

Maine’s 45th Annual Twin City

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��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 43 (Continued from page 42)

replaced the old finish with a glossy floor varnish that brought out the grain and beauty of the wood. The project did nothing for the value of the old gun, but I thought it looked gorgeous.

Reassembled, the gun remained, and still remains, a simple, unadorned 26-inch single-barrel 20-gauge with a modified choke.

It boasts no mechanical safety, but the external hammer requires cocking to activate the trigger. Few other designs could be safer or simpler for the inexperienced shooter, though a sighting rib of some kind would make engaging a moving target easier.

Since at the time the only other firearm I owned was a single-shot .22 “Tom Mix Special,” the old shotgun took me to a new level, and I reveled in it. To my teenage mind, I was a genuine hunter and woodsman now.

But Uncle George’s Springfield held center-stage for only a short time.

Off to College Within a couple of years, I was off to college, and the 20-gauge stayed in the gun rack on the wall of my bedroom at home – better than hanging on two nails in a shed, but as with so much else, I moved on. At college, Dave Mooney pre-emptively willed me his brand new Winchester Model 1200 12-gauge pump gun with interchangeable choke tubes. Dave had given up on academics, and was on his way to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

Carrying the new Model 1200, I began to haunt the trap and skeet fields belonging to the Kittery Clay Birders, as well as

the fields and woods surrounding the University of New Hampshire. I never looked back – or at least, not very often.

Resurrection Day The notion of taking Uncle George’s shotgun out of the safe, wiping it down with some oil and putting it back in, seemed unsatisfying. I was thinking about George, his life cut short. I was thinking about my grandfather, and the trust he placed in me.

I was thinking about the article I’d read the previous night in Game & Fish.

Joe Arterburn wrote about turkey hunting with a new Savage Model 301 – a camouflaged, synthetic-stocked single-barreled shotgun with an external hammer.

So, Mud Season or not, I called the dogs, put some shells in my pocket, and took George’s old gun to the woodlot.

Once past the birdfeeders, we saw no game, and would not shoot if we did. This is slack time, but I fired off a few shells for George (and for the dogs) before turning for home.

A no-frills shotgun such as Uncle George’s Springfield Arms 20-gauge remains a viable option after more than a century. JC Allard photo

Now, at least, there is a good reason to clean the old gun be-

fore putting it back in the safe.

¶

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44 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Threats to the Character of the Tramway Historic Site?

Last month, I discussed a change in the Bureau of Parks philosophy that has allowed an increase in foot traffic to the Allagash Waterway’s property at the Tramway.

In my view, this change has resulted in an overcrowding of the facilities, and is inconsistent with the wilderness values that Maine voters approved in 1966.

Therefore, in this piece, I will discuss how the Allagash Wilderness Waterway came to this crossroads.

Logging Proposal In the early 1990s, Seven Islands Land Company applied to my office to conduct a harvest operation in T8R13.

This proposal included building a winter logging road within a half-mile of the historic trains.

After reviewing the harvesting plans with their forester, we agreed that after the operation was completed, the road would be blocked at the AWW one-mile zone. The forester agreed. Placement of that large rock barrier is illustrated in the 2011 and 2015 volumes of The Maine Atlas; page 55.

As Waterway supervisor, I felt legally obligated to defend the wilderness experience and to protect the trains from roadside theft and vandalism. To that end, I believed the graveled way should remain blocked, but that it could continue to serve as a hiking trail from the outer edge of the one-mile zone, to the engines. This would ensure and safeguard a wild Allagash visit for everyone.

Today, that logging road remains, and it’s known as Sarah’s Road.

In 2001, I was contacted by Galen Cole, who was establishing the Cole Transportation Museum in Bangor. Mr. Cole was interested in acquiring one of the locomotives for his museum. If he

This photo shows Sarah’s Road toward the Tramway, before the road was lengthened. www.MaineSportsman.com

Even without a road for access, members of the Allagash Alliance were able to mobilize manpower and resources to stabilize the trains. Photo: T. Caverly collection

was allowed to move out one of the engines, the Museum offered to level and repair the vandalism of the one remaining.

I spoke with the Bureau of Parks Director about Mr. Cole’s offer. After a discussion, we agreed that the trains were more significant in the woods, rather than being exhibited near Interstate 95.

Thus, the trains stayed in place, and the vehicle access to the area remained closed at the one-mile zone.

Then, about four years ago, Maine Forest Service Director Doug Denico and 7-Island’s representative Sarah Medina, collaborated to ease motorized entry to this historic site. First the rock barrier was removed, and then the old logging road was improved.

Once that was done, a parking lot with an outhouse was created at the southeast end of the road. From there, Public Lands staff cleared and blueblazed a 16-minute easy hiking trail to reach the antique engines.

Denico’s and Medina’s apparent goal was to provide increased opportunities for people to visit the Tramway.

I have to wonder what is next. If that type of philosophy continues, will plans be made to extend the road to the engines with additional developments, such as a bigger parking lot to accommodate more vehicles? Will outhouses and picnic tables with fireplaces be increased in number? I am concerned that more visitors will mean increased traffic, more vandalism, theft of artifacts, and overall a conversion of the area into a “drive-through” experience.

When Mr. Cole’s offer was turned down, I never dreamed there would be those who would use this significant site

as an excuse to weaken the law that requires the State to “Develop the Maximum Wilderness Character” of the Waterway – a process of deterioration that appears ongoing.

So, if a road is needed today for people who visit the site, how in the world were the volunteers of the Allagash Alliance ever able to accomplish their stabilization work of so long ago?

Theirs was an effort from Sept. 1995 through December 1999 that required moving heavy equipment and tons of supplies onto the site. The goal was to prevent the trains from tipping over. It was a massive undertaking, further described in my book, “The Ranger and the Reporter.”

At the time, the Bureau of Parks estimated jacking the trains, removing the old bed, railroad ties and rail, hauling in new material, and building a roof over the trains, would cost $100,000. The Bureau even offered to build a road to the site, to make access easier for those doing the work.

But Alliance leaders Dave Hubley and Terry Harper thought differently.

Using a contingent of over 25 volunteers, along with scouts and canoers, their mission was to protect, preserve, and complete the work without degrading the site. They were remarkably successful, as the multiyear project was accomplished lower than estimated at just over $25,000. And Sarah’s Road remained closed.

In my April column, I’ll complete the timeline on this story.

Tim Caverly has authored twelve books, including his most recent, titled “Conversations.”

¶

This photo shows the excellent results of the stabilization efforts completed by 25 volunteers of the Allagash Alliance.

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 45

Teaching Youngsters How to Trap As sportsmen, we all know mentoring our youngsters for trapping, hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities is necessary, not only to maintain our present rates of participation, but to hopefully increase our numbers.

Think back to when you developed your first fond memories of the great outdoors. We all remember those individuals who mentored us and provided guidance.

Today’s trappers can mentor tomorrow’s, by sparking a youth’s interest in trapping by retelling the stories of the early fur trade during colonization of North America and those of the famous mountain men. History books, movies and television have all addressed these events and feats that excite youngsters.

A next step would be showing them the various types of traps and explaining how they are used. Also show and explain the related equipment used in trapping, along with the types and uses of baits and scents or lures for the different furbearers.

Next would be to take them on a short trapline (with the parents’ permission) to see what it is all about. Make the trip fun and don’t overdo it. Ensure you do it on a nice day. You want to develop interest, not bore them or make them miserable.

Safety Course, then Make a Trap Taking them to a Trappers Safety Course, and then helping the youngster set up their own first, miniature trapline (with their parents’ permission) will really get them interested.

Position of trap in box. All photos by David Miller

For mentoring youngsters, nothing beats direct involvement. So have them take a safety course, teach them the laws and rules that apply, and then help them build their own ermine trap.

Bait container centered in double-trap box.

This would be best accomplished by trapping the ermine (weasel). It is simple, safe, educational and exciting to a youngster.

The ermine (and less commonly, the red squirrel) is easily trapped by using a box and simple rat trap. At all times while mentoring youngsters, ensure that all related aspects of safety are explained and observed. Making several boxes can be part of the mentoring, or they may be purchased through local trapping supply dealers.

As luck would have it, the supplier/ manufacturer of these boxes to dealers all over the country is Jerry Lebeau of North Anson, ME. Know the Rules Always follow the laws and regulations for trapping. The “Maine Trapping Laws Summary” addresses wood weasel boxes in the section “Regulations for Specific Types of Traps,” which states that “wood based rat traps may be set on land for weasel and red squirrel trapping, if recessed in a wooden box with a hole no larger than 2 inches in diame-

ter.”

Boxes are made for a single trap or for two traps. The two-trap box was first made by Jerry Labeau, and has become popular. He recently has made shipments of boxes to dealers in Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as to dealers here in Maine.

The dimensions given in this article are of the boxes he manufactures for use with the standard wood based rat trap.

The suggested measurements should be followed, to allow the most efficient use of the rat trap.

A larger inside dimension is needed if you want to use a size 1-½ foothold trap. This size trap also ensures a humane and quick dispatch of the ermine.

The requirement for these boxes was driven by the trapping restrictions of the Incidental Take Permit (ITP) to protect the Canadian Lynx. To make that a short story, the rat trap is considered a “killer” trap, and as such the ITP rules applied. The fact that no one thought of them (and the fact that they couldn’t hurt a lynx) means they were not exempted from the rules.

Also, before the ITP, one could use small foothold traps for weasels, but the ITP restrictions (footholds to be center-swiveled, with other swivel points and no tangle placement) placed on foothold traps prevent small foothold traps from use.

Baits and Lures In conjunction with the box and trap(s), I recommend using any bloody bait (rabbit or chicken work good, or pieces of liver) and a good weasel lure, which may be purchased through trap(Trapping continued on page 47)

Bait container in back of single-trap box www.MaineSportsman.com

46 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Bill’s “To-Do” List Starts Now The author’s “to-do” list this month should be a cinch to complete. All he has to do is use beagles to go rabbit-hunting on snowshoes, learn all about his DeLorme inReach satellite phone, install an animal track identification app for his phone, rent a snowmobile and go for long rides, and hard-wire a trolling motor and two new downriggers on his fishing boat.

The month of March presents a conundrum for this writer. It’s the last solid month of winter, and the sun hangs in the sky a little longer each day, so taking advantage of Maine’s winter playground rates high on the “to-do” list.

That “to-do” roster incorporates a laundry list of items that include the best Maine has to offer winter sojourners. So much snow ... so little time.

That mental list bouncing around in

my head includes squeezing in one last snowshoe hare hunt before the season ends on March 31. By now, the snow has settled a bit, and those sharpnosed beagles will have a fighting chance when following Lepus americanus over hill and dale.

Earlier this season, I had the good fortune to harvest one of these bright white bunnies in front of a pack of hounds. Great hunt, but something was missing.

Rabbits on Snowshoes There’s something romantic about hunting snowshoe hare on snow. Shooting them on bare ground is fine, and they taste the same, but it’s not the same.

With that said, putting a white rabbit in the pot while standing in a pair of snowshoes sweetens the deal for me. It also allows me a little personal satisfaction, knowing the hours spent building those ash and leather shoes didn’t go to waste.

Hunting on snowshoes helps me scratch the itch to make tracks in the snow. While the Northern Timber Cruiser snowmobile club and The Bait Hole Trail have groomed, marked trails for folks

To the untrained eye, this is a pile of junk. To the author, however, this collection of valuable gear consists of items needed to complete his very important “to-do” list. A new trolling motor and battery need installing; two Penn downriggers need mounting; and snowshoes and a 16-gauge shotgun need to be out in the woods helping the author chase hares one last time before the season ends. Bill Sheldon photo

traveling the north woods one step at a time, simplistic options also come into play.

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great sojourn into virgin forest. It’s also an excellent opportunity to practice both map and compass skills, along with GPS skills.

I really like melding the two skills together. The larger map is great for the macro view, while the GPS works great for pinning down the minute details of a hike. I also believe that honing multiple skills at the same time builds confidence in the ever-reliable map and (Continued on next page)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 47 (Continued from page 46)

compass, along with modern satellite navigation.

I’ve recently purchased a DeLorme InReach satellite communicator. I use it all the time, even when I “know” where I am. My logic revolves around getting more and more familiar with it. If the proverbial &%# hits the fan I want to be proficient enough with it to get myself out of a jam.

Traipsing through virgin forest untouched by man or machine allows me to study an area and really figure it out. Identifying tracks is a great way to determine what

animals call this neck of the Maine “home.”

For the techno wizards, downloading an animal track App on an i-Phone will help sort out which critter lives where. There are multiple good apps available.

It was quite a sight – multiple phones standing over a pile of bear scat.

Sure enough, the photos on the screen matched the scat perfectly. The phones did everything but replicate the smell.

Great Poop Debate While out hiking a few years ago, our group ran across some bear scat. A little bit of a debate broke out over what really left that pile of pooh. Some of the group refused to believe they were sharing the forest with a black bear.

Fortunately we had cell service, and like the shoot-out at OK Corral, everybody drew their phone.

Last Ride Another “to-do” list item before the snow melts into the ground involves one last season-ending ride. Google up some of the area’s first-rate snowmobile clubs before heading out. They do a great job, not only grooming, but also reporting on trail conditions.

Local lodges can help with trip planning along with ma-

Trapping

Box Dimensions If you want to build your own boxes, an inside width dimension of 3-¾ inches is necessary to accommodate the standard woodbased rat trap. Any thickness of wood construction material may be used (Jerry’s are ½ inches thick).

The length for the single trap box should be about 16 inches, while the two-trap box should be about 28 inches in length. Height of both the one- and two-trap boxes should be 5-1/2 or 6 inches.

A 2-inch hole is cut in the center of the end of the single trap

New Downriggers My last “to-do” item targets spring – getting my boat ready for ice out. This year, Santa took care of me with a sleigh full of boat accessories. Somebody has to mount that new electric trolling motor.

Not only that,

but my neighbor, Joe Schuttert, gave me not one, but two Penn downriggers.

I’ve always wanted to try trolling using a downrigger, and I had planned to buy an inexpensive (cheap) one to experiment with.

When I mentioned this to Schuttert, he calmly said, “Don’t buy one – I’ve got two you can have.” The two slightly-used units are of a much higher quality than what I was planning to buy.

Now I’ve got to get these twin Penn down riggers mounted AND figure out how to use them, all before ice out!

¶

Discover Maine’s outdoors on-the-go with The Maine Sportsman’s

(Continued from page 45)

ping supply dealers. The bait would be placed in the back of the box or in the center of the two-trap box, with the lure applied at the boxes top edge above the hole(s).

The boxes should be placed in areas that ermine frequent such as around large brush piles, stonewalls, around areas of buildings housing livestock, thickets or bullrushes around wetlands. Basically, any place where small rodents would be located or where ever you see weasel tracks in snow.

chine and equipment rental. Their fingers are on the pulse of the trail system, and that rates as critical, especially as the end of the month plays out.

