Northwoods Sporting Journal, Oct. 2021

Jonah Fakes Suicide To Rid Himself Of Hester!

October 2021

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Page 3

Puckerbrush Gathering

The one thing you need in a survival situation is skills. Books, magazines, and videos are useful; but the best way to learn skills is person to person. Every woodsman I have ever met is happy to teach and share skills with anyone who is interested. We love passing on skills and knowledge,

Association (PRFGCA. ORG) hosts the event in Columbia, Maine. The coordinator is Larry Balchen and there are several other volunteers as well.

The association’s property is in Columbia and consists of several beautiful gun ranges and an archery range. There

and Saturday night. I got there Friday afternoon and set up my camp for the weekend.

My first stop on Friday was the knife making shop that Steve Balboni had set up. He makes knives by stock removal and had a great display of

Basics Of Survival

by Joe Frazier, Bangor, ME

stop in and leave as you wanted to. If someone was interested in a specific skill, say blacksmithing, they could learn at the forge I tried my hand at tomahawk throwing all day. Most people went from class to class learning for a while and learned a lot. Others new skills and making new were learning how to throw knives as friends. well, children and adults.

Saturday mornthe step -by -step process. some flexibility as well. ing Chris Kravitt gave a He had all the power tools Nothing felt rushed and class on hand sewn knife to make knives on site, and there was no pressure on sheaths. He had several I saw several people over anyone. You could show kits available and helped a the weekend getting hands up for a class and stay, or (Gathering cont. pg 5) on training from him. He also had several knives for sale, each better than the last.

I tried my hand at tomahawk throwing for a while and learned a lot.

Others were learning how to throw knives as well, 1681 Bennoch Rd, Old Town, ME children and adults.

The archery range was East Off I-95 Exit 197 open with several bows for people to use and basic lessons available. Archery was very popular the entire weekend. I had never shot a bow before but I had good instruction and learned CERTIFIED HUNTING & FISHING quickly.

GAME LICENSES Michael Douglas SCALES RESIDENT • NON-RESIDENT from Maine Primitive Skills School gave an opening talk Friday evening AMMO • CAMO on “Why these skills are important”.

HUNTING BLINDS & GEAR Breakfast and lunch were offered both Saturday and Sunday for a donation.

The charge for the entire weekend, including camping and all classes, was only $25. A couple classes required supplies for use in 5 the class and all supplies were available at cost. At CLOSED the end of class people could take home useful tools they had made.

There was a schedule handed out to everyone as they came in, but there was

NEW USED

Firearms

•

(Photo’s by Joe Frazier)

especially to the next generation; that is what the Puckerbrush Gathering is all about.

The Puckerbrush Gathering happens the third weekend in July every year. The Pleasant River Fish & Game Conservation

are several primitive camp sites, and there is also river access for swimming and canoeing.

The gathering this year went from Friday at noon to Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Camping places were available for both Friday

www.oldtowntradingpost.net

Page 4

On The Cover

Jonah Fakes Suicide To Rid Himself Of Hester! - Pg 6 Grouse Hunting Basics - Pg 38 New Deer Rifles - Pg 33 Atlantics In GLS? - Pg 29 Back Seat Shooters - Pg 44 Cougar With Cubs - Pg 21 Camps, Cottages and Land for Sale - Pg 67

Contents

3. Basic’s Of Survival - Joe Frazier 6. The Adventures Of Me & Joe - Bob Cram 9. South Of The Kennebec - Stu Bristol 10. “A Hiker’s Life” - Carey Kish 11. The Northwoods Bowhunter - Brian Smith 13. Native Fish Talk - Bob Mallard 14. Warden’s Words - Kale O’Leary 15. Women In The Woods - Erin Merrill 16. The Singing Maine Guide - Randy Spencer 17. Northwoods Sketchbook - Mark McCollough 18. Outdoor Sporting Library - Jeremiah Wood 20. Aroostook Woods & Water - Mike Maynard 23. Bassin’ With Pappi - Davyn Reynolds 24. Question Of The Month - Gerry Lavigne 25. Maine Outdoor Adventure - Rich Yvon 26. Ramblings From T8-R9 - Benjamin Rioux 29. “Just Fishing” - Bob Leeman 31. Maine Tails - Jonah Paris 32. The Buck Hunter - Hal Blood 33. Guns & Ammo: A Guide’s Perspective - Tom Kelly 34. The Maine Woods - Matt LaRoche 36. View From The River - Laurie Chandler 37. Fly Fishing - Joe Bertolaccini 38. On Point - Paul Fuller 39. Old Tales From The Maine Woods - Steve Pinkham 40. What’s In Your Woods - Bud Utecht 42. Muzzleloading Afield - Al Raychard 43. Northwoods Voyager - Gil Gilpatrick 44. Outdoors In Maine - V. Paul Reynolds 45. Post-Script From Pocasset - Josh Reynolds 46. Anticosti - Mark Cote 47. On The Prowl - Justin Merrill 48. Kineo Currents - Suzanne AuClair 50. Vermont Ramblings - Dennis Jensen 51. Outdoors In Vermont - Gary W. Moore 53. New Hampshire Outdoors - Peter St. James 54. Green Mountain Report - Bradley Carleton 55. The Bird Perch - Karen Holmes 56. Mass Wanderings - David Willette 57. The Trail Rider - Rod Fraser 58. The Tyer’s Corner - Hugh Kelly 60. Against The Current - Bob Romano 63. Best Bassin’ - Bill Decoteau 66. Marsh Island Chronicles - Matthew Dunlap

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

The Sportin’ Journal The Outdoor Paper For “Maine Folks”

The Northwoods Sporting Journal is the Northeast’s most comprehensive and readable monthly outdoor publication. Published at the trailhead of Maine’s sprawling North Woods, the Sporting Journal prides itself on being an independent voice for the region’s outdoor community for more than 28 years. Some of our writers are seasoned and specialized outdoors people who will share their know-how and insights; some of our contributors are simply lifelong outdoor people with interesting stories to tell.