I’ve become a convert to renting a machine, as opposed to owning one. I just couldn’t keep up with the times. So now, I rent and get to slap the throttle on a new, or near new, ride. Sweet!

DIGITAL EDITION Two-inch hole for entry

box, or both ends of the two-trap box providing entry into the box.

This is sufficient to allow the ermine to enter the box and to activate the trap while passing over the trap.

As seen in the accompanying pictures, a ¼-inch section of construction wire is cut and held in placed by slots cut into the inside of the box, providing an area to retain the bait. In the single-trap box, this is located at the far end of the box from the hole. In the twotrap box, the construction wire area is located in the center of the box. The top of the boxes is hinged on one end by simply pinning on each side with nails.

Jerry Lebeau may be contacted at 207-635-2054 or jerrytrap89@ gmail.com.

¶

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48 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Maine Warden’s Paw Patrol Ready to Serve Last June, my wife Denise and I were traveling about, scouting boat ramps along the Kennebec River.

I consider it part of my columnist duties to keep an eye on the condition of these access points to share with readers.

We stopped at one of my favorite launch points, the Evergreen Campground, to check out water levels. Down by the ramp, we spotted a green warden truck.

Soon we introduced ourselves to warden Chad Robertson and his K-9 dog “Storm.”

Search-and-rescue dogs like Storm are “shared” between the Warden Service and the Maine State Police. With his super-sensitive nose, Storm can find evidence such as spent shell casings, and can also find missing persons – hopefully quickly enough to prevent harm to the lost soul.

Robertson was exercising and training this prime-looking black Labrador retriever.

Denise and I are dog lovers. In fact, I’m pretty sure Mrs. Sheldon worries more about our Brittany, Baxter, than she does about me. Of course, he has the big brown puppy eyes going for him.

In any event, we were immediately drawn to this energetic lab as he frolicked along the shores of the mighty Kennebec.

Meet Storm We quickly learned that Storm is no ordinary dog. He “works” for the Maine Warden Service as a searchand-rescue dog. Robertson gave me an

overview of Storm’s K-9 duties.

I’m no stranger to working dogs. Having hunted with pointing bird dogs and sharpnosed rabbit hounds for decades has given me an appreciation for a dog that’s hardwired to find game.

Storm has a special dog crate that’s custom-fitted into the

rear cab of Robertson’s warden truck. It even has a “heat” alarm, so Storm will not accidentally become too warm in the truck on a hot day.

And, like most dogs, he carries a few dog toys along. On this day, Robertson was throwing a fetch toy in the water, and Storm was having a blast retrieving it and returning it for another round of fetch.

Partners for Life Storm, like a handful of associate K-9 dogs employed by the Maine Warden Ser(Continued on next page)

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vice, lives with Robertson full-time. This bond is critical when these dogs are called into a search-and-rescue situation. Robertson and Storm are partners, both on and off the job.

The process for these pups to make the jump to gainful employment starts at a young age. They are selected based on a variety of traits that include breed, temperament and intelligence.

Specialized Training Next, they go through a 14-week training program.

Storm is certified in evidence detection, tracking, hasty air scent search, and human remains detection. The handlers are along for the training, every step of the way.

Robertson mentioned Storm can, and has, found spent firearm casings. This helps wardens determine the shooter’s position when a game animal is shot, and has led to evidence of game animals being shot too close to dwellings, across paved roads, and on private

land. Storm can easily detect gunpowder with that big, wet nose.

Evidence detection also includes finding items with human scent. Any scrap of evidence that helps their handlers in these investigations sheds light on the importance of having a well trained, dedicated search and rescue team.

The dog’s certification in “human remains detection” sounds a little ominous. However, not all finds turn up a dead body. Locating lost but still functioning souls who have wandered too far off the beaten paths puts Storm in the “hero” column.

Robertson relayed stories of finding lost souls and the relief they had and the gratification he felt. Not all lost souls are hunters or hikers who don’t know how to use a map, compass or GPS. Sadly, the search often includes folks who suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia, and have unknowingly wandered off.

On Call Storm is also on call with the State

Police. I guess a good search-and-rescue dog sleeps with one eye open. The two state agencies team up and work together seamlessly on many missions.

Along with the initial training, Storm and his handler must complete a minimum of 24 hours of training per quarter. Judging by what we saw with Robertson and Storm along the Kennebec, the unrecorded training hours dwarf that.

Robertson estimated official training is more like 16-24 hours per month.

Robertson confirmed that Storm lives with him and they are inseparable.

The training and care happen 24/7. A handler well bonded to his dog is critical to working a lost person scenario. Often the difference between life or death for a lost hiker or hunter is measured in minutes, not hours.

The official training certificates come from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

These K-9 dogs have built quite a resume, and they continue to stay sharp because

While exploring the shores of the Kennebec River, the author and his wife Denise met warden Chad Robertson and his partner “Storm.” The author learned the important role the Warden Service K-9 team plays in in both search-and-rescue missions and crime scene investigations. Bill Sheldon photo

the call to service can come at any hour.

Seeing as Storm is “employed” by the Warden Service, I inquired with a smile whether Storm has a retirement plan or

pension of some kind.

Don’t worry, I was told – when Storm retires, he will live out his days in comfort at the Robertson homestead.

¶

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50 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Late Freeze-Up in January Means More Fish in March Everybody around Moosehead Lake agrees that this year’s freeze-up ranks as the latest one in memory.

This includes old-timers as well.

The narrowest part of the big lake from Rockwood to Kineo finally froze solid around January 9.

Eric Holbrook was out and around at 1:30 that morning, and took a photo of the newly frozen lake by the light of the moon.

The photo resembles a black-and-white shot from the archives, because of the landscape being washed in moonlight.

Usually, more-thansufficient ice would have allowed for anglers to get out on the ice well before this late date.

Of course, there’s at least a short delay after the ice forms, until it’s safe enough to walk and snowmobile on. This pushes the first ice-fishing date further ahead. Consequently, fish that

The author has a theory that the late start to the ice-fishing season may have resulted in an overstocking of baitfish in dealers’ tanks. If true, he says it would be worthwhile to buy some smelt now and freeze them for spring and summer trolling. A smelt – any smelt, frozen or not – is worth a fortune in June and July. Plan now, he says, and reap the benefits later.

Eric Holbrook took this photo at 1:30 a.m. on January 9, 2023, in the moonlight. Moosehead Lake had finally frozen all the way from Rockwood to Kineo.

Eric Holbrook photo

would have already come through the ice remain in the lake for a later time, as in March.

Big Togue Togue bite

throughout the winter months, but for reasons known only to themselves, big – as in double-digit togue – show up in March more than at any other time. Knowing that, anglers in search of Moosehead’s monsters make it a point to hit the ice hard in March.

Anyone has ac-

cess to these big fish.

If snow cover hasn’t become too deep, even those on foot can reach productive togue-fishing territory. And given the amount of snowfall in early to midwinter, the snowpack may not rate as prohibitive

by March. Sometimes, winds blow much of the snow off the ice,

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making walking easy.

Other than that, either use a snowmobile, or walk on paths made by snowmobiles.

As for me, even if I don’t take a trophy-size togue, as long as I catch some fish, then everything’s okay. Togue rank among my favorite fish, and fillets from a 2-pound togue taste as good or maybe better than fillets from a double-digit, trophy fish.

Togue have many redeeming qualities.

Often, a half-dozen togue will make the day when other species fail to cooperate. Also remember that unlike landlocked salmon, togue are native to Moosehead Lake and most other deep-water lakes in the region.

Togue remain plentiful in Moosehead, and make for a reliable catch, day-in and dayout. And when properly cared for, togue make for fine dining.

What’s not to like?

Salmon Too None of what I said about togue was meant to disparage salmon.

They make up a major part of Moosehead Lake’s fishery, and they remain among the top quarry for anglers near and far.

The ice-fishing season for salmon on Moosehead Lake is of limited duration, beginning on February 15 and lasting through March. Salmon taken when ice-fishing in (Continued on next page)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 51 (Continued from page 50)

April must be immediately released alive, without being taken from the ice hole.

So for salmon fans, March ranks as the last fling for ice-fishers to take their favorite game fish. By March, salmon will have gained some girth, as compared to earlier in the year. Smelt, their favorite forage fish, will soon gather in larger schools as part of their pre-spawning ritual. Knowing this, salmon feed heavily.

Speaking of smelt, here’s something else to note. The region’s bait dealers have worked hard to fill their tanks with live smelt to sell to ice-fishers. But given the poor ice conditions of January, anglers were not able to get out on the lake in numbers, leav-

ing bait dealers with more than enough smelt to go around.

Given that, it would pay to buy some smelt now and freeze them for spring and summer trolling. Even better, you might pre-rig your smelt on sliding hook rigs before freezing. A smelt, any smelt, frozen or not, is worth a fortune in June and July. Plan now, and reap the benefits later.

Perch Question Huge white perch began showing up around Moosehead last summer. These 2-pound-plus fish rounded out many anglers’ bags of fish at day’s end. These fish were illegally introduced some time ago, but until now, had not presented themselves in such a widespread manner.

Answers to the

questions of how, or whether, the illegal spiny-rays will affect the lakes coldwater fishery, remain to be seen. In other waters where both species are present, white perch seem not to pose much of a threat. Hopefully, that is the case with Moosehead Lake.

Either way, if perch continue to come to angler’s lures and baits in winter as in summer, there seems no good reason not to pursue them and enjoy them, both for the fight and for their table qualities. In other waters, white perch form huge schools, in March and anglers take lots of them in 50 feet or sometimes less. Try jigging with a Swedish Pimple jig.

You may hit the jackpot, so give it a whirl.

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Trophy Gallery

If It’s Brown, It’s Back Down Maine Sportsman columnist Christi Holmes caught and released this personal-best 5.5lb brown trout February 5, 2023 while fishing through the ice at Lower Range Pond in Poland.

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52 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

GOTCHA! While working out of the Augusta office in 2007, I would often be required to relay directives to the wardens in the field.

Sometimes, I knew that a particular message would be met with a degree of resistance and so, on occasion, in an attempt to narrow the chasm between management and the field wardens, I would include a quote that I thought might lighten things up a little.

Little did I know that Warden Reggie Hammond, over in Rangeley, was a disciple of the English Rock Band “Pink Floyd.”

After I sent out a certain directive, Warden Hammond sent me this reply: Us and them And after all we’re only ordinary men Me and you God only knows it’s not what we would choose to do “Forward” he cried from the rear And the front rank died The general sat and the lines on the map Moved from side to side I never discussed the meaning of this with Reggie, but there was no doubt in my mind that he wished to emphasize his perceived divide between policy makers and those with boots on the ground. I welcomed this insight, and appreciated that he took the time to send me this message.

Another reason I www.MaineSportsman.com

The camper trailer owned by the suspected violators was set up by a stream.

Agitated, Warden Hammond drove right up to the campsite, and jumped out of the truck. Photo: RVAtlas.com

was pleased to receive this communication was because I didn’t think he would make such an effort unless he believed I understood the perspectives from the field and that I was actually concerned with improving communications and morale.

At any rate, regardless of what his motive may or may not have been, I took this to heart and vowed to spend a little time with Reggie over in Western Maine.

An Opportunity Arises An opportunity soon arose, as Warden Dennis Burnell was retiring, and a dinner in his honor was scheduled at Tufulio’s restaurant in Carrabassett Valley.

After communicating with Reggie and with Rick Mills, the Warden Sergeant in Western Maine, we decided that following the dinner at Tufulio’s, I would stay the night at Kennebago Lake with Reggie, at a camp owned by Reggie and his wife.

When the time came to depart the restaurant, Reggie’s charming wife Janet very graciously checked with us to make sure we had everything we needed for our stay at camp.

Checking Fishermen In the morning, we ate a light breakfast and headed out for the day. Mid-morning, we stopped for coffee at the Stratton general store, grabbing a sandwich for later. As usual, me being a stranger in town, I received a few inquiring looks, as folks wondered, “Who is that guy?”

Eventually, we headed north up the Old Dead River Road into some country I’d never seen before. We found a few fishermen here and there, but Reggie seemed pre-occupied with finding a group of people he had encountered a couple of days before, and with whom he’d had some sort of run-in. He said they had a camper trailer, and that he felt they were abusing the trout population,

had bad attitudes, and in general were difficult to deal with.

In the course of the morning, we happened upon a party from Massachusetts, and discovered a fishing violation, which Reggie addressed by issuing a citation for a couple of short fish.

I was having a great day away from the office, as well as building a relationship with Reggie.

Locating the Camper Trailer By late afternoon we had worked our way to an area near a brook where, Reggie had mentioned several times, the camper trailer containing the unscrupulous fishermen had been parked.

Subsequently, as we rounded a bend, Reggie said “Good, there is the camper.

They’re still here.”

He sped directly up to their camp site.

There, a man and a woman were sitting in lawn chairs.

They remained seated as Reggie, seemingly very much agitated, jumped out

of his truck and strode directly towards a cooler while stating in a demanding tone, “How many trout do you have in there this time?”

I couldn’t believe how Reggie was acting, and I started shouting, “Reggie! Reggie!” He ignored me, and before I could get out of the truck, Reggie yanked open the lid of the cooler.

The couple in the lawn chairs hadn’t said a thing or moved a muscle. I was astonished and horrified.

As I got out of the truck, I couldn’t believe what was taking place. I shouted to Reggie, “What are you doing? Come back here!” All I could think was that I was an unwitting witness to (or was actually part of) a pending personnel complaint.

As I got out around the truck and approached everyone, they all started laughing. I stopped in my tracks. Bewildered, I asked, “What is going on?”

Amidst all the laughter, they explained that the woman was the Clerk of Courts in Farmington.

Reggie, knowing in advance that I would be with him all day, had diabolically arranged this whole encounter.

Needless to say, I was relieved that it was all a big joke on me, and I didn’t mind Reggie saying “Gotcha on this one.”

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��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 53

Beginner’s Guide to Moose Shed Hunting Early spring is a time of transition for us outdoorspeople. Ice fishing, beaver trapping and rabbit hunting are coming to a close. Fly fishing the river isn’t yet great, and it’s too early to forage for mushrooms.

It is, however, the perfect time to go moose shed hunting.

Shed hunting has become more popular in the past few years. Depending on weather, some people start as early as December, when moose begin to drop their antlers.

Shed hunting means part of a year’s income for some people (prime, matched antlers are purchased by collectors for display purposes, while lower-grade specimens are sometimes used to make dog chew-treats), or it’s an adventure and the excitement of finding treasure for others, so competition can get fierce and – just like fishing – secret spots are sacred.

Originally, shed hunting mostly comprised of snowmobilers finding sheds on the trail. Shed hunting beyond the snowmobile trail didn’t happen until it was almost spring.

With the introduction of mountain snowmobiles, snowmobilers are now able to get into moose territory earlier and more easily to pick up a shed as soon as it’s dropped.

Some shed hunters train their dogs to find deer and moose antlers, which saves many hours of walking, as well as avoiding walking right by one in the snow.

We Had to Hike Like many hunters, my husband and I wanted to give it a try, but since we didn’t have a mountain snowmobile or a trained shed dog, this meant that we would have to to hike into places that hadn’t been searched yet.

Here are a few tips we learned.

Go Remote When my husband and I began shed hunting, we started by checking out spots just off the main road that were widely known to have moose. There was plenty of sign, but no sheds. It didn’t take long to realize that the hardest part about shed hunting is finding an area that someone else hasn’t already

Look for signs of moose in the area. Here, we noticed that a bull had rubbed the bark off a fir tree. All photos: Staci Warren

searched, and obvious areas have usually been picked clean.

What to Look For Moose winter-up in areas with food in soft maple growth. We usually notice scraped and tipped hardwood, resulting in broken-over saplings and young tree tops moose can reach only after abundant snowfall. You don’t just want browsing – instead, you want to see where bulls have raked the bark from mature trees.

Look for scrapes high on the tree, not at your waist level, which could be done by a cow or calf.

The key to finding soft maple stands is to watch for red buds in treetops before the leaves emerge in the spring.

Mark those spots on your DeLorme’s Maine Atlas & Gazetteer for when you’re ready to venture out.

My moose shed hunting partner.

Spotting the Antlers Once we find an area, we use the skid trails to guide us in a grid walk to scan for sheds.

Be prepared to look for all colors.

We found sheds from several seasons on our first time out. We had golden brown, green, and bleached-white sheds, all within the same area.

By the end of the day, we had found five huge antlers – two different new antlers, a matched pair, and another single from the previous year. Remarkably, we had sheds from at least three different mature bulls.

Retrace your Steps Don’t be afraid to hunt an area more than once if you have success. We went back the following day and hunted another parcel in the same area.

Despite the success we had on Day #1, I was feeling unsatisfied, since I hadn’t actually found a shed all on my own.

And then it happened. I finally found an antler. It wasn’t huge, but I officially found my first antler! When you find your first shed, it will be memorable.

Toward the end of the day, we went back to look one more time where we had scored the five. Sure enough, John managed to find an almost identical antler to the one I had found earlier. Both antlers were from the same side, so we knew we had two different two-year-old bulls in the area.

Just Get Out There – with a Good Compass Remember, it doesn’t take any special skills to find moose antlers – you just need to know where to start, and then use those clues to help you find them.

Don’t forget to bring extra drinking water, a snack, and a manual compass (one that you know how to use). It’s easy to lose your way when you’re busy looking for antlers.

Note: Our electronic handheld hiking units did not work properly, and they were pointing in the complete opposite direction of where we parked the truck.

Had we followed them, we might still be lost in the woods!

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54 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Traction Devices Face the Bald Mountain Test What better place to compare two different brands of high-quality traction footwear devices than on Bald Mountain, in Washington TWP, which features steep, smooth granite trails, covered with a thick layer of ice?

Maine boasts more than a dozen peaks officially named “Bald Mountain.” Here in the most forested state in the nation, bare, rocky summits were rare enough that plainspoken local settlers simply took notice and named them accordingly, without much concern for confusion.

When it comes to hiking cleats and spikes, these mountains offer perfect training and product-testing arenas.

Bald Mountain Training Ground In tiny Washington Township (see DeLorme’s Atlas, Map 19, D-3), a 2,300-foot Bald Mountain rises from the range of hills between the towns of Wilton and Weld. A mile-long trail from Route 156 to the peak has been a favorite of local hikers for many years.

Bald is in my backyard, and it has been the destination for doz-

ens of day-hikes over the years. The summit offers birds-eye views of the Mt. Blue State Park area, including the Tumbledown massif, Blueberry Mountain, Webb Lake, and distant views of larger mountains along the Appalachian Trail. On a clear day, the White Mountain peaks in N.H are visible along the horizon.

The trail ascends, after a brook-crossing near the roadway, directly up the fall-line of the mountain. By gaining over 1,000 feet in elevation in just over a mile, the trail mimics the pitch and the profile of long stretches of the Appalachian Trail in Maine.

And the out-andback hike is ideal practice for bigger challenges. I trained here with a full pack, for a south-to-north traverse of Baxter State Park, back in 2012.

Two sharp pitches guard the upper reaches of the moun-

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tain. And their navigation is very typical of hand-over-hand rock scrambles on longer A.T. hikes.

The upper slopes are largely bare granite that has been dramatically folded, grooved and striated after 400,000 years of tectonic forces, glacial scraping and exposure to the elements.

Winter hikes on Bald are less crowded and more challenging.

Warming winters now frequently leave the stony peak encased in ice from melted snow and mid-winter rainstorms. The wind often lays this ice bare as it whips loose snow from the summit area.

When modern snowshoes with traction devices first became popular, there was a huge uptick in winter hiking and trekking. But the re-furbished snowshoe design had limitations that were quickly revealed on peaks like Bald.

Specifically, lower sections of the trail provided packed snow and plenty of traction for the metal claws positioned under the trekker’s feet. But the exposed ice near the summit made snowshoe travel treacherous – both uphill and down.

With a thick layer of ice underfoot, and long, painful fall if you slip, Bald Mountain makes a perfect location to test the reliability of spikes and cleats designed to be fastened to boots for winter climbing. Jim Andrews photo

Spikes and Cleats To fill this void, the ever-responsive outdoor industry began developing devices for attaching small cleats or spikes to winter hiking boots. I’ve previously written in this space about using Kahtoola Microspikes™ to overcome the traction challenges of warming winters.

This product is a huge step up from the ice-creepers or other pull-on wire-wrapped devices that have been around for years. That gear might work on flat surfaces – for ice-fishing, for instance – but is almost useless and quickly-lost in mountainous terrain.

Kahtoola soon had competitors – one of them being local legend L.L.Bean. The Maine company sells Kahtoola Microspikes, but has also recently developed its own Boa Traction Footwear™.

The devices adapt a lacing system (BOA), which uses wire ca-

bles and a ratcheting tightener, instead of laces, to secure boots and other sportswear.

In the traction device, the BOA system is used to tighten a set of cleats (similar to micro-spikes) to the exterior of winter footwear.

Head-To-Head Comparison After testing the newer product from L.L. Bean on a particularly icy ascent of Bald Mountain, as well as the everyday shoveling chores and my half-mile walking commute to work, it was comparison time.

The results? Both products worked extremely well on Bald when wearing fairly stiff-soled insulated snow boots.

The Bean devices were somewhat heavier and bulkier than the micro-spikes, which weigh in at only 11 ounces. Bean provides a carrycase for (Self-Propelled continued on page 57)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 55

Duck Boxes Building, installing and maintaining duck nesting shelters is a great way to engage in the outdoors and help waterfowl.

Delta Waterfowl, an international conservation association of duck hunters, estimates that out of every 100 eggs laid, between 75 and 90 of them do not hatch. Many are eaten by predators, most commonly foxes, raccoons and skunks.

Duck nesting structures give waterfowl a safe place to nest, out of the reach of predators.

There are two types of duck nesting structures – duck boxes, and mallard tubes. Duck boxes are constructed of wood, and they attract species like wood ducks, hooded mergansers and goldeneyes – birds that normally nest in the cavities of trees.

Mallard tubes are made from mesh fence, and they offer protection for hen mallards, which usually nest on the ground.

Duck Boxes A duck box looks

Once each week, I put my phone on video mode, and aimed it into the entrance of the box. One day, there was an egg! Then multiple eggs! like a large bird house.

They can be built with basic tools and scrap lumber.

Construction plans for duck boxes are easy to find online.

Be sure to follow the exact measurements, since they’re designed to prevent predators from entering or reaching into the box.

A predator guard, such as metal flashing, should be wrapped around the tree below the box, to prevent predators from climbing up the tree.

Duck boxes can be attached to a live or dead tree. Ducks Unlimited recommends the following when choosing a duck box location: • Good Placement: a dead tree at the water’s edge • Better Placement: a solid dead tree in the water • Best Placement: boxes on poles near standing flooded, dead trees

Boxes should be cleaned out annually.

Photo: Claire Gregory

Mallard Tubes Since mallard nests are the world’s most common duck nests on the ground, they are especially vulnerable to predation.

Delta Waterfowl came up with a tube design and, according to their research, hens that use their tubes have a 20% higher egg survival rate than those nesting on the ground.

These “hen houses” made of mesh fencing, steel and straw, have increased nest success 12-fold. They are more expensive to build than a duck box, but if mallards are common in your area, consider building one.

For directions and more information, go to www.deltawaterfowl. org/hen-houses.

Annual Maintenance Delta Waterfowl and Ducks Unlimited recommend checking your duck shelters annually. Winter is the best time of year, since

wetlands, ponds and streams are frozen and are easier to access.

Look for eggshells, down feathers and non-hatched eggs. Replace wood shavings or straw with fresh material, and inspect the shelter for any parts that need attention.

It’s never too late to install a duck box or mallard tube, and it may take a few years before a hen begins using it. Biologists have seen waterfowl in the fall scoping out nesting sites for the spring!

My Backyard Duck Box We have a small, 0.2-acre pond in our suburban backyard, and I had a duck box with nowhere to hang it. I had seen mallards in the pond, but I’d never seen wood ducks or mergansers, and given its proximity to houses, I didn’t think it was a good location for nesting.

I decided to hang the box until I found a

The author and Melissa Bartlett install a mallard tube last year. Photo: Eric Bartlett

better location, knowing there was a small chance a duck would use it, versus a 0% chance it would be used if it remained in my garage.

In the fall of the first season, I was surprised to find three unhatched eggs in the box. The fact that a duck had even thought about using it, was very exciting!

The following spring, I spotted multiple pairs of wood ducks and hooded mergansers in the pond!

Once a week, I put my phone on video mode, and aimed it into the entrance of the box.

One day, there was an egg! Then multiple eggs!

I read online that a hen lays one egg per day until it’s time to incubate them, then she’ll sit on the eggs nearly 23 hours/day.

When the ducklings hatch, they’ll climb up and jump out of the box within 24 hours.

How brave of them!

Although I could see the box from my (Maine Sportswoman continued on page 57)

A hooded merganser nested in the author’s duck box last year and hatched eight ducklings. Photo: Christi Holmes www.MaineSportsman.com

56 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

No Need to Wait for April – Good Fishing Has Arrived While brooks, streams and rivers remain closed until April 1 under general law in the North Zone, special year-round regulations govern other waters.

Even if no yearround waters lie within easy driving distance, it may be worthwhile to travel a bit farther than usual to fish one of these places, especially if an unseasonably warm March day makes the desire to wet a line almost unbearable.

Here’s why fishing year-round waters in March makes such good sense. First, the bitter-cold of winter has mostly passed.

Sure, we can have cold snaps and even blizzards. But in recent years, these are the exception rather than the rule. What can be better than standing on the south-facing bank of a trout stream on a sunny, warm day in March?

Next, water levels run at an ideal stage right now – not too high, not too low, and crystal-clear. By the time April rolls around, snowmelt will chill the water to where fish become a bit lethargic, and mud, clay and particulate matter will cloud the increasingly high water. It may take several weeks for suitable conditions to return.

Shop Around Year-round fishing in rivers and streams has become extremely popular, and some www.MaineSportsman.com

When you are putting together your ultra-light spin casting gear for stream and river fishing, remember that bigger lures do not necessarily equate to bigger trout. Especially in early spring, tiny lures can account for very large trout.

The author took these two stocked trout on ultralight spinning tackle.

Tom Seymour photo

locations see constant fishing pressure. It depends on whether or not you mind fishing in crowded conditions. If, like me, you don’t care to rub elbows with fellow anglers, you may need to shop around for less-crowded sites.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife stocks these year-round waters on a regular basis, sometimes multiple times per year. Fallstocked trout often persist through the winter and into the following spring. A few waters even have the capacity to carry over at least a few fish from one year to the next. One spring, while fishing in a year-

round river, I caught a huge brook trout that had carried over from past stockings. Oddly, I even took a fingerling brook trout from that same small river. It was a thing of beauty, although it was totally descended from hatchery stock, since there was no native trout population in the river. This was the only such trout that I ever saw from this water – not surprising because of such limited spawning habitat.

Here’s another thing about stocked, year-round rivers.

Even though some of the most productive and most easily accessible pools most always have anglers

there ahead of you, some exploring can lead you to equally productive pools that are never crowded.

You just need to be willing and able to put in some time and energy to find them.

Shopping around, then, means not only searching out the river or stream that suits you best; it also includes finding the best places on those waters.

Here’s a for-instance. I regularly fish one pool on my favorite yearround, stocked river.

While the river offers numerous access points and some scenic and worthwhile pools, I needn’t prospect too much before determining if fish are in the

stream (trout move about and surprisingly, can be here today and gone tomorrow).

If my favorite pool has fish, and the fish feel like biting, then it makes sense to fish the rest of the river. If it appears that no fish are present, or if they simply are not biting, then it’s time to head elsewhere.

Column Goals Here’s something long-time readers already know, but is worth covering again for a new generation of readers. This column does not detail fly fishing, and for a good reason. My assignment in the beginning was to write about all other kinds of trout fishing, including casting with spinning gear, trolling, still fishing and even ice fishing. The reason here being that the magazine already has skilled fly-fishing columnists. Also, other columnists frequently detail fly fishing in their regions, as well as techniques. My job is to tell you about all the rest.

I like to cover what fishing methods work best at different times of the year, so in spring and fall, I often write about taking trout on ultralight spinning tackle, a deadly method. While I have nothing against it, I seldom write about bait fishing, at least in streams or rivers, the reason being that artificial lures work as well and sometimes better. Lat(Continued on next page)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 57 (Continued from page 56)

er in spring, I’ll detail lake-trolling methods.

Ultralight spinning lures come in a wide variety of types and configurations.

When putting together a collection for stream and river fishing, re-

member that bigger lures do not necessarily equate to bigger trout. Especially in early spring, when water temperatures are as low as they will ever get, tiny lures can account for very large trout.

Hopefully, you

Maine Sportswoman (Continued from page 55)

kitchen window, I hadn’t seen a duck entering or exiting, so I wasn’t sure whether it was a hooded merganser or a wood duck that was using it. Then one day I spotted a hen hooded merganser with her head out of the window!

By July, the hen hoody was swim-

will give ultralight spin fishing for trout a try. It works exceedingly well on Maine’s stocked year-round streams and rivers. I hope you will have a chance to experience this type of fishing starting this month.

¶

ming around the pond with eight fluffy ducklings.

What a treat it was to be a part of their journey. ***** I hope to see many of you at the State of Maine Sportsman’s Show in Augusta March 31-April 2. I will be there all three days at the Maine Women Hunters booth or at The Maine Sportsman’s booth, so stop by and say Hi!