Our aim every month is to capture the essence of Northern New England’s remarkable outdoor heritage by stirring memories, portraying outdoor humor, and sharing experiences and outdoor knowledge. We also keep our readers up to date with late-breaking outdoor news and hard-hitting editorials about fish and wildlife issues.

Anyone who loves to hunt and fish, or simply finds the Great Outdoors a treasured place, is more than likely to find some special connections amid the pages of the Northwoods Sporting Journal.

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Main Office Phone: (207) 732-4880 E-mail: info@sportingjournal.com Fax: (207)732-4970

Vol 28 Issue 10 is published monthly by Northwoods Publications, 57 Old County Rd. North, W. Enfield, ME 04493 Periodical Postage Paid at W. Enfield, ME. and additional mailing offices.

The Northwoods Sporting Journal (ISSN#1548-193X) Postmaster: Send address changes to: Northwoods Sporting Journal, PO Box 195, W. Enfield, ME 04493 Northwoods Publishing Group Victor Morin - Susan Morin - Diane Reynolds - V. Paul Reynolds Publishers - Victor Morin Jr. - V. Paul Reynolds Editor - V. Paul Reynolds Director of Marketing - Victor Morin Assistant Editor - Josh Reynolds Associate Editor - Donna Veino Graphic Arts Manager - Gayleen Cummings Subscription/Distribution Manager - Alicia Cram Operations Manager - Annette Boobar Webmaster - V. Paul Reynolds General Sales Manager - Victor Morin Jr. Sales Department; Thomas Schmidt, Paul Hatin & Michael Georgia Regional Advertising Manager - Jim Thorne The Northwoods Sporting Journal invites submissions of photographs and articles about the Maine outdoors.

Manuscripts should be sent with a self-addressed envelope to: NORTHWOODS SPORTING JOURNAL P.O. BOX 195, W. ENFIELD, MAINE 04493 The Northwoods Sporting Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited photos or manuscripts. Photos submitted without a stamped, self-addressed envelope will not be returned.

All rights reserved, 2021. Written permission must be obtained from the Northwoods Sporting Journal to reprint any part of this publication. Any errors or omissions in ads or editorial matter will be corrected in the next issue of NWSJ. The views and opinions expressed by our monthly columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.

Basics of Survival - Pg 3

By Joe Frazier

Other Great Stories & Information

Women In The Woods - Pg 15

By Erin Merrill

8. Editorial/Letters 12. Outdoor News 41. Trading Post 62. Crossword Puzzle 67. Real Estate

Cover Photo: Nice Grouse

(Photo by Tim Flanigan)

Anticosti - Pg 46

By Mark Cote

Maine Tails - Pg 31

By Jonah Paris

October 2021

Gathering

Northwoods Sporting Journal

the year.

If you are interested in woodsmanship, bushcraft, (Cont. from pg 3) or wilderness survival; a few people sew their own great, family friendly websheaths. All the classes site is bushcraftusa.com were very hands on. Some There are free classes classes were scheduled for on the website called Bushan hour or so; and some, Class USA. Also, members such as knife making and blacksmithing, went on all day.

Stim Wilcox, an expert bow maker, gave classes in the afternoon on making a bow from scratch.

There were 12 kids in the class and I’m guessing their ages were 8 to 12 years old.

He showed them what to do and how, then they each did their own work. He helped them refine their bows and by the end of the day each of them shot the bow they made and took it home. The pride on those kids faces was great to see.

Everyone there treated everyone else with respect and there was no problems at all. The gathering is family friendly, with no guns or alcohol allowed for the entire weekend. I didn’t see one cell phone the entire time. Everyone was interested and engaged in teaching and learning.

All of the instructors are subject matter experts.

From shelter building and wood/canvas canoes; to archery, knife making, and fire making skills.

From blacksmithing and bucksaw making to shelter making and plant use, there is something for everyone at the Puckerbrush Gathering.

Mark your calendar and save the weekend.

July 15, 16, 17, 2022 is the next gathering. Everyone is welcome and kids are encouraged to come and learn. The PRFGCA.ORG website has all the information about the association and activities throughout

Page 5

always welcome new people and are always willing to answer questions.

Joe is a husband, father, author, and Marine.

Joefrazier193@Gmail. com

See Page 49 &

Subscribe Today!

Page 6

Northwoods Sporting Journal

The Adventures of Me and Joe

The Shrew

by Bob Cram, (Alias T.J. Coongate) Medway, ME

Joe lay sprawled in the back seat of his 20-foot Old Town Guide’s Model canoe, with his old felt hat slid down over his eyes. I assumed a similar posture in the front seat, although a slight nudge on my fishing line had caused me to open my eyes and lift the brim of my hat. We floated nearly in the middle of mud Pond on a windless, cloudless day, with a bright sun shining down. It wasn’t really the best kind of day for perch fishing, but we weren’t all that desperate for fish. It was just a great day to be out fishing.

Movement and a slight noise echoing over the water made me glance in the direction of the landing. Several boats appeared to have just pushed off from shore. Men in them seemed to be fussing with some sort of rigging. One boat increased power and headed in our direction.

“Looks like we got company,” I said, reeling in my line.

Joe didn’t move. “You tell that Pinch Brody I’m restin’ an’ ain’t got time for any legal shenanigans, less he’s come to arrest me.

Recognize that boat of his anywhere.” He sat up suddenly, and pushed back his hat. “You don’t suppose he has, do yer? Come to arrest me, I mean.”

“I dunno,” I said carefully. “You done anything to get arrested for?”

“Not that I recollect.

But with all them laws out there, it’s likely I done somethin’…”

Warden Brody’s boat slowed as it neared us and then turned alongside as the motor died.

Joe reached out and grabbed the gunnel, pulling the two watercraft closer together. Brody sat in the stern while another warden we didn’t recognize perched in the bow seat.

“Mornin’, boys,” Brody said gravely. “Got some bad news. Jonah Meek’s gone and disappeared.

We think he might have drownded in the pond.”

Joe glanced to where the other boats were spreading out, each dragging something behind. “They draggin’ for a body?” he asked incredulously, looking back at Brody.

“What makes you think he drowned? Maybe he jest

October 2021

Hester was a big, square, rawboned woman who towered over Jonah’s five foot six inches and, from the outset, she’d dominated him in every way. wanted to git away from Hester for a spell. Can’t say I blame him there.”

Brody nodded in agreement, but went on, “Left a note. Said he’d stood things long as he could, and was gonna end it all. Said he was gonna ‘slip beneath the murky waters an’ be gone forever’. Kinda dramatic, but these here waters is a little murky,

If you just can’t get enough of reading our Me & Joe Adventures, check out the All Outdoor section of our new Northwoods Sporting Journal website:www.sportingjournal.com You’ll find an ample supply of Me & Joe stories to keep you checking for a long time.

an’ he came here fishin’ a lot. You two ain’t seen him lately, have you?”

Joe glanced at me and then shook his head. “Not for a while. Kind of hard to believe, that ol’ Jonah would kill himself. But I think if I had to live with Hester Nagg every day, I’d be thinkin’ of endin’ it all myself.

Brody nodded in solemn agreement, then seemed to give a start and glanced at the other warden in the bow. “Well, we gotta get on with the search. You boys see any hide or hare of Jonah, you give me a shout.

“Will do,” Joe agreed, giving the boat a shove while Brody started the motor. As the boat roared away, Joe looked at me.

“Let’s reel in an’ head to shore. Maybe they’s some-

thin’ we can do.”

Joe’s small kicker motor pushed us toward the landing and I thought of what a classic mis-match had occurred when Jonah Meek married Hester Nagg. Nobody even knew Jonah was contemplating matrimony, and Joe for one doubted that he had.

Jonah made the mistake of taking some furs he wanted to sell to an auction in Augusta. He’d come back two weeks later married to what everyone locally agreed was the most domineering woman anyone had ever encountered.

Hester was a big, square, rawboned woman who towered over Jonah’s five foot six inches and, from the outset, she’d dominated him in every way.

(Me & Joe cont. pg 7)

October 2021

Me & Joe

(Cont. from pg 6) Jonah had lived for years in his old family homestead on the edge of town. It was a slightly ramshackle, saltbox structure with a small workshop built alongside.

Immediately, Hester took over. The entire place was cleaned out from top to the bottom. She’d hired carpenters and painters and, within a month’s time, the house was entirely revamped and repainted.

Jonah’s workshop, where he’d repaired his traps and skinned and stretched furs, was cleaned out and converted into a greenhouse for Hester’s assorted plants and shrubs. It didn’t matter anyway, because she also sold off all her husband’s traps and stretching boards.

She made it clear that she disapproved of trapping and no husband of hers would ever indulge in such a primitive practice again.

Casting about for what she termed “meaningful work” she found him a job on the county road crew.

But she made it clear that he was to be home every night to make supper while she spent her evenings on the computer, engaging in an online role-playing game called Domination, in which women of like mind competed to completely drain imaginary husbands of every asset, and force them into total submission.

Her only serious competition in the games, it was rumored, was her sister Gretchen, in Freeport, who had gone through two husbands and was on the prowl for a third.

As in many rural communities, the ladies of Mooseleuk sought to welcome Hester to the town and help her settle

Northwoods Sporting Journal

in. It didn’t take them long to realize that their efforts weren’t welcome. Hester made it clear that she considered the local citizenry beneath her and she also proceeded to alienate nearly every other person in town with her acid tongue and condescending manner. Most townspeople expected Jonah to divorce her, or at the very least, leave her and move some distance away, like Madagascar or Hong Kong. But he’d stuck it out for nearly ten years now. He’d once confided nervously to me and Joe that, “she said if I ever filed fer divorce or up an’ left, she’d kill me deader’n a toad with one of my own guns. I’m pretty sure she meant it!”