¶

Self-Propelled (Continued from page 54)

The newest entry into the traction footwear market, L.B.Bean’s line of BOA cleats work well, especially on stiffer-soled boots. Photo: L.L.Bean

their system. The Kahtoola product will fit easily in a pocket.

Kahtoola’s elasticized harness has not been flawless over the years. On occasion, I have needed to re-attach the metal parts to the torn harness with zip-ties.

But the elastic nature of the attachments system is crucial to function. I found that the Bean BOA system is less reliable on boots or hiking shoes that have a more flexible sole.

For instance, the Bean devices repeatedly slipped off rubber hunting boots during a shoveling session, no matter how tightly I dialed the ratchet. I suspect that the flex of the footwear, along with the necessarily fixed size of the BOA harness, creates opportunity for loosening and loss. The elasticized

The stretchiness of of Kahtoola Microspikes’ harness means they tend to stay on boots even if they boots flex while being worn. With any rubber-harness system, it’s best to bring along repair materials such as zip-ties to enable quick, temporary fixes on the mountain.

Photo: Kahtoola

harness on the Kahtoola product, by comparison, accommodates the more flexible footwear.

Final Tally I’ll continue to use both models. But when I replace my current set of Kahtoola Microspikes, I’m likely to make a repeat purchase. With fewer moving parts, the microspikes are also lighter and accommodate more versatile footwear than the competition.

For those winter hikers who wear stiff-soled boots, including technical climbing footwear, the Bean product will work very well.

Traction is the relatively easy part for these devices – the most essential function is the reliability of the attachment.

¶

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58 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Hot Ice Fishing Downeast In Washington County, try Indian Pond, which was stocked with more than 1,400 trout in 2022. In Hancock County, drill some holes through the ice on Echo Lake, which in addition to smaller stocked fish, contains a few 15- to 17-inch holdovers. Or trek off the beaten path to the area’s newest stocked fisheries – Upper Spectacle Pond, and Williams Pond.

Waters in the Downeast Area produce notable ice-fishing each March. By checking Delorme’s Atlas, area fishers will discover that Maps 16, 24, 25 and 26 contain some of the best prospects for hard-water fishing in Washington and Hancock Counties.

Indian Lake is a favorite ice-fishing water in Washington County; see Map 26, B-5. This 120-acre lake has a maximum depth of 20 feet. The shoreline is quite developed with seasonal camps and year-round residences; however, access can be gained at the boat launch on the Route 1 end of the pond.

Indian was stocked in the spring of 2022 with 600 10-inch brookies, and again in the fall with 200 13inch trout, as well as 600 8-inch fish, and

27 18-inch brookies for ice cutters to catch.

Many trout from last fall’s stocking are pulled through the ice; however, significant numbers of even heftier holder-over trout are also caught.

Winter anglers using small golden shiners, small smelts or worms, fished in 4 to 5 feet of water, usually have the best chance of catching winter brookies. Ice fishers who set up traps on the southern shoreline of the lake have the most success.

Hancock County Brookies Another top choice for brook trout-seekers is Echo Lake on Mount Desert Island, Map 16, B-2. Successful trout anglers experience better success by cutting a few holes on the west side of the lake.

Water depths from five to 10 feet create ideal habitat for win-

ter-feeding brookies.

State hatchery trucks dropped off 300 13inch brookies, and 800 8-inch trout in 2022.

The lake’s clear, well-oxygenated water offers excellent trout and salmon habitat.

Spring yearling brook trout are stocked each year, and provide steady fishing for 12to 14-inch fish during the following winter, along with some holdover 15- to 17-inch trout. In addition, wild trout produced in Lurvey Brook generally make a meaningful contribution to the fishery.

Anglers catch brook trout in the 12to 14-inch range from this water, with a few trophies weighing over 2 pounds. Special regulations on this water include the following: • fishing is restricted to two lines • a daily limit of two trout per day • trout must be 12 inches or longer, and • no more than one can exceed 14 inches.

Isolated Waters According to Jake Scoville, Fisheries Resource Technician, “the Downeast Re-

www.MaineSportsman.com

Modern electronics provide advantages to ice anglers in the Downeast Region and across the state. This Striker 4 “portable bundle” by Garmin, for example, combines GPS -- allowing you to return to your exact, productive spot -- and sonar/ fish finder capabilities -- to view the fish below the ice. Photo by Deven Pendexter

gion has several new ice fishing opportunities that may be just what you are looking for. Upper Spectacle Pond in Township 19, and Williams Pond in Township 28, are new brook trout programs that are small, remote waters. These new trout waters should provide anglers with fish between 10 and 16 inches. All these remote waters require a little bit of extra effort to get to, but could be very rewarding.”

The first one, Upper Spectacle Pond in T19MD in Washington County, was stocked in the spring of 2022 with 600 10-inch brookies and 300 13-inch brookies in the fall. Find this pond on Map 25, B-4. This pond has a carry-in trail that is approximately 400 feet long. Upper Spec is approximately 25 acres in size, and has a depth of 30 feet. This

pond also contains yellow perch and chain pickerel that will entertain any young anglers who might have tagged along.

Williams Pond, T28MD, is another small, 19-acre pond in eastern Hancock County; see Map 24, A-5. This was stocked in the fall of 2022 with 250 13” brook trout.

Williams Pond provides fine water quality for brook trout, but pickerel are present and probably limit the fishery.

To get to Williams Pond, take the Beddington CCC Road from Rte. 9, “the Airline,” at Beddington, and bear left in the vicinity of Gould Brook.

The pond is in the Narraguagus River drainage. There is no publicly owned boat landing.

Williams Pond pro(Downeast Region continued on page 61)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 59

A Stirring in the Outdoor Heart Winter is losing its grip, and the first signs of spring have caught the author’s attention. These include white snowshoe hares on the browning forest floor, the spouting of a few edible plants, and smelt beginning their runs up tidal streams.

Along about midMarch, when the noonday sun showers warmth on the south side of hills and valleys, I get a stirring in my heart. Spring has drawn nigh, and sure – we may have another snowstorm or two, but no matter. Winter has run its course.

Now, even the deepest snowpack becomes soft and gritty, and ice-locked rivers and streams begin to open, and this tells me that there’s no turning back. Add to this returning Canada geese, and the winter-weary spirit springs back to life, renewed and invigorated.

We may still have safe ice on lakes and ponds, but even so, that same springtime sun that compacts snowbanks also has its way with the icepack. Fish bite well now – better than they will when the ice first opens. Water temperatures beneath the ice are cold, but water temperatures just after the ice has melted get even colder.

Upland hunters get a final shot at their sport, too. Snowshoe hares retain their white winter pelage, but with melting snow, the white bunnies stand out like sore thumbs.

Sporting Hares Once, some years ago, the snow had mostly melted by midMarch. This prompted me to go hare hunting.

My thought was that the white hares would present easy targets.

But once I was in the woods, it soon became clear that things were not quite what I had expected. Where were the hares? The ground was littered with those little round grass-flecked hare droppings, and the bark on woodland shrubs and saplings showed signs of being chewed during the past winter.

Then I realized that I was looking in the wrong places. The hares were not just sitting in the open, whiteon-brown, waiting for a predator to catch them. Instead, they had sought lingering patches of snow, and that was where they huddled, sometimes several to one 8-foot patch of snow.

This was like shooting fish in a barrel, and it made me feel a bit guilty, but not so guilty that I didn’t quickly collect my limit.

Situations such as this do not occur every March, especially if warm rains disperse the snow cover all at

once. But when it does occur, be sure to get out and take your bonus. You might even want to make it more sporting by using a .22 pistol or revolver, or even a bow.

Early Plants While foraging for wild plants doesn’t really heat up until some time in May, a few wild goodies are available right now. For me, the first wild plants of the season are the best of all. Do they really taste better? Are they truly sweeter? Perhaps thinking makes it so, and perhaps not. At any rate, it’s a banner day in March when I can harvest a few wild edible plants.

Common cattails, those ubiquitous denizens of swamps, marshes, ditches and shallow ponds, offer a unique springtime treat. Look for cattails growing where ice has melted along the shore. Wearing rubber boots, wade out and grasp the dead stalk with both hands and pull. If the root system does not come up, you may need to dislodge it with a fork or spade. Any way you accomplish it, examine the root clump for curved, white shoots.

These can measure up to several inches long.

They are what would

Edible cattail sprout on rootstalk, available in March. Tom Seymour photo

become this years’ cattail. Break the shoots off, take them home and rinse thoroughly. Eat them as a raw snack, or slice them up for use in recipes. I love them stir-fried.

Next, find a south-facing bank and look for the short, thick, crumpled leaves of burdock just breaking ground. This hated plant, like so many other maligned plants, does have a positive side. The young leaves, when harvested in March at no more than two inches long, make a passable cooked green. You need to boil them for 8 minutes or more because of their

thickness.

Finally, take a walk in a mixedgrowth woodland and look for the red berries, borne on sprawling vines, of partridgeberry. The paired, roundish leaves grow opposite each other on the vine and the berries, fortunately, persist all winter beneath the snow. But you better not tarry in searching for these, because partridge, their namesake, may beat you to them.

Saltwater Smelt Some years, saltwater smelt begin their runs up tidal (Midcoast Report continued on page 61)

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60 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Surviving the Worst-Case Scenario in Comfort Far too many outdoorsy types fashion themselves as modern-day mountain men (or women). These silly folks imagine that after watching a few outdoor shows, they can easily slip into the woods and live comfortably. After they eat their sandwich and finish off their soda, they begin to rethink the whole thing … but a little too late.

On the other side of the coin, there are some folks who don’t even give it a serious thought. They simply head out the door and hit the woods, without

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There are two basic elements to surviving a night outdoors in the cold Maine woods. The first is to have the right gear, to provide shelter, drinking water and a fire. Equally important, however, is being confident in your survival skills, and not panicking.

The author recommends staying overnight in the woods under controlled circumstances, to learn what gear – and what mindset – works best for you. considering any kind of danger.

I used to be right in the middle of these two sets of individuals – at times, I would just run out the door without preparing. On other occasions, I would be falsely confident with information obtained

from shaky sources (such as videos).

Ideally, what I like to do nowadays is prepare for the worst-case scenario, and then not worry about anything.

That way, I can enjoy my time in the woods under any conditions, without any accompa-

nying concerns. Over the years I’ve worked out a system that covers all the bases.

The Basics First off, be sure to leave someone your itinerary. This way, you can be sure someone will come looking for you if you don’t

return upon the prescribed time and date.

A simple text message to a friend, listing your whereabouts and your return date and time, works just fine. If you don’t come out on time, the wardens start the search party, and they have a good chance of finding you quickly because they know the general vicinity where you will be located.

As far as gear goes, make it as simple as possible. I don’t mean a simple selection of gear – I am talking about making it as easy as possible for (Continued on next page)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 61 (Continued from page 60)

you to take the gear that can save your life in any situation. Personally, I like to keep an oversized shaving kit loaded with all the gear I’ll need to survive, so I don’t have to scramble around locating things before I head out the door.

I used to do that, but found far too many times that I had forgotten some necessary item, Nowadays, all I have to do is grab the preloaded kit, and go.

My gear selection is based on three things; water, shelter, and fire. No matter where I go in the woods – rabbit hunting, grouse hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, or just a remote drive – I take that little kit with me.

In the kit I have a flashlight and batteries, a Leatherman tool, a small folding saw, a ball of twine, and a super lightweight silicone-treated nylon tarp for cre-

ating a quick but sturdy waterproof shelter.

I carry a small water filter that easily keeps me hydrated wherever I am, and a fire-making kit that includes matches and a lighter, and a film canister of petroleum-soaked cotton balls.

This entire small survival kit easily fits into the aforementioned shaving kit, and I carry if everywhere. I also have a separate small first aid kit.

I drop both kits in the small, lightweight backpack that I carry when deer hunting or rabbit hunting. When I’m bird hunting, they fit into the game pouch of my hunting vest, and if I’m riding an ATV or snowmobile, they go in the carry-bag. If I’m fishing, I fit the two little kits in the smallest of my fishing packs or vests. I even have a second set of kits that stay right in the truck, so I don’t have to think about it for short trips into the woods.

Downeast Region (Continued from page 58)

Five year old Sammy Dodd of Bangor checks his ice trap at Silver Lake in Bucksport. Photo by grandfather Jim Sohns, of Bucksport

Midcoast Report (Continued from page 59)

streams and rivers. I have dipped smelt from Hawes Stream in Prospect in late March. Not many people partake of

To be able to relax and truly enjoy the remote parts of Maine’s beautiful landscape, you must be fully prepared. William Clunie photo

Practice Makes Perfect How many folks have ever spent a night in the woods alone? If you haven’t, make the smart move, and try it a few times to get used to what is needed. After a little practice, you’ll be surprised how comfy you can make it with just a few items.

After spending the night alone in the woods, most folks will agree – there’s more to it than finding the right gear. A lot of what is needed is right between your two ears. Individuals who don’t make it out

of survival situations just don’t use common sense … instead, they panic, and often create a worse situation than what they started with.

Everyone has probably heard of situations where deer hunters get lost and wind up running, panicked, through the dark, eventually working themselves into a frantic, out-ofcontrol state of mind, which often ends badly. A simple fire, and a bed of pine boughs and dried leaves, could have allowed them to survive until morning.

I remember one

vides fine water quality for brook trout.

Good quality spawning and nursery areas for trout are scarce at Williams Pond, and periodic stocking of trout has improved the fishery.

Florida Fishing My wife Donna and I have had the good fortune to be able to spend a few weeks each year for the past decade on the Gulf Coast in Dunedin, Florida.

Four years ago, I met a retired teacher, Earl Elkowitz, from Michigan, who also shared my passion for fishing. Even though I had purchased a saltwater license, I had only caught a few spotted sea trout (cynoscion nebulasus) from the dock of the condo we had rented.

Earl had been vacationing in Dunedin and had fished for spotted sea trout, aka “gator” trout, for the past this time-honored sport, and usually, the numbers of smelt taken don’t equal the time and effort involved. You can probably get a better deal by buying your smelt from the supermarket.

But if you are excited about the idea

blackpowder hunter from New Hampshire who got lost up near Tumbledown Mountain in Weld, Maine a few years ago. By the time they found him, he had panicked; he thought he was overheating; he had removed much of his clothing; and he’d run up and down the mountain a few times.

He was fortunate to have been found, alive, and he recovered.

Don’t be like that guy. Instead, be prepared mentally, and carry the right gear.

¶

four decades. After realizing that we both couldn’t wait to go fishing, we decided to grab his small boat, purchase shrimp for bait, and drive over to the Dunedin Causeway.

From our first cast to our last cast three hours later, we experienced productive, non-stop fishing.

We ended up catching dozens of pinfish, and several 10- to 12-inch gator trout each. Hopefully, Earl and I will celebrate four years of fishing together on St. Joseph Sound in Clearwater this year. We have been successful in past years catching Spanish mackerel, sea trout, bluefish, and a variety of other saltwater species.