As we neared the landing, I spotted the ominous figure of Hester Nagg standing by the dock, both hands fisted on her hips and with a scowl on her pinched features as she glared at the boats trolling back and forth for her husband’s body.

As the canoe touched shore, I jumped out and dragged it up on the sand.

Hester glared at us. “Have either of you seen that worthless husband of mine lately? Well, speak up!”

“Uh, no…we haven’t, Hester,” I said. “We just told Warden Brody that very thing.”

“Brody!” she spat out.

“As incompetent a boob as ever came down the pike.

I suspect he’s French. Do you know if that’s true?!”

“I…uh…think he’s Irish,” Joe began, “but his mother is…”

“Just as bad! Don’t know which is worse! A pack of fools, all of them!”

She swung around and waved a finger at me and Joe. “Well, don’t just stand

there like a pair of imbeciles! Get out and check some of the other ponds around here for his mangy body! We’re not going to check just this one!”

“Yes ma’am, we’ll get right on it!” I agreed.

We hurriedly loaded the canoe on the racks of Joe’s Jeep and wasted no time heading back to town. As we chugged along the dirt road, I looked over at Joe. “You planning on checking other ponds?”

“Not very likely,” he growled, concentrating on the road ahead.

No body was found in Mud Pond. The wardens and other volunteers spread out their search to other ponds and lakes, but to no avail. No sign of Jonas Meek’s body was ever found.

Townspeople thought that eventually Hester Nagg would give up and accept the fact that her

henpecked husband had actually killed himself in order to escape her grasp, but they underestimated the woman’s hatred and need for control. She insisted that her wayward husband might be simply lost in the woods and she demanded that search parties comb the wild lands surrounding the town. Again, nothing was found, but Hester continued to hound the game wardens until Pinch Brody seemed a shadow of his former self, jumping at every sound.

Finally, Joe had had enough. “Come on,” he scowled on an overcast summer day. “Let’s go in to town. I got me an idea.”

We found Hester and Warden Brody hunched over a map spread on the tailgate of the warden’s truck. A few other wardens and local men stood around nervously waiting for orders.

Page 7 “I think we ought to search this stretch of woods again,” Hester said in a demanding voice.

“Ma’am, we’ve searched that area twice, now,” Pinch began.

“I don’t care if you’ve done it a dozen times!”

Hester shrieked. “Search it again!”

“Got an idea,” Joe interrupted. Hester turned on him.

“That’d be a first!

Why don’t you take your idea and stick it in your tailpipe?”

“I’ve been thinking about that note Jonas left,” Joe continued as though Hester hadn’t spoken. “I don’t think he was talkin’ about a pond. I think he was referrin’ to the river.”

“What?” Hester said derisively. “Murky water obviously means…”

“Murky Water Falls on the Little Salt Pork,” (Me & Joe cont. pg 19)

Page 8

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

The I-Phone Hikers

Once, before the age of I-Phones, most responsible hikers took to the woods with a few basic essentials: compass, map, matches, flashlight, water and a couple of energy bars.

Not anymore. Increasingly, hikers hit the trail with just their I-Phones and a pocketful of high expectations. After all, an I-Phone imbues confidence and a sense of security, right? Get lost or it twist an ankle? Just Dial 911. They’ll all come to find you. Game wardens, state troopers, fire departments, search and rescue units.

They’ll all come.

In New Hampshire this summer, state conservation officers have found or rescued more than 20 missing hikers. A couple hikers came back in body bags.

On August 4th a 66-year old Texas man, Jimmy Doug Simpson, got lost trying to summit Mt. Washington. Trying to navigate with an I-Phone app he took a wrong turn and wound up off a trail at dark in a tough spot, where he could neither go

Deer Yard Management To the Editor: The passage of the Deer Wintering Areas Legislation is a very important part of Maine’s deer management program.

Thanks to all who worked on this important piece of Legislation. It is much more important than all the climate change hysteria. In the 1950’s and 1960’s Dept. Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W) Deer Biologists John Gill and Chet Banasiak spent considerable time working with land owners, e.g., paper companies, on deer wintering yard management. Both gentlemen were well-respected Wildlife

up or down. He had no map, no compass and no source of light.

The hiker was stuck below a headwall in the Great Gulf Wilderness, which presented a formidable two-fold challenge for his rescuers: 1) Locating his position 2) Getting him back on a trail without climbing up the head wall.

Fortunately, Simpson did have an emergency locator beacon, which he activated. This allowed his rescuers to pinpoint his position soon after first light. ( In Maine this spring two capsized canoeists were located on Chamberlain Lake in a big blow thanks to an emergency locator beacon.) According to a press release, the Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue Team stood by above the head wall with ropes and harnesses in case the Warden and Simpson were unable to traverse the slope back to the Great Gulf Trail.

But by early afternoon the warden managed to escort Simpson around the headwall and safely back to the Great Gulf

Biologists. I knew both of them. John Gill conducted important research on estimating time-since-death of deer and authored Game Division Bulletin #5 on deer yard management.

Chet Banasiak wrote an IF&W booklet, Deer in Maine, (Game Division #6) published in 1960.

This booklet should be read

by IF&W personnel and deer aficionados. Roland Cobb was IF&W Commissioner at that time and was a strong advocate for wildlife.

Question? I have not seen much mention of IF&W in major backing of this project. Did they? In many states the Wildlife Agency is the lead group to initiate and conduct a major

wildlife program.

Yellow Birch is an important food for deer and grouse. Hopefully, guidelines will be established for conservation and management of Yellow Birch.

Research needs to be done on the relationship of deer habitat and deer reproduction: is there a relationship to deer population dynamics?

A big push must be done on wetlands restoration and management. Too many Maine wetlands are choked with vegetation and are unusable by many wildlife species, e.g., black ducks.

Fred Hartman Whiting

Trail.

All is well that end’s well, but according to the press release “because of his lack of essential items and poor choices throughout the entirety of Simpson’s hike, it has been recommended that he be billed for the expenses associated with the rescue.”

This is as it should be. In Maine, there is a provision in state law that allows the Maine Warden Service to bill rescued hikers if it can be shown that the hiker acted irresponsibly or failed to prepare properly for an outdoor adventure. (So far this year, the Maine Warden Service has responded to 81 incidents of missing hikers.) Insofar as we know, Maine has never invoked this option. Perhaps it should.

Climbing a mountain or taking an extended hike in the wilderness with only a cell phone is unwise and personally irresponsible.

- VPR

Stocking Needed

I’d say most folks don’t’ go to the wild places. They stay near home.

To the Editor: Trout hatcheries are a In regards to the article on not putting stocked necessary fact of modern trout in with pure native life. trout makes sense to me.

John Green To do away with Bristol, CT stocking trout is not a good idea. The people who fish Doe Tags for trout, many eat what they catch. Here in ConTo the Editor: necticut in many major Read your notes in the trout streams size and (he wrote a word here that Journal Saturday about ‘doe I couldn’t read. It looks tags’, as my late father-inlike creel?) limits have law called em. Although changed. What happened my Maine family roots license sales to a loss. The run deep, I spent over 40 sale of licenses does more years in New Hampshire. than run the hatchery. The Never a doe tag needed. As funds from Pittman-Rob- you no doubt know, in NH wildlife districts with lots ertson took a hit as well.

This could very well of deer, one may simply (Letters cont. pg 10) happen in Maine as well.

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Camp Cook Secrets

The other columns in consume without much carbs and protein. A good this issue historically focus preparation. Trail mix is example would be a few on techniques for hunting a must for hunters around pancakes, some ham or deer, bear and wild turkeys. my table. You can concoct sausage and a couple eggs.

Unfortunately, given the a good variety mix your- Add fruits such as blueberbest advice will not always self with nuts, cranberries, ries or raspberries in the pancakes. Mix the guarantee success. batter, drop on the So, I’m choosing cooking surface to feature the elebut do not add the ments of hunting berries until you camp (and home) are ready to flip. life you can control As for major and definitely make nightime meals, your stay more there easiest is comfortable and to prepare stews, memorable, camp chili, and other cooking. heavy meals rich Being the in protein and camp cook is not carbs. Lasagna, a lowly task, and pastas and stews quite frankly I enjoy work well and taking charge of the can be created at eats for the whole home, frozen or camp both inside vacuum sealed. and out. Personally, I like to bake I find plenty of time Every Maine deer camp needs at a dozen or more to hunt all day and least one member who is handy potatoes, then still jump right into in the kitchen. vacuum seal and meal preparations dried fruits and more, but have on hand for home even though everyone, chain stores have a great fries or side dishes. If you including me, is tired and hungry. The key to my suc- selection of pre-packaged trail mixes. cess is pre-planning.

Energy bars, granola, As with any outing, if just for the day or for a fruit bars, yes, even chocoweek or more at a remote late bars of all description camp, pre-planning is a make great hunting snacks. must and not all that much Save the nachos, popcorn and pizza for after the hunt of a chore.

The four feeding times as well as any beer or alinclude, snacks, breakfast, cohol.

Breakfast is very imlunch (in the camp and on the stand)and dinner. Let’s portant but should not be look at snack for the hunt a major meal. Eating too and around camp or home. much in the morning will Not everyone has the op- slow you down and cause a portunity to stay at a camp lack of concentration. Have but food considerations ap- a light breakfast, head out ply to those who hunt from and hunt for an hour or two then come back for a home each day.

Unless your day job good solid breakfast. Every is in construction or one seasoned hunter knows the that makes you very active, animals move most often your body will be subjected at daybreak and dusk. Plan to increased need for pro- meals around their patterns.

Instead of cereal or tein and carbs. Choose muffins, plan a morning snacks that are easy to meal with a combination of

Page 9

South Of the Kennebec

by Stu Bristol, Lyman, ME

want crisp home fries, peel and cut your potatoes, pat dry then vacuum seal. I flavor my home fries with a dry Lipton onion soup mix and a drizzle of olive oil.

Of course cast iron is the best for camp cooking but I add a couple of grilling domes or cover the meal being cooked with foil to trap steam and keep foods moist.

Maine has a five wild turkey either-sex limit in October. These smaller birds fit nicely in the crock pot or parboiled, pluck the meat and make stews and add to salads. They also make tasty sandwiches with mayo and cranberry sauce for a meal on the stand.

Don’t forget desserts.