¶ of being out on a starry night, listening to the rush of the stream and sweeping a net for these legendary silver beauties, then smelting is for you.

¶

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62 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Looking Forward to the Cobbossee Ice Fishing Derby Even though they arrived at 4 a.m. last year, the author and his family still had a hard time finding parking space for the derby. This year, however, they have a plan!

What a crazy winter! Well into January, large lakes had not even iced over. Fortunately, old man winter finally arrived with arctic temperatures in early February.

That’s great news, as Saturday, March 4th – for the third year – Cony Project Graduation is hosting the Cobbossee Ice Fishing Derby to benefit the class of 2023, the YMCA Summer camp kids scholarship, and the Friends of The Cobbossee Watershed.

Cobbosseecontee Lake At 5,543 acres, Cobbosseecontee Lake is one of central Maine’s largest bodies of water, and it offers outstanding smallmouth and largemouth bass fishing.

Many of the state’s largest bass have come from this lake, and it’s considered one of the best bass lakes in the Northeast.

Anglers do need to know, however, that the daily bag limit for bass is one fish, and there’s also a “slot limit” – all bass between 16 and 20 inches must be released alive immediately.

Two boat launching facilities are available for parking and www.MaineSportsman.com

unloading of equipment and gear – one town-owned facility located at the south end, in Monmouth, and the other at the north end in Manchester.

First-time derby anglers should understand that the launch facilities have limited parking and fill up early. Last year, arriving at 4 a.m., we were barely able to find parking along the roadside leading into the Monmouth launch.

Registration on the day of the event also occurs at the Monmouth boat launch, and that’s also one of the official weigh-in stations.

Other weigh stations also include the Trail Head on Turtle Run Road in East Winthrop, and the YMCA Camp. NOTE: Derby rules dictate that you must weigh your fish at the station where you register it.

Target Species Principal Cobbossee Lake fisheries include brown trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, chain pickerel, white perch, yellow perch, and – of course – Northern pike. Pike were illegally introduced to Annabessacook Lake in the

late 1990s and quickly spread downstream and into Cobbossee.

With ample food available, Northern pike have grown to large sizes, and fish heavier than 15 lbs are caught with some regularity.

To give you an idea whether your angling skills are up to derby standards, here is a list of last year’s derby winners.

2022 Cobbossee Lake Ice Derby Winners Northern pike – 1st place, 15.78 lbs; 2nd, 15.76 lbs, 3rd, 14.57 lbs Brown trout – 1st place, 2.33 lbs; 2nd, 2.31; 3rd 1.91 Panfish (e.g., perch) – 1st place, 1.91 lbs; 2nd.

1.89; 3rd, 1.82 Pickerel – 1st, 3.41; 2nd, 2.75; 3rd, 2.66 Kids contest – Biggest fish – 10.53 lbs. (pike) Prizes for winning fish range from $750 for the biggest pike, to $100 for the 3rd place pickerel or brown trout. “Traps for Kids” is also donating 50 ice fishing traps, and many businesses are providing raffle prizes.

Got Bait?

Finding good quality bait in Central Maine can sometimes be a challenge. Fortunately, Cobbossee Bait, located on 8 Lit-

This 15.78-pound pike garnered Jeremy Nelson first place in last year’s Cobbossee derby.

tle Cobbossee Avenue in Winthrop has a good selection of live bait. The offer an impressive selection of suckers, smelt, golden shiners and minnows.

I encourage anglers to get there early, as supplies tend to quickly dwindle on Derby day!

In fact, I recommend getting to the bait shop a couple days early to beat the crowds. The shop is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 6 a.m. -6 p.m., and Sunday through Wednesday. 6 a.m. – 12 noon. Call the bait shop with any questions: (207) 485-8574.

VRBO or AirBNB After two derbies of fighting crowds at the boat launches and brutally cold temperatures, a couple of us dads decided this year to treat the kids (and

ourselves!) and rent a VRBO right on Cobbossee lake.

For those not in the know, VRBO and AirBNB are phone apps that list properties for rent. These properties include a wide variety of lakefront lodgings on a growing number of Maine’s lakes, ponds and rivers. Simply put in your search criteria, price range, dates, number of people, and whether you have pets, and like magic, rentals options appear on your phone for you to review and accept.

For those of you who don’t mind sitting on a recliner on a porch while watching your traps, that’s something to think about for next year!

¶

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 63

Here’s to an Old-Fashioned March March typically finds me looking forward to ice-out angling, prepping fishing gear, and generally dreaming about the coming spring. It also has me thinking back to the days of old. Not sure why, but it does.

One favorite March activity is to grab my old pack basket, some traps, and the hand auger I used back in my college days, and walk out on the ice to fish the last bit of the season.

If I’m lucky, I can bring home a mess of white perch, and make a good old-fashioned fish chowder. Nothing warms the body and soul like chowder on a wintry night.

White Perch If you are looking for the primary ingredient for a white perch chowder, this region has a few spots worth trying. First in my mind is Androscoggin Lake in Leeds (DeLorme Atlas, Map 12, C-1). This relatively shallow (38-foot) lake is known for providing decent catches of white perch.

The folks at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIF&W) tried to get a good brown trout fishery going there, but it was not successful.

Now the lake is managed as a warm-water fishery.

White perch school

In previous years, I always fished for cusk at night in water between 15 and 30 feet deep. However, last winter a neighbor and his friends had a productive evening of cusk fishing in shallow water – 6 to 8 feet deep! So for certain, I’m going to try that approach this month.

Cusk make great a great fish chowder ingredient, and Sebago Lake has plenty of cusk. Drop a hooked smelt to the bottom during the nighttime, and be certain to check your trap every hour.

up, so covering a lot of ice is key to finding them. I find setting your five traps out in a straight line in 15 to 30 feet of water works well. If you start catching fish in one particular depth, surround that trap with your remaining four.

Small shiners work best on white perch, and I’ve even cut up larger shiners into small chunks and done well.

Cusk Fishing Sebago Lake (Map 5, C-1) is probably the top spot in the region to do some March cusk fishing. Cusk is another superb chowder fish, and I hazard to say it makes a better chowder than white perch.

Cusk are actively spawning now, preferring sandy or gravel-covered bottom to do so.

I typically fish

for them with a trap baited with a shiner or dead smelt from one of my saltwater trips. Dead shiners or smelt, especially if left out to get “ripe,” can’t be beat. Formerly, I fished in 15 to 30 feet of water, but last year something happened to change my mind.

My neighbor from a few camps down had some friends staying at his place to cusk fish. I chatted with them in the early evening hours, and saw they were set up in really shallow water.

Too shallow, in my opinion, but to each his own.

The next morning my buddy messaged me and told me they did well right in front of my place. The shallow spot!

Well from now on, I’m certain to set at least one trap in six to eight feet of water.

Cusk anglers at Se-

bago can set five traps, and by law they must check their traps once each hour. I know of a few anglers who make a night of it, sleeping in their shack or popup to fish for cusk.

It takes a hardy soul to spend the night on the ice. The cracking and moaning of the ice this time of year must be unsettling when lying on it in the dark. At least you don’t have a long walk to tend the traps.

Sebago Lakers During the daytime, Sebago Lake is still producing lakers for patient anglers. If the ice holds out, jigging up a lunker laker is fun, especially on warmer March days.

I stick to 30- to 80foot depths this time of year, and have my best luck jigging. Some days I won’t even take traps out on the ice.

It’s productive to drill a hole and then fish it for no more than 15 or 30 minutes. If you don’t have a strike, move on.

While jigging, I generally sit on my sled – a comfortable perch – but carrying out a plastic pail makes a great seat for those on foot. Try a green or white tube jig, or a Swedish pimple, tipped with a piece of sucker or shiner.

Good luck to all of you on the ice!

¶

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64 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Nymphing in the New Fishing Season After years of indifference to nymphing for trout and salmon, I have finally conceded that I might need to learn how to start dredging holes with this technique. If the experts say that 90 percent of fish are eating below the surface, then I had better get good at nymphing.

I hate to admit it, but I began my fly fishing adventures as a snobby, dry-fly-only angler … even though I had no fly fishing experience to speak of.

Hurl the collection of sinkers, indicator and fly slightly upstream, and watch the indicator for any unusual movement that might signal a fish taking the fly. After a while, you’ll get a better idea of what to watch for, and you’ll surprise yourself with your ability to determine what is – and what is not – a real take.

After years of fishing as a plug and bait angler, I decided to go all out with fly fishing and become a dry guy.

Seriously, I just liked having fish slash at the surface flies.

I still prefer the hits on top, but I have found swinging

streamers to also be extremely exhilarating. I just had a tough time getting to the point where I figure I’ll really need to learn to become proficient at nymphing.

If I could start the fly-fishing segment of my life all over again,

I’d make sure I got a good grip on how to nymph, and then work my way into other techniques.

Nymphing Techniques Nymphing can be described as bobber fishing with a fly rod, but that would throw

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the fly-fishing elitists into a flurry of outrage. In fly fishing terms, the “bobber” is called an indicator.

Anglers hang sections of tippet material below the indicator to get the fly down deep – well below the water’s surface. I guess it’s called nymphing because the suspended flies are usually nymphs of some sort.

Most of the time, non-lead spit shot is used to keep the fly lower in the water column, especially in deep and fast water.

I’m not going to get into the myriad formulas for attaching the segments to the end of the leader, but suggest that the reader look into a large number of instructional videos offered on YouTube.

Compare several methods, and see what works best for you.

In general, the angler hurls the collection of sinkers, indicator and fly slightly upstream, and intently watches the indicator for any unusual movement that might indicate a fish taking the fly. This is the tricky part … so I have learned to just try and set the hook at any and all unusual movement of the indicator.

After a while, you’ll get a better idea of what to watch for, (Continued on next page)

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 65 (Continued from page 64)

and you’ll actually surprise yourself with your ability to determine what is and what is not an actual take.

One of the best ways, in my mind, to avoid missing a take is to do what they call “tightline nymphing.”

This method has the angler casting slightly upstream, and then keeping the slack line from the rod tip to the indicator off the water’s surface. This method is better for up-close dredging rather than long casts, because it is difficult to keep longer lines off the surface.

To reach out farther, an angler must leave some line lying on the surface. For the lengthy casts, anglers must get the indicator floating as freely as possible (without any drag). A reach cast can help to set the indicator in front of the line as it travels downstream. This cast, when done properly, will stop the line from dragging the indicator downstream in an unnatural manner.

Artful mending will also avoid the dreaded drag, especially where your line crosses several currents at varying speeds. The trick is to get the mend in

without disrupting the indicator too much.

This is where a special casting technique really shines.

Casting Concerns The usual holy grail of casting flies with a fly rod is the tight loop. However, you must forget about that when you’re attempting to fling the heavy, dangling leader full of split shot, indicator, and fly. Making bigger loops works to get the airborne tackle to your target without tangling.

Become proficient with a roll cast. The roll cast typically uses a nice big loop that will help turn over the heavy collection of split shot. An angler who can throw a good roll cast will also be able to adjust the position of the indicator slightly to give a better drag-free presentation.

One final bit of nymphing advice … make your first casts drift close to your wading position. Some of the best fishing happens right beneath your feet.

Also, before entering the water, fish the section of water that you plan to wade through. Many anglers wade right over good water thinking

Tying nymphs with Operation ReBoot Outdoors founder and fly-tying aficionado Dan Waite is about so much more than creating flies. William Clunie photo

they need to hurry to get out to better-looking water. Nothing in good fishing technique calls for being in a hur-

ry. Take your time and enjoy all that freshwater fly fishing has to offer. Remember, a good day on the water is a

Wildlife Quiz Answers: Woodchuck 1. The woodchuck is also known by the name groundhog.

2. The woodchuck inhabits a native range stretching across the Eastern United States, Canada and Alaska.

3. A woodchuck typically weighs between 6 and 12 pounds.

4. In the wild, woodchucks consume

a wide variety of plants, including grass, clover, plantain and wildflowers.

5. Woodchucks have many natural enemies, including foxes, coyotes, dogs and humans.

6. Woodchucks usually live 5 to 6 years in the wild.

form of “fish-ical therapy.”

¶

(Quiz on Page 37)

7. Woodchucks in captivity have been recorded living as long as fourteen years.

8. Yes, woodchucks are one of Maine’s few true hibernators; they hibernate from October to March.

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66 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Thai Curried Lake Trout Stew Are you tired of spices? NEVER!!!

Remember that spices can warm up your internal body temperature during the winter months. Spices like cayenne

and most chili peppers will stoke your internal fire by stimulating cells to burn more oxygen. Between spices and ice-fishing, and how fast can you run to

your flags, you’ll be warmed in minutes!

Enjoy, and Bon Appetit!

Enjoy this quick and simple stew recipe of layers and layers of flavors!

• •

Ingredients: • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil • 1 sweet onion, chopped • 6 garlic cloves, chopped • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger* • 3 tablespoons red curry paste • 2 cups coconut milk (or 1 can) • 1 cup fish stock** • 1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek*** • 2 tablespoons fish sauce • 2 tablespoons soy sauce

•

1 tablespoon lime juice 1 cup shiitake or Baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced 1 pound lake trout, skinned, boned and cubed Handful Thai or regular basil, chopped 2 cups steamed rice

Stir in coconut milk, broth, Sambal Oelek, fish sauce, soy sauce, and lime juice. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.

Add mushrooms, and Lake Trout and cook 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Toss in basil and serve over rice.

Directions: Heat oil over medium heat in large stock pot. Add and sauté onion, garlic, and ginger for 5 minutes until fragrant.

Add red curry paste and stir to coat.

*Grater or micro-plane works best here **You can substitute clam juice, unless guests are shellfish intolerant ***Sweet or regular chili sauce can be substituted here

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• •

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 67

Solar Energy in Maine Part 1 of 2 Solar panels are popping up everywhere. Who’s paying for them? Why are investors excited? What are the tax incentives? How many acres are needed to develop a 5 megawatt project, which provides power for 850 homes? The author digs into these questions and more, in this first of two columns exploring the present and future of solar power generation in this state.

Solar PV (photovoltaic) panels have been popping up on rooftops and in backyards for quite a few years. Lately, it seems that solar farms are sprouting up everywhere: acres of shiny PV panels lined up in neat rows, soaking up the sun and turning it into electricity to power homes and businesses.

These larger solar generating stations can be on the order of 20 to 40 acres or more.

Who owns them?

Who is building them?

Does the developer own the land or lease it? Where is all the money coming from?

And what is the impact on the landscape? Do they help or hurt wildlife and the environment? At this rate, won’t Maine be covered in solar panels in a few years?

These are all good questions. Let’s take a look. This month, we’ll discuss the overall market and trends in solar power development. In the April issue of The Maine Sportsman, we’ll talk about the environmental impacts and benefits.

Playing Catch-Up Maine is actually playing catch-up when

it comes to solar PV power. Other states have been building commercial or “utility scale” solar farms for over a decade. I recall seeing several sizable solar farms go up in central Massachusetts as early as 2013.