Wives and girlfriends have been known to cook cook-

ies, cakes and pies and they may even prepare pasta dishes a few days in advance. I find little need to create meals from scratch at hunting camp.

Think back at all the over-cooked or burned foods eaten in previous years. No need for those to be repeated. Eat well with very little fuss this year.

Stu Bristol is a Hall of Fame wild turkey hunter, Master Maine Guide (Orion Guide Service) and Outdoor writer. Shore lunches and backyard cooking and tailgate parties and his specialty. His books, newspaper and magazine articles have been published nationwide for more than 50 years. He operates Deadly Imposter Game Calls in southern Maine. www.dea dlyimpostergamecalls.com

Page 10

Northwoods Sporting Journal

“A Hiker’s Life”

by Carey Kish, Mt. Desert Island, ME Traveling north on Route 16, there’s a fabulous view over the rooftops of Kingfield to the imposing, multi-summited ridgeline of Mt. Abraham, some 10 miles to the west. The main peak of the mountain, known locally as Mt. Abram, rises to 4,049 feet, the 10th highest in the state and one of just 14 that exceed 4,000 feet in

gravel logging road a halfmile above Rapid Stream and about seven miles from Kingfield. The 4-mile hike to the top is strenuous, to be sure, gaining 3,050 feet of elevation en route. But the rewards of the open summit and the grand 360-degree view of mountains and valleys makes every ounce of sweat and toil to get there worthwhile.

I almost always pull the car over to take a long look at Mt. Abraham, one of my all-time favorite hikes in Maine…. elevation.

I almost always pull the car over to take a long look at Mt. Abraham, one of my all-time favorite hikes in Maine, as well as consider what I’m going to grab for eats at Anni’s Market in Kingfield village before continuing on to the trailhead. Passing through town, Longfellow’s Restaurant gets a nod, as I know I’ll be in there after the hike to tuck into a burger and beer.

The Fire Warden Trail climbs Mt. Abraham from the east, starting from a

The bulk of Mt. Abraham is located in Mount Abram Township, with the remainder in Salem Township. Rising prominently in the midst of a neighborhood of lofty summits, the mountain is the primary feature of the 6,214-acre Mt. Abraham Public Lands unit owned and managed by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.

Conservation protection for Mt. Abraham was achieved in 2004 through the laudable efforts of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the State of Maine,

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Exploring Mt Abraham eases and soon arrives at the large rock pile and sign on the windswept top of Mt. Abraham. A few rusted pieces of the old fire tower lay nearby, as does the roof of the tower’s cab, which offers some shelter from

ing northwest, Saddleback and The Horn, Saddleback Junior and Poplar Ridge are now in full view. To the south, Mt. Abraham extends for another couple glorious miles over two additional peaks.

the weather if you’re up for wiggling in under it.

The rusted hulk of the steel fire tower, which stood on this spot from 1924 until in blew over in the fall of 2014, lies on its side in the scrub a few yards down the backside of the summit.

The rocky ridge to the north leads 1.7 miles to the Appalachian Trail; this make a fine ascent route of Abraham for hikers on a multi-day backpack trip through the region. Look-

The remarkable mountaintop vistas aside, what truly makes Mt. Abraham so special is the huge amount of alpine terrain it supports, some 350 acres, the largest area of this fragile habitat in Maine except for that on Katahdin.

Alpine Blueberry, Lapland Diapensia and Bigelow’s Sedge are some of the rare plants found among the exemplary natural communities of the alpine zone here.

at all.

In a time when public money to support Fish & (Cont. from pg 8) shoot does for a few days Wildlife is short (I mean, at the start of the season. when hasn’t that been the In WMDs where deer are case?), why are we paying sparse, fewer days or none to run a lottery. Just declare

one can shoot any ole deer for a couple of days, and leave it at that.

Will there be cheaters? When hasn’t there been? When Dad brought his Scarsdale bride to honeymoon in Maine in August 1951, the family served them fresh venison. But that’s why we have wardens!

Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust, the Land for Maine’s Future Program, The Nature Conservancy, the Open Space Institute and Norcross Wildlife Foundation.

The Fire Warden Trail follows Norton Brook for a short while before breaking away and climbing over the lower slopes on the north side of Mt. Abraham. After crossing three brooks, the trail reaches a small campsite with a privy. Soon after, the fun begins in earnest, a steep ascent for nearly a mile through the thick, fragrant woods to treeline.

Breaking out into the open air at 3,300 feet, the trail rises steadily over an enormous talus field, passing through pockets of krummolz, the gnarled growth of spruce, fir and birch stunted by constant exposure to the harsh elements. The views along this stretch are incredible, taking in Spaulding, Sugarloaf and Burnt Hill, the Bigelows, Redington and the Crockers, to name only the big peaks.

Marked by cairns, the angle of the path finally

Letters

-Earle Wingate, Peru (Letters cont. pg 21)

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Bow Hunts: The Family Circle

Page 11

The Northwoods Bowhunter

My father Doug, late Uncle Ernie, Uncle Ken and Uncle Craig did not take up bowhunting until later in life. Dad raised us in the outdoors and taught me how to bird hunt and fly fish. He was almost 60

by Brian Smith, Machiasport, ME I have been blessed to guide him to several deer, turkeys and several bears including a huge 300 lb boar with bow.