In 2015, Maine had just 15 megawatts installed – mostly small rooftop, backyard or “distributed generation” projects, according to the Governor’s Energy Office.

A megawatt is 1,000 kilowatts; one megawatt of solar panels generates enough power for about 170 homes.

Today, Maine has over 550 megawatts of total solar capacity installed, generating enough power for about 100,000 homes.

That’s almost six percent of the state’s electricity use. Of that, about 225 megawatts is in commercial or utility scale projects that are 5 megawatts or larger – what most people now think of as solar farms. A 5 megawatt solar PV project covers about 30 to 40 acres.

In 2021, Maine ranked 30th in statewide total capacity of solar energy. In comparison, New York

and Massachusetts (ranked 9th and 10th) both have over 4,000 megawatts installed – enough to power about 700,000 homes today.

The largest solar PV project in New England is located in Farmington, Maine.

At 76.5 megawatts, it covers 490 acres.

A consortium of five New England colleges – Bowdoin, Williams, Amherst, Hampshire, and Smith – contracted to buy a third of the power from the project, which is owned by NextEra Energy.

Declining Costs There are several reasons for the boom in solar power construction. First, solar PV costs dropped by over 80% worldwide between 2010 and 2020.

Every year, PV panel sizes are increasing, and generation efficiency is improving.

The “levelized cost” per kilowatt-hour over the 30-year lifetime of a solar project is lower than natural gas and onshore wind power.

Because fuel costs are zero, solar PV pays for the upfront capital costs in fuel savings over the first five or six years. After that, investors earn a hefty rate of return.

Plus, a 30% federal

The largest photovoltaic panel array in New England, NextEra’s solar farm in Farmington, Maine covers 490 acres. Source: NextEra

tax credit encourages new solar PV systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which makes the economics even better.

Smaller solar PV installations benefit from a system called “net energy billing,” which allows the owner to earn credits on their bill when they generate more power than they use. They can then use those credits to lower their own bill, when they need to buy energy from the grid.

Follow the Money Where is the money coming from for all this development?

The short answer is … everywhere.

All types of investors are looking to build solar PV projects, and to sell the power generated to all sorts of buyers who are looking for lower energy costs.

Utilities and businesses in Maine and around New England are contracting for the solar power output to cut their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint.

Maine has supported a new type of investment called “community solar,” that allows homeowners and business-

es who can’t build on their own land to buy shares or subscriptions to larger, more efficient PV projects in their areas.

Land for the larger solar farms is typically leased, providing income for farmers and other landowners. Installing panels and racks usually requires little soil disturbance; they can be removed and recycled (we expect) at the end of their useful life. More on this next month.

How Much Land?

Generation of the 550+ megawatts of solar PV generation in place today uses about 4,000 acres total. But with over 2,000+ more megawatts currently under development, that figure could soon be closer to 20,000 acres. Still, that is less than 0.1% of Maine’s total land area.

How much land would Maine need to go all-in on solar to meet our energy needs? We’ll explore that question next month, along with the land use and other potential impacts of Maine’s solar energy future.

¶

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68 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Hunting Southern Maine in the Good-Old Days The author’s ancestors were all hunters, and they hunted the same areas he does today. Because of this, the author often wonders what kind of rifles they carried in those days, and how the hunting differed from what exists today.

My roots run deep here in Shapleigh. The Patch families were some of the first families to settle here. My ancestral grand-father, Henry L. Patch, had an exciting life.

He fought in some major battles during the Civil War, then gained a land grant in Arkansas, and started a cattle ranch – he was a founding father of the town of Red Bluffs, Arkansas.

While rounding up cattle, he fell from his horse and broke his leg. The leg became infected, and to save his life, it was amputated.

In his later life, he returned to his beloved Shapleigh.

All of the original homesteads still stand here in Shapleigh, and I live in one of them.

I have many family items hanging on my walls, including his Civil War sword, photos, and tax receipts from 1779.

My ancestors were all hunters, and they hunted the same areas I do today. I feel a connection with them, as I hunt along the very stone walls they built over 200 years ago.

Because of this, I often wonder what kind of rifles they were carrying, and also, what was the hunting like then?

Making a muzzlewww.MaineSportsman.com

loader to replicate a gun used here in New England in the 1800s became my winter project.

1800 New England Rifle Hawken and Kentucky muzzleloaders became popular because of movies during the 1980s. But they were not a common rifle in southern Maine 200 years ago. Hawken or plains rifles were heavy and large bore guns that were needed for elk, buffalo and grizzly.

Kentucky rifles were deadly accurate but had long barrels so they could be loaded from horseback. Rifle butts could be placed on the ground and the patched ball could be rammed down the barrel while the rider remained mounted.

Historical records indicate that hunters always used horses on long hunts in Kentucky – they needed the horses to help transport hundreds of deer hides back to settlements in the East.

Our forefathers here in southern Maine did not need these types of rifles.

So my quest for a New England-style gun started with research.

I found information and photos of a rifle made by Levi Hemenway from Shrewsbury

Mass.

The gun was made in the 1840s. It was a side-lock percussion muzzleloader.

This was the gun I planned to reproduce.

The only kit that would work was a Traditions Crocket Rifle kit – but I would have to rework the gun kit to be consistent with the Hemenway antique gun.

Rasps, Files and Headaches My project wasn’t easy – the kit parts were designed to look like a Kentucky rifle.

I had to reshape and thin the stock to look like the Hemenway rifle; the barrel tang had to be heated and bent to fit the stock; and the lock mortise needed some carving. The triggers weren’t tuned, and it took some time to get them working so the lock would fire.

I finished the stock with ten hand-rubbed coats of Birchwood Casey tru-oil gun stock finish, and blued the barrel to match the Hemenway rifle. My reproduction of a mid-1800s New England style rifle was complete – this is the type of gun that was used here in southern Maine by our forefathers while hunting.

My gun is lightweight, well-balanced, and very accurate.

The author’s New England style rifle, a photo of Henry L. Patch, and Patch’s Civil War sword.

Compared to today, hunting was much different during the mid-1800s in southern Maine. Photo by Val Marquez

Will I hunt deer with it? There are differing opinions on whether a .32 caliber muzzleloader should be used for deer hunting. I will use it for small game and target shooting only – later, I plan to gift it to my grandson. Till then, I’ll thin out the red squirrels in my hunting areas.

Different Landscape Southern Maine was completely different in the 1800s; it was farmlands – a patchwork of fields surrounded with stone walls. The only forest was in areas not suitable for farm fields – swamps and mountains.

Folks during this time were dependent on hay and cord wood – hay for cattle during the long, cold winter, and hardwood for yearround heat (wood-fired cook stoves were used all 12 months of the year). These two requirements shaped the landscape and wildlife that depended on it. There wasn’t much sport hunting –

and no hunting laws – back then.

Deer were basically non-existent in this part of the Pine Tree State compared to today. Historical accounts exist to tell the tales of typical deer hunts here in the mid 1800s. Word had got out that a deer was seen on Abbot Mountain in Shapleigh. Simon Ricker, a neighbor of Henry Patch, who lived on the Simon Ricker Road here in Shapleigh, spent three days and nights waiting for a shot at the deer. He killed it after a long wait.

Deer were scarce then in the heavily farmed southern part of the state. Evolution has been kind to hunters today, as old farmlands have reverted back to quality deer habitat. In addition, modern hunting laws and regulations ensure good deer availability for today’s hunters.

In short, for deer hunters in Southern Maine, the “good-old days” weren’t really that good.

¶

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 69

Training Your Beagle to Hunt Hares I vividly remember my first days of rabbit hunting, when I was a youngster. I used my grandmother’s old single-shot .410, and I really enjoyed the time spent with my father and various uncles out in the big cedar swamps in Michigan.

After moving to Maine in 1990, I purchased a beagle, and started hunting snowshoe hare all over the state. Maine has such a vast amount of excellent hare cover, I just assumed everyone in this state hunted rabbits.

While there are probably a large number of folks who hunt hare in Maine, I still think there might be a good number of folks who haven’t had the wonderful experience of listening to the beagles chase a hare through the woods, or felt the thrill as the beagle music closes in to your position.

Getting a beagle started doesn’t take a huge effort, but getting your little dog to become an “expert” rabbit chaser requires that you get that dog in the woods and on rabbits as often as possible. Many good dogs have been ruined by letting them sit in the house or kennel when they should be out working in the woods.

Getting Started Many hunters don’t use dogs – they simply walk through an area of the woods

Drag a heavily-scented rag around in a big circle in the back yard. Have the circle come right back to you, and be there at the end of the circle with treats and praise for your beagle puppy.

Registered Maine Guide and Rangeley resident Courtney Ellis introduced several new hunters to the sport of hare hunting this winter. Photo courtesy of Courtney Ellis

with a lot of sign, where they occasionally jump and shoot a rabbit. This method works fine if you don’t have a dog and know how to find areas that are full of rabbits.

For me, chasing rabbits with a beagle is much more enjoyable. The little dogs get extremely excited, barking and howling with immense vocal energy when the scent is fresh, and the chase begins. I could spend all day just listening to their lively music … wait a minute, I do that throughout the winter.

Purchase a beagle from a reputable breeder with a good

hunting line, and the game is on. Well, that is a good start … then the fun begins. For around five to eight months, really work on basic obedience.

Focus on getting that puppy to come to you when you call. I would suggest a very gentle use of the e-collar.

By “gentle,” I mean don’t make the time periods of the training sessions too long … something like quick recall commands each time you take the pup out for a potty break, with a little recall training included on woods walks. Make each training session exciting, with lots of praise for good work,

and teach them to respond to the vibrate or tone element of the e-collar, rather than electric stimulation.

Always keep things positive – praise heavily when the pup

obeys, and quickly divert attention to something else if they are sluggish in their willingness to obey.

I usually have them perform two or three commands, and then move onto something different – five or ten minutes per session, and limit that to two or three times a day.

Scent Training Secrets Once the pup gets a good grasp of basic obedience commands, start training the dog to follow scent. Make this the happiest part of the day, with lots of praise and food treats for encouragement.

Really, there aren’t any secrets to get a beagle going on rabbits … once they smell a rabbit in the woods, it’s as if they go on auto-pilot.

I like to give them a little scent training at home to get them going before they get out into the big woods.

Drag a heavily-scent(Continued on next page)

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Rangeley Region (Continued from page 69)

ed rag around in a big circle in the back yard. The first several times of trying this, I’d make it easy, with a small circle and having it come right back to you. Of course, you should be there with treats and praise at the end of the circle.

As things progress,

make the circle larger, but always have praise and treats at the end of the successful trailing by the pup.

Expand the training as the pup progresses, to make the trail run through brush and out of sight.

Once the pup consistently performs on

trailing in the backyard, they are ready for the big woods.

Make sure to have some type of tracking collar, so you can keep track of them when they take off.

Fine Tuning Once a pup figures out how to trail a rabbit, the next step is to get them out hunting as often as possible.

Joining a beagle club

really helps; running a pup in field trials can also promote training.

Any time they are running on the scent of a rabbit is a plus … the more scenting work, the better your little beagle will be.

Don’t let them overeat or get out of shape. Feed a top-quality food – they are extreme athletes, and they need extra

nutrition. I like to get a bunch of fat from the butcher and cut it up into small cubes for treats. I keep them in the freezer until needed. They love the flavor, the fat is good for their coats and skin, and it gives them plenty of extra energy for chasing those fast bunnies.

¶

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Philosophizing in the Midst of Maine’s Deep Winter: What’s Important to You? What’s important to you? The author recommends you ponder that question. For him, it’s accessing Maine’s wild places, hunting with his dog, and casting flies on our state’s ponds and rivers. It also includes spending time with family, including a 2-year old grandson whom the author modestly predicts will become a “superstar outdoorsman.”

Each season, a thinking outdoors person will learn more and more through their experiences in the woods and on the water. Some lessons come hard, and others rather easily. The most fulfilling lessons come when we learn more about ourselves.

This past hunting season, I learned that it doesn’t take much to make me happy – just the fact that I’m out walking around with my gun, my dog, and maybe a friend or two makes me feel completely satisfied that the world’s alright.

Even though I had

several bird hunts this year that seemed to top the charts, I had a few days of not seeing even a single bird. On those days of no birds, I still came home with the same feeling – completely rested and recharged.

I’ve found that I need a regular visit to the woods or waters to keep my sanity, and I sometimes wonder how anyone can live without routinely romping in the outdoors. Living full-time in a city environment would drive me nuts unless I could get out and go hunting, fishing, camping, or even

taking a simple walk in the woods to let my dog run around.

Beyond this World My own spiritual journey has brought me to a point where I am pulled further and further away from the trappings of worldly things. As I advance in years, I find myself thinking less about what is happening here on Earth.

This kind of thinking (or non-thinking) makes everything feel new each day … and I like it. I don’t have any desire for taking trophies anymore, or for seeing if I can limit out on upland

Follow the forest trail to where your passion peaks.

William Clunie photo

game, or for dropping heavily-racked bucks.

Nowadays, I’m just as happy to shoot a forkhorned buck, or simply see my dog point and flush a bird – even if I miss the shot.

Of all the outdoor activities I am blessed to have before me, I can think of a few that I will always strive for, such as catching bigger fish more frequently, getting my dog on as many birds as possible, and seeing

my grandkids enjoying themselves in the outdoors.

I have a nearly two-year-old great grandson now, Ashton, and if I last long enough to see him hunt and fish – well, I guess that would do it for me. I’ve watched my own kids and grandkids out fishing and hunting, and now this little guy is going to top that off perfectly. He already loves (Western Maine continued on next page)

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72 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

The Great Ice Shack Caper Phase 3

I think we have the coolest ice shack on Maine’s waters. Sure, it’s not that big. I think if we were to build another (from scratch), it would probably be 8’x8’, twice the size of our 4’x8’ palace.

However, we didn’t pick the size of our deer blind-turned-ice shack, and despite its compact size, I’d say it’s pretty sweet. Equipped with a woodstove, solar power, jigging holes, rod holders, and a flatscreen TV, it’s certainly fishing in the lap of luxury.

We didn’t get the shack on the ice as early as we had wanted to this year, or even on the body of water we had hoped for. This season’s late freeze and marginal initial ice conditions were a big hindrance.

It’s On the Ice! However, we adapted. Once we found a time in our schedules that would work with all three of us, we dragged the shack out onto a local warm-water pond.

Once in position, we put it up on blocks, so that if a slush layer developed and froze, the shack wouldn’t be stuck to the ice. With the use of some logs and rope, we tied the shack down to the ice on all 4 corners, so it wouldn’t blow around.

Luckily, the heat and electricity in the shack are all self-contained – we shouldn’t have to bring anything in or out, except occasionally some firewood.

It’s set up within walking distance of

Western Maine (Continued from page 71)

me and calls me “Papa.” He hollers everyone else’s name real loud, but he whispers, “Papa” when he sees me. My heart melts, and I can hardly wait for the time we can hunt and fish together.

This kid’s going to be a superstar outdoorsman … I can tell.

What Drives You? Where does your passion lie? For some, it’s hiking or birdwatching or some other kind of outdoor activity. For me, it’s walking the forest with my dog and inhaling the autumn woods as she slams to a rock-solid point, or seeing my dry fly get sucked in by a hungry salmonid, or trying to slow my pounding heart when a set of antlers is heading my way. www.MaineSportsman.com

The author believes his 4’x8’ abandonedhunting-blind-turned-iceshack is “pretty sweet.”

It’s equipped with a woodstove, solar power, jigging holes, rod holders, and a flatscreen TV – the epitome of luxury!

The author uses a snowmobile to haul the shack out onto the ice on one of Maine’s best pike lakes.

one of the landings, so even if we don’t have the time (or the effort) for snowmobiles, we can walk out there with bait, a few traps and an auger.

It’s Not Cheating to be Comfortable!

In fact, we stowed a couple jig rods in there as well. That way, if we only have an hour or two to fish after school, we can just hike out there, throw a Duraflame in the stove, and jig for a little The highly regarded outdoorsman, Fred Bear, said it best when describing his attitude towards achieving the most from a day in the outdoors. He penned these simple words.

“A hunt based only on trophy taken, falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.”

I’m with Mr. Bear on this one – he nails it on the head. When I was a young man, Fred Bear was one of my all-time heroes.

Each one of us will eventually find what drives us most – some will learn sooner than others. It’s sad, but some will never know the solace gained from a simple walk in the woods or a day floating on the water. Fish and game taken are only icing on the cake, and all the rest is what fulfills my soul.

Good memories with good friends and family are worth so much more

bit. No need to set up a shack, heater, or traps.

We hope to be able to move the shack to a lake trout water, once the ice out there gets better. Jigging for togue is a lot of fun, and the permanent shack will we good and warm in the exposed, deep areas of the lake.

It’ll be nice to be able to set up and jig in a dry shack, with no wind, a woodstove keeping us warm, and an antenna television to keep us company on slow days. Cheating? No. A bit cushy, maybe, but not cheating. In my opinion, anyway.

Fun Times Ahead As for now, the shack is on one of the best pike waters in the state, and it’s a short drive from our homes. It should get plenty of good use from us three, and some guests when we invite them out with us.

In fact, we have high hopes for some fun days of fishing, barbecues on the ice, big fish, entertainment, and even some overnight trips. Regardless of whether or not we catch trophies in the shack, we have been lucky to have this project to keep us occupied and to give us a good excuse to hang out together.

The shack has come a long way since being rescued from what was nearly its final resting place in the woods.

¶

than any prize fish or trophy animal.

I remember the first time I shot a buck over 200 pounds. I had tried so hard to accomplish this feat that when it finally happened, I thought, “Well, is it going to be all downhill from this point on?” After shooting a second buck over the 200-pound mark, I stopped wondering, and started to really learn to experience the woods and waters from a deeper perspective.

So sit back in that recliner and relish those memories. Make plans to focus on what matters most when creating those future memories. Our little go-’round on this earth only takes place once, and it’s gone in a flash. Make the most of it while it is before you, my friend.

¶

��������������������������������������������� The Maine Sportsman • March 2023 • 73

Hunt Quietly What I am about to say is going to earn me some enemies. Unfortunately, it may even cost me some friends.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. We used to live in a society where one could criticize a practice, while still thinking those who participate are good people.

So let that be the disclaimer: I may call out something you do, but I probably don’t begrudge you personally for it. Some of it, I’ve even done myself in the past, or even still feel the temptation to do.

But for the sake of hunting, we need to make changes. And unless we have some uncomfortable and blunt conversations, those changes aren’t going to happen. So strap in!

Rinella Rift Many of us are familiar with the hit show MeatEater, with Steven Rinella. Fewer of us are familiar with his brother, Matt Rinella.

Ironically, Matt is a leader in the “Hunt Quietly” movement which seeks to “de-publicize, de-glorify, and de-monetize” hunting entertainment.

I’ve written in this publication numerous times about elements that are crucial to the Hunt Quietly movement. I just never knew it was a named movement. I’ve been pleased to discover that, apparently, I’m

The author opines that hunters are “oversharing” their grip-and-grin trophy photos on social media. He agrees with those who state that it’s time to de-publicize, de-glorify, and de-monetize hunting entertainment. “Get off your couch,” he advises, “off your phone, and out of your truck, and actually hunt.”

With the number of trail cameras in the woods, says the author, the activity can no longer be considered scouting. Rather, it’s surveillance. Ethan Emerson photo

not the only stick-inthe-mud.

Below, I’ll discuss some of my shared concerns, but I encourage others to listen to Matt’s (sometimes heated) discussions with his brother Steve and other hunting personalities like Randy Newburg. You may not agree, but you may hear a side of things that you hadn’t considered and that will get you thinking.

Stop Oversharing “Grip and grins” are ruining hunting.

Stop oversharing pictures of you posing with dead animals.

And for God’s sake, cut

out the staged sittingIndian-style-gazinginto-the-glazed-overeyes-of-a-deer-you’vebeen-carting-aroundin-the-bed-of-yourtruck-for-two-days pose! It’s not a candid, and you aren’t genuinely contemplating your respect for its life.

By all means, take photos. Show them in person to your local family and friends when you share the story. Even text or email them to distant relatives or others whom you know and who will appreciate them.

But stop posting them publicly to your

several social media feeds for hundreds or thousands of strangers to ogle and then redistribute without context to their hundreds or thousands of followers. Who are you trying to impress?

The same can be said for shed hunting.

Occasionally sharing a real unique antler or “as it lays” position is one thing. But constantly recycling glory pics of you posing with massive amounts of bone just makes you look like you are overcompensating for something.

And if you aren’t the originator of these

photos, you are still complicit if you are engaged in the “liking,” praising, and sharing of them. You are feeding the beast.

Unfollow those people and groups. Don’t give them the audience.

Revert to Traditionalism Your cell cameras make you a worse and lazier hunter. Nothing beats boots-on-theground experience.

With the number of cameras and drones owned by this new generation of hunters, it is no longer scouting – it’s surveillance.

Your grandfather didn’t need all that junk to put meat on the table and antlers on the wall. Neither do you.

Get off your couch, off your phone, out of your truck, and actually hunt. Or, even better, if you are fixated on the result and don’t enjoy the adventure and process of the woods experience itself, find a new hobby. Leave the hunting and shed-searching to those who relish the challenge and experience.

Commercialization It seems like every week I’m supplied by the algorithm with a new YouTube channel to subscribe to, a new line of hunting merchandise to buy, or a new hunting “team member” to follow.

Hunting shouldn’t be a business opportuni(Continued on next page) www.MaineSportsman.com

74 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

New Hampshire (Continued from page 73)

ty. And it’s not a “team” sport. It’s a solemn and deeply personal experience. Stop degrading it with commercialization. And if you are doing it for the clicks, dollars, or thumbs-up emojis, you are doing it for the wrong reasons.

Hunt for yourself, not for the approval and praise of strangers on the internet. If you are one of the strangers, stop giving your approval and praise.

Hypocritical?

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s hard to live by my code (which is constantly evolving).

I enjoy the show

MeatEater. I love the backcountry western hunting videos that come from the Limitless Outdoors, and Randy Newburg YouTube channels. I’ve even indulged in some YouTube videos of northern New England deer hunters. I’ll admit that I’m tempted to buy toys like cell cams, e-bikes, drones, and mountain sleds, that I think will aid me in my pursuits – even though I constantly complain about the unfair advantage gained by those who use them.

I’m a fallible and complicated human being, like the rest of us.

For the sake of hunting, suggests the author, stop posting trophy photos on your social media feeds, and if others post them, don’t “like” or praise them.

“You are feeding the beast,” he says. Ethan Emerson photo

In the past, I’ve overshared photos of my “accomplishments.”

I’ve sought vain recognition. I’ve even done so in this publication.

And, who knows, I may do so again in the future.

I humbly ask, aware of the cliché, that we try to hate the sin and not

the sinner. Better yet, rid the sin and embrace a repenting fallible human.

¶

Northern New Hampshire www.lancasterdentalcarenh.com

www.MaineSportsman.com

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Perch Action Perch are accurately described as a panfish, and their meat is delicious. Dip the fillets in a beaten egg, coat with a light breading, and fry until flakey.

Sprinkle with a little lemon juice, and serve with tartar sauce to accompany the tasty victuals.

I’ll admit it – while big fish are cool to catch, I can get pretty bored ice fishing if nothing is happening.

That’s why I love targeting yellow perch.

While the action can ebb and flow, they are usually around and ready to bite. They can be picky, but not so much that a fella can’t jig up a few for a meal.

They’re also fun for kids. The little tap-tap-tap of a perch grabbing your lure, tipped with a maggot or piece of dead shiner, can become addicting.

Vermont’s big lakes, like Lake Champlain on the west side, Memphremagog up north, and Harriman Reservoir in the southern tip of the state, all hold yellow perch.

A look at the state’s Master Angler Program shows a lot of places where the fish can get over 12 inches, which is a great fish.

Limits are generous – typically 50 fish per day, although you need to check the regulations of the body of water where you’ll be fishing.

These tasty little critters can usually be fished for yearround, either through open water or the ice.

Where I fish up north,

I like to chase early March perch; they start to move toward their spawning areas, so they get a bit easier to target.

Getting Set Up While I might run a few tip-ups (a trap, for you Mainers), my preference is jigging for yellow perch. It makes for a more active and dynamic day, and allows for more flexibility in switching things up, like locations and lures.

I’ll drill a number of holes at varying depths and relationships to underwater structure. Using a medium-action rod (in case something bigger than a perch happens by), I often start with a Swedish Pimple tipped with a maggot.

I drop it down to the bottom and bounce that jig off the bottom, attempting to stir up some mud.

Action should be quick. If nothing happens in 5 or 10 minutes while jigging in a spot, it’s time to move to a new location.

Once I locate a school, I’ll fish until the action dies down, then start moving around again. If I feel like I’ve covered an area that should hold fish but haven’t had

any luck, I’ll switch jigs to vary the color and size. I might also change the bait to a piece of minnow, and work around again.

A lot of folks nowadays are using flashers to assist in locating fish, which certainly makes things more efficient, but seems to take some of the skill, mystery and excitement out of the adventure of being on the ice.

Vermont simplified a lot of its fishing regulations, but there are a number of specifics that need to be followed if you want to fish with bait. There are a few blacklist waters where bait cannot be moved to other places; there are now east and west bait zones; and there are ways people can harvest and move their own baitfish. Check out the regulations to make sure you are doing things correctly and not moving around invasive species. Find more at https://vtfishandwildlife.com/fish/ fishing-regulations.

Understanding Yellow Perch Yellow perch spawn in the spring, typically in weedy areas, often at the inlets of streams.

The author’s fishing partner, Bailey, tends to the jigging rod. Like all good anglers, Bailey simply enjoys being out on the ice on a nice afternoon.

Matt Breton photo

Spawning fish are typically over three years old. While they usually hang out along the shore among aquatic vegetation and other structures, this is more pronounced in March. They are a schooling fish, and it is common to find different-sized fish in a single school, with females often being larger.

According to some of the folks with whom I fish, once you find a school that is feeding, bigger perch are often taken by fishing higher off the bottom, since those bigger fish might be less concerned about predation.

Considered a warm-water fish, perch have a wide temperature tolerance, and prefer water bodies with muck, gravel, or sand bottoms.

Perch are accurately described as a panfish, since they have delicious meat. I filet perch that are big enough, and simply skin the smaller ones.

Dip the fish in a

beaten egg, coat with a light breading, and fry until flakey. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice, and serve with tartar sauce to accompany the tasty victuals; at our house, six perch will make a meal for two of us. We typically end up eating them with our hands, and licking our fingers when we’re finished.

With such liberal bag limits, I think its good for anglers to practice self-restraint now and then, just taking enough for a meal or two. Throwing back big females ahead of the spawning season is also a good idea.

In VT, ice fishing season for a lot of species comes to an end by March 15th, but perch can be caught right into open water. Heck, if we lose our ice early, fishing the perch spawn is a fun early season option.

Do be careful on the thinning spring ice – there isn’t a fish out there worth risking your life for!

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76 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Smilin’ Sportsman

True Confessions A priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. The city’s mayor was scheduled to give the keynote speech honoring the priest, but the mayor was delayed, so the priest decided to say a few words while they waited.

“I arrived at this church many years ago,” he said. “When I heard my very first confession here, I thought perhaps I’d made a big mistake. The person who entered the confessional told me he was a thief and a liar, a drunk and a drug abuser, and that that he’d betrayed the trust of his friends and family. I was concerned that this person was typical of the parish.

“However, as the days went on, I learned that most of you were not at all like that, and that I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.”

Just as the priest finished his talk, the mayor arrived, full of apologies for being late. He strode to the podium and immediately began to make his planned presentation.

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“I’ll never forget the day many years ago when our parish Priest arrived,” the mayor began. “In fact, I had the honor of being the first person to go to him for confession.”

— Don’t Want No Trouble A man walked into a bar. “Quick,” he said to the bartender, “give me a drink – before the trouble starts!”

The bartender poured him a drink, which the customer quickly consumed.

“Give me another one,” the customer instructed, “before the trouble starts.”

The bartender set up another drink, which was quickly drained.

Twice more, the man ordered drinks “before the trouble starts.”

Finally, the bartender had had enough. “Listen, Buddy” he said, “I’m happy to have you as a customer, but when are you going to pay me for all those drinks?”

Replied the customer, “And now, the trouble starts!”

Efficiency Expert Diner: “Waiter, why do you and all the waiters in this restaurant carry spoons in your shirt pockets?”

Waiter: Well, the boss hired an efficiency expert, who realized spoons are the utensil most frequently dropped by our guests while they’re having dinner. Because we can just hand them a spoon from our pocket, it saves us the time we’d otherwise need to walk back to the kitchen for a replacement.”

Diner: “Makes sense. One more question: Why do all of you waiters have strings attached to your pants zippers?”

Waiter: “The same efficiency expert suggested that, also. When we use the men’s room, we can pull the string to unzip, and then use the string to zip back up.

That way, we save the time we’d otherwise need to use to wash our hands afterwards.”

Diner: “I understand, but how do you .. you know ... tuck yourself back in?”

Waiter (looking around, and whispering): “Well, I don’t know about the others, but I use my spoon.”

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Welcome to Boringville A few years ago, some guys from the Portland ’burbs got invited to a ski weekend at Sugarloaf. They loaded up the car with gear and beer, programmed the GPS, and set out for the good times.

Hours later, they found themselves in the middle of nowhere.

Well, not exactly nowhere. They were in Dixfield (although, you can see nowhere from there). And as the GPS indicated, there was a Sugarloaf nearby, but it’s one without chairlifts or après-ski entertainment. For those amenities, they needed to visit the Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley.