Uncle Ernie, a Retired Maine Game Warden,

reciprocated by calling in his first gobbler when he was 60, called in and gutted his first bull moose when he was 75, then took him to Newfoundland in 2017 to catch Atlantic Salmon

My father Doug, late Uncle Ernie, Uncle Ken and Uncle Craig did not take up bowhunting until later in life.

Dad raised us in the outdoors and taught me how to bird hunt and fly fish. He was almost 60 when he took my bowhunter safety course... when he took my bowhunter safety course, bought a Hoyt bow and practiced every day. I took him to Rhode Island to bowhunt deer and on that first hunt, he arrowed a small buck and a doe. He always said that bowhunting was always his absolute favorite.

The author’s Dad Doug with his first bow deer.

started bowhunting in his early 60’s. He arrowed many deer on an expanded zone island and I was glad to drag a few bucks for him as his lungs began to give out and slow him down. He guided me to my first deer, bear and Atlantic Salmon when I was very young. I

again. His lungs finally gave out on August 27th where he passed peacefully at home with his wife by his side. He was my outdoor mentor.

Uncle Ken took up bowhunting in his mid 60s and invited us to bowhunt (Circle cont. pg 30)

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Sporting Journal Northwoods

October 2021

Outdoor News - October 2021 Edited by V. Paul Reynolds the youth weekend hunt October! For most of reinforces the route of inius who hunt or fish or just tiation that is critical in reenjoy the great outdoors cruitment -- learning from this is it – the month of an experienced adult role model.” months. Enjoy!

On September 25 and 26, hunters 17 years of Vermont Youth age or younger may hunt Waterfowl Season ducks and geese in the A youngster’s first Lake Champlain and Inhunt can mark the begin- terior Vermont waterfowl ning of a lifelong passion hunting zones. The age refor the outdoors and a com- quirement is 15 and under mitment to wildlife con- in the Connecticut River servation. There is no finer zone. time to begin this journey The youth hunter than during Vermont’s up- must have a Vermont huntcoming youth waterfowl ing license and must be hunting weekend on Sep- accompanied by an untember 25 and 26. armed adult, 18 years of “Vermont’s youth wa- age or older, who also has terfowl hunting weekend a Vermont hunting license. helps ensure that young Youths 16 and 17 years of hunters get the quality age must have state and training and experiences federal duck stamps. All they need for lifelong par- youth hunters must also ticipation,” said Fish and register with the Harvest Wildlife Commissioner Information Program (HIP) Louis Porter. “By design,

in each state that they hunt.

This can be done on Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s website or by calling tollfree 1-877-306-7091. The adult may not hunt waterfowl or carry a firearm while accompanying the youth when the youth is hunting waterfowl.

Ducks and geese may be taken by youth hunters on September 25 and 26 according to the bag limits set in the 2021-2022 Syllabus of State and Federal Hunting Regulations for Migratory Birds in Vermont, available from Vermont post offices and as a downloadable file from www.vtfishandwildlife. com under Hunt – Waterfowl.

Wardens Find Missing Girl

Game Warden K9 Luna and Game Warden

Michael Latti located a missing 11-year-old autistic girl in Gorham in mid August approximately a half-mile away from her home in the woods.

At approximately 4:00 p.m., the 11-yearold girl ran away from her house on Whispering Pines Lane in Gorham.

After a quick search for her by family, they were unable to locate her and called 911. Gorham Police Department, the Maine Warden Service and the Cumberland County Sherriff’s office all responded to the scene.

who was still wandering, a half mile away from her house, in the thick woods.

The girl had minor cuts and abrasions from walking in the woods, but did not need medical attention. Warden Latti walked the girl back to her house, where she was reunited with her family.

The Maine Warden Service was assisted in the successful search by the Gorham Police Department, a Cumberland County Sheriff K9 unit, and a Maine Warden Service aircraft.

Hunting Instructor Lauded

Hillsboro resident Russell Galpin was honored for his 60 years of service to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and the hunters of the Granite State as a volunteer hunter education instructor.

Galpin started teaching hunter education classes, which focus on safe and ethical hunting practices, before it was mandated in Warden K9 Luna and the state.

Warden Latti began an air A granite bench was scent search in the woods installed at the Owl Brook behind the house at 4:45 Hunter Education Center p.m. After about ten min- in Holderness, New Hamp-

utes, Warden K9 Luna shire, for all future students struck upon a scent, and led and visitors to enjoy. GalWarden Latti to the missing pin is still going strong 11-year-old autistic girl, (News cont. pg 64)

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Why a Native Fish Coalition?

When it comes to fish conservation, we have never really got it right.

Most of what we have is game fish centric, and most of that salmonid centric.

Warmwater gamefish conservation gets very little

mercial, and media presence in the fish world.

But the focus is more on “fishing” than “fish,” and growing the sport, not saving the species. And it’s focused mostly on largemouth bass, and to a lesser

in Florida where three species of fish now have game fish status, and are managed for catch-and-release.

Unfortunately, here in the northeast our striped bass swing in the wind while we fail to establish an effective conservation strategy.