Our errant travelers could have done worse. There are several Sugarloafs in Maine, another in New Hampshire, a few in Ireland and a famous one in Brazil.

There’s also a Sugarloaf in Florida, which doesn’t even have mountains. According to people who engage in the weird hobby of counting Sugarloafs, there are 450 bits of rock around the world with that name.

Sugarloaf is hardly the only place in Maine with an overused moniker. There are enough Mud Ponds in the state to float a fleet of battleships.

Nearly every stretch of rural land is host to a Bog Road. And the creatively challenged

Our columnist claims that when it comes to naming places, Mainers lack imagination. in at least three spots named their streets Lois Lane.

History Lesson This lack of originality dates back to Maine’s earliest days as an English colony. We have counties named after York (some guy in Britain), Cumberland (another guy in Britain) and Waldo (some guy nobody can find). After the American Revolution, we resorted to naming counties for the Founding Fathers, even though nearly everything else in the country was being christened after George Washington, and Ben Franklin got his name plastered on anything from federal buildings, to houses of ill repute.

It’s been a while since I studied American history, so I’m not too sure who Joe Piscataquis or Fred Sagadahoc were, but I’ll do a little research and get back to you in a couple of paragraphs.

No Originality The curse of recycling was even worse for cities. Portland copied the name of an English town. New Portland copied Portland, even though New Portland wasn’t particularly new or a port.

Bangor, Falmouth, Yarmouth and Scarborough all showed a

similar obsession with the British Isles.

The state capital, Augusta was named after a maiden aunt in an Oscar Wilde play.

If Maine were going to steal English names, you’d think they’d have picked something entertaining, such as Dun Tew or Dicker Barks.

This situation may have been caused by the Great Name Shortage of 1623, when most of the world ran out of words to call things. As a result, the early colonists in Maine were forced to recycle used names such as Paris, Denmark and Norway. They did, however, show a tiny spark of what may have been originality by refusing to pronounce Calais, Madrid and Vienna correctly.

Natives Named Places the Best I just completed that research I promised several paragraphs ago, and according to numerous online sources, Piscataquis and Sagadahoc are neither lifted from the English nor copied from revolutionary heroes. Rather, they’re derived from the one group that displayed some innovation when it came to naming places: Native Americans.

Piscataquis is Wabanaki for “at the riv-

er branch.” Sagadahoc means “mouth of the big river.” The same source gave us nearly every interesting place name in the state, including Sebasticook (“almost through place”), Kenduskeag (“place to catch eels”) and Kennebec (“long quiet river”).

Before Portland got its current, dull name, it was called Machigone (“great neck”) by the Algonquians. Other names we can thank Native Americans for include Katahdin (“great mountain”), Passadumkeag (“rapids over gravel beds”) and Mattawamkeag (“at the raised gravel bar”).

Penobscot is the messed-up way white settlers pronounced the Wabanaki word “Penawapskewi,” which means “the people from where the white rocks extend out.” Millinocket undoubtedly looked different back when the

natives dubbed it “this place is admirable.”

And nobody seems sure what Skowhegan originally meant, so I’m gonna guess it was “place that greatly benefits from having a couple breweries.”

Sturgeons on Voter Rolls?

The aforementioned Carrabassett, home of one of those Sugarloafs, could have been named after a semi-mythical chief killed in the Father Rasle Massacre in Norridgewock in 1724.

More likely, though, it’s a botched version of the Wabanaki name for sturgeon.

This latter possibility is lent some credence because in the town of Carrabassett Valley, sturgeons are eligible to vote.

Al Diamon (“Guy who gets paid to churn out foolishness”) writes the weekly column Politics & Other Mistakes for the Portland Phoenix and the Daily Bulldog.

¶

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78 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

— TRADING POST — • Subscribers may place one free 20-word • The regular rates are $15 for up to 20 line classified ad per month (2-month limit) words and 50¢ for each additional word • Items for sale must include a price • Check, money order, MasterCard or VISA (Credit or Debit) are accepted • Real estate ads must include an address or location

• You may submit your ads by: Phone: 207-357-2702 E-mail: classifieds@mainesportsman.com Mail: 183 State Street, Suite 101

Augusta ME 04330

SUBMIT AD AND PAYMENT BY THE 30TH OF EACH MONTH AND YOUR AD WILL APPEAR IN THE NEXT ISSUE. BOATS

CAMPS FOR RENT

RANGELEY BOATS In various conditions for sale. Call John at Grants Camps for onsite inspection. 1-800633-4815

CAMPS FOR RENT Hunting, fishing, families, sledding, ATV. Ashland, Medford, Argyle, Lagrange. Ample parking, off grid. $400/ week or Modern $700/ week. 207-745-1725

20 FT. E.M. WHITE FIBERGLASS CANOE In usable condition, $250. email ads@ mainesportsman.com

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FIREARMS

DOGS

1949 MODEL 70 270WIN With recently purchased Shepard 3x10 scope ($500+). Asking $1600 OBRO. Two airline-approved gun cases, $85 for both. 603953-3220

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Waterfront Properties PRIVATE REMOTE WATERFRONT CAMP on pristine West Carry Pond 95’ deep- excellent fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, xc skiing, hiking, ATVing. 4 acres of land which abuts timberland and conservation land. Gated roads with access to three other ponds. This is a well-built camp on a sunny lot with well and gray water system. Beautiful country with Bigelow Mountain and Flagstaff Lake just down the road. $345,000. MLS# 1545115 WATERFRONT CAMPGROUND with 475’ of frontage and 10.5 acres on Gilman Pond.

Set up as a campground with roads, and the only boat landing on the lake. There’s a mobile home on the property with drilled well and extra large septic. On a good year-round road in the heart of the western mountains.

This would be a nice business opportunity or build your year-round home. $495,000. MLS# 1542687

Nora West, Broker – Keller Williams Realty 207-446-4316 | 207-879-9800 | norawest@kw.com

SMITH & WESSON 22 CAL. TARGET PISTOL Model# 22A-1. Comes with a holster and two 10-round clips. Good

Condition. $275. Call 603-582-2277.

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HELP WANTED LOOKING FOR GUIDES AND KITCHEN STAFF For sporting camps in Zone 4 North Maine Woods. Help needed August-October. Meals and lodging provided.

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BLACK FLY STEW COOKBOOKS Wild game cookbooks:Wild Maine Recipes ($20) 50 Ways to Eat A Beaver ($13.00) Free Range Fish & Lobster ($10.00) Simple Gourmet Lamb, Side Dishes and Wine Pairings ($10.00) Contact/ Order: Kate Krukowski Gooding-blackflystew@ gmail.com LINE-CLASSIFIED AD SPECIAL OFFER Place a 20 word ad for just $7/month for up to three months through June 2023; personal items such as; firearms, ammo, boats, camp rentals, hunting/fishing equip, vehicles, or

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VISIT KEENANAUCTION.COM FOR TERMS & PROPERTY INFORMATION! Auction Co., Inc. Keenan Keenan 2063 Congress Street Auction Portland, ME 04102 Company ® 207-885-5100 info@keenanauction.com

• Main Lodge • (13) Log Cabins • 28+/- Acres • 1,462’+/- of River Frontage • Clay Shooting Range • Selling w/ all EQ & Rolling Stock

PREVIEW DATES: TUE., FEB. 28TH & MAR. 7TH, 11AM-3PM

Sale in cooperation with Deborah Henderson of the Maine Outdoor Properties Team at Realty of Maine

Please notify Auctioneer’s office if you plan to attend a preview. Office 207-885-5100 or Info@keenanauction.com Our 51st Year & 8,524th Auction.

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Serving the Bangor Area Since 1948

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help wanted. Payments by credit/debit/check.

Email your ad to ads@ mainesportsman.com —

REAL ESTATE LOOKING TO PURCHASE DEER HUNTING LAND?

This realtor knows deer, can read the land and knows Maine. Joe Saltalamachia, Associate Broker, Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate. jsalty@cbplourde.com

WANTED SKI DOO, ELAN OR TUNDRA Any Condition. Have Cash. Will Travel. Call Or Text 207-522-6940

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caryndreyfuss@morton-furbish.com www.realestateinrangeley.com

RANGELEY – Great views from this hillside lot in desirable Rangeley West Subdivision! Enjoy the generous 1.78 acre parcel with building envelope designed to maximize the panoramic Rangeley Lake and mountain vistas. Super location handy to Mooselook/Rangeley Lake boat ramps, vibrant Oquossoc Village, plus direct access to snowmobile trails from your door. Don’t miss out on this one, inquire today! MLS #1485712 – $114,900 WELD – Check out this new to market building parcel. Gradually sloping 2.46 wooded acres with potential scenic Blueberry, Hurricane Mountain views. Located on year-round town maintained road - lot has been surveyed, soils tested, driveway entrance in, power available roadside. Quiet, peaceful spot off the beaten path and yet minutes to Mt Blue State Park, Webb Lake, Tumbledown Mt. Country living at its best. MLS #1546850 – $79,000

WEST FORKS – Four-season, 12’x20’ camp on 3.59 acre lot. Sleeps at least eight people. No power, water, or septic; just grey water system. Wired for lights and outlets for a generator. On-demand propane hot water heater and outdoor shower, 110 gallon rain water catch system, generator shelter, and 8’x8’ shed. Propane stove, heater, and lights. Camp is fully insulated and heats very quickly. The Appalachian trail just a 1/2 mile away, plus snowmobile and ATV trail access nearby. Excellent hunting and fishing.

Whitewater rafting just down the road for the Kennebec and the Dead River. Public beach at Pleasant Pond about a mile away. The camp is about a mile and a half off of pavement and about 5 miles from route 201. Plowable for year-round access or accessible by snowmobile. MLS #1529310 – $74,000 ATHENS – This charming cabin is located on a quiet country road with over 100 acres of prime woodland. The parcel has been professionally managed and is enrolled in the Maine Tree Growth Tax Program. This cabin has all the amenities you will need and it comes complete with cookware and all furnishings. The kitchen is well-appointed with an electric oven and range, ample counter and cabinet space, and a large refrigerator. Relax by the woodstove or lounge in the spacious living room.

This cabin also features two bedrooms and a full bathroom with a stand-up shower. Close access to a network of ATV and snowmobile trails. Only a few minutes drive to Lake Wesserunsett, Ironbound Pond, Kingsbury Pond, the Kenenbec River, and Wesserunset Stream. MLS #1538560 – $339,000 ATHENS – 5 partially surveyed acres, wooded lot, town maintained gravel road. Power available at the road. Access to ATV trails! Sign is on property indicating 5 acres. MLS #1526833 – $35,000 CORNVILLE – Nicely wooded 4 acre lot on a quiet country road! Property abuts the ITS trail for direct access. Great spot to build your year round home or seasonal camp! Drilled well in place and power available at the street. Only a short drive to Skowhegan and Athens. MLS #1528446 – $40,000 HARTLAND – Surveyed 10.3 acre wooded lot on a paved, public road with town water. Power available at the road. Over 400 feet of frontage on Athens Road. MLS #1532083 – $44,900 ANSON – 25 well-wooded acres with deeded access via a reasonably well maintained woods road.

Enjoy the peace and quiet this property has to offer while only being a short drive to town and the Kennebec River. Power is approximately 3/10 mile away and would be roughly $3,500 to have brought into the property. MLS #1537419 – $49,900 SKOWHEGAN – The possibilities are endless for this piece of property that has been in the family for generations. Have you been looking for a large parcel of land located in Central Maine? There is a plan to make this into multiple house lots, or keep it whole for your family for generations to come.

This property offers frontage on Route 2. 89 acres are in Skowhegan, 2 acres are in Canaan. The 89 acres is in tree growth. Build camps that overlook Oak Pond. Access directly across to Lake George state park. This property is a stones throw of two Lakes in Central Maine. Bring your ideas. MLS #1545240 – $274,999 SOLON – 2.5 surveyed and soil tested acres of land on the River Road in Solon. There are covenants in place. Power is available at the road. MLS #1545454 – $32,500 03/23

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Caryn Dreyfuss, Broker • (207) 233-8275 EUSTIS – Looking for views, then check out this lot in the scenic Eustis Ridge Overlook! Wooded 3.87 acre parcel recently selectively cut to enhance the beautiful Flagstaff Lake and mountain vistas.

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Lincoln – Come take a look at this large undeveloped lakefront lot on Cambolassee Pond in Lincoln.

End of the road privacy, only 10 minutes from Downtown. One of the few undeveloped lakefront lots left in this area. $75,000

T4 R7 – Looking for remote pristine waterfront? Enjoy seeing a perfect starry night sky? Do you enjoy hunting and fishing? This leased camp on Seboeis River could be just what you are looking for. Call today for your appointment to see. $49,000

Lakeville – Gorgeous piece of land, heavily wooded and near the end of the Spaulding Pond Road with lakes all around. The cabin is small but sturdy. The privy and fire pit make it comfortable.

Definitely well worth a look. $49,000

T3 R1 – A brand new cabin, fully insulated, knotty pine interior, wired for a generator. The privy is oversized with a covered porch, skylight and attached woodshed.

Right on Sylvan Way with deeded access to Bill Green Pond. Offering owner financing! $79,000

Winn – This cute cabin is insulated with a knotty interior. The lot is heavily wooded and gorgeous.

Situated on North Road; a paved, year round, secondary road. With a little fire pit sitting just off the cabin’s screen porch. $49,900

Lee – New cabin is well insulated and should heat easily with electric baseboard. Good sized wooded lot offers privacy on Old Steamboat Road. Close to ATV and snowmobile trails. Year round access, electricity, near many lakes and ponds. $65,000

Benedicta – Big acreage with year round access and electricity available at Benedicta Road.

Low taxes. Small beaver flowage and high ground just behind it, wonderful locations for a cabin/ home. Loads of great recreational opportunities. $169,000 T3 R1 – Remote, wooded and beautiful with deeded access to Bill Green Pond, this would be a wonderful place to build your seasonal cabin right off Engstrom Road. POSSIBLE OWNER FINANCING. $22,900 Lee – Well wooded and remote.

This smashin’ little lot right off Mallet’s Mill Road shouldn’t last long. $69,900 Enfield – This large lot is part of a larger parcel, owner would consider selling larger piece.

Not far from Cold Stream Pond and Cold Stream. Public road of Caribou Road and short distance to electricity. $34,000

R E A L

E S T A T E

5 LAKE STREET, P.O. BOX 66, LINCOLN 207-794-2460 www.cwalakestreet.com E-mail: cwa@cwalakestreet.com

1-800-675-2460 Call any of our brokers to work for you!

“Tate” Aylward ............. 794-2460 Peter Phinney............... 794-5466 Kirk Ritchie................... 290-1554

FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION ON OUR PROPERTIES VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT CWALAKESTREET.COM

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80 • March 2023 • The Maine Sportsman ——————————————————————————————————————————————

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