Salmon advocates on the west coast are working hard to try to save the

Page 13

Native Fish Talk

by Bob Mallard, Skowhegan, ME Salmon Federation are doing the right thing, salmon clubs continued to harvest critically important spawning-age adults while runs had dipped into the tens. And many opposed

Trout conservation was in trouble right out of the gate. It started on the banks of the Au Sable River in Michigan, a nonnative brown trout fishery that existed at the expense of a

For decades, trout fly fishers have taken advantage of what is a somewhat undeserved title as the best stewards of the resource in the angling community. nation’s sea-run salmon and Steelhead. But their approach is too reliant on stocking, an expensive undertaking that has failed to deliver on its promises, and they often cave into “NFC founding members Emily Bastian and recreational anglers and Bob Mallard at the 200th State Heritage Fish do things that work against water to receive an NFC-sponsored recovery. informational sign. (Jeff Moore)” Atlantic salmon are attention, and saltwater fish degree, smallmouth bass, hanging by a thread in conservation runs hot and while rare stream-resident the United States. While cold depending on where bass such as redeye’s get groups like Atlantic Salmon you live. As for non-game very little support.

Federation and Downeast species, they get no love In some states, saltwater species have a strong at all...

Bass have by far the advocacy arm. Advocates strongest outreach, com- have scored major victories

the federal ESA listing, the only reason we have any salmon left today at all.

For decades, trout fly fishers have taken advantage of what is a somewhat undeserved title as the best stewards of the resource in the angling community.

Based mostly on the use of low-impact tackle, a catchand-release ethic, which is currently faltering, and habitat work, it was as if nothing else mattered.

locally extirpated unique and isolated population of Arctic grayling. The emphasis was “wild” fish, not “wild native” fish, and the enemy was stocking and to a lesser degree, angler exploitation.

Today’s trout advocacy is focused primarily on habitat degradation and climate change. Advocates are moving away from C&R and softening their (Coalition cont. pg 35)

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 14

Warden’s Words

October 28 th , 2020 was a warm fall day in northern Maine during the open season on ruffed grouse. Grouse were very plentiful that year and deer season opened for Maine residents in only a few days. A favorite time of the year for many Game Wardens and hunters alike.

by Game Warden Kale O’Leary, Ashland, ME calling in to report that he had not arrived home that evening. The dispatcher stated that Maurice, or “Mo” to his friends and family, had gone bird hunting that morning off the Chase Brook Road and had called his friend Lenny around noontime to say he was planning on hunting

The Search For Mo Pelletier Part I

information from the dispatcher with my phone in one hand and boot laces in the other. I remember telling my wife that I wouldn’t need much packed in my cooler as I was sure this guy probably had a flat tire or got stuck and I ensured her that I would be back before the sun was up. Her experience as a Warden’s wife outweighed my over confidence and I was some

I remember dozing in and out of sleep and watching the temperature gauge inside my truck dropping into the low 20’s that night. My gut feeling had changed dramatically to “this is not good.”

It had been a long day and I was tired. I climbed into bed early that night, just before 9:00 p.m., in anticipation of another long day of work the following day. Just as I began to doze off into sleep, the familiar ring of my cell phone sat me up in the bed.

Houlton radio communications center was calling.

I answered the phone and the dispatcher informed me that a concerned friend of Maurice Pelletier was

his way out of the woods and would be back home in Caribou by suppertime.

But Mo had not arrived…

I grumbled and rumbled myself out from under the covers and into my uniform. Just as I have become used to the inevitable late nights calls for lost hunters, my wife has become a trusty aide as she too got out of bed and began packing snacks and bottles of water into my cooler while I continued gathering

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happy the next day to have a full cooler.

I drove out the Pinkham Road and before long was at the last known location, a search and rescue term used by the Warden Service to begin our effort. I had been on enough searches at this point in my career that I was confident I could handle this one by myself as I was sure Mo had vehicle troubles or something that would not require multiple Wardens. I began by driving out every

side road I came across, looking for Mo and his red Jeep Liberty.

It was around 3 a.m. on the morning of the 29th when I first became nervous that we had more than a flat tire on our hands. I had searched every single road off the Chase Brook Road and now found myself on the Jack Mountain Road with no signs of Mo to be found. I radioed back to the dispatcher in Houlton stating that I did not locate the lost person and that I

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I asked dispatch to have our pilot, Jeff Spencer get ready for first light and to respond to the large search area. I also got several other Wardens headed to meet me so we could begin searching at daylight.

I have spent a few nights in the front seat of a Warden pickup, and I can tell you that trying to get any sleep is nearly impossible. I dozed off for a few minutes here and there, waiting for daybreak. I remember dozing in and out of sleep and watching the temperature gauge inside my truck dropping into the low 20’s that night. My gut feeling had changed dramatically to “this is not good.”

Around 4:30 a.m. on the morning of the 29th, the “calvary” arrived and the familiar sound of the Cessna 185 buzzing the treetops filled the air. I briefed all the Wardens who arrived on scene about Mo, including what he was driving, his medical conditions, that he was 70 years old, what he was wearing, and where he was headed. Before long we had branched out again on assignments, searching for any clues.

It was 12:30 that afternoon, when radio traffic came over the air that two bird hunters had found (Mo cont. pg 27)

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

The Time Has Come

From the moment I climbed down from my treestand last fall, I have been anxiously awaiting for hunting season. I have a post-it on my desk that lists out when each season starts

will now live in most of our vehicles, just in case we have the opportunity to get out on a quick hunt after work or before school.

It will be a signal to others that share the same love of

Page 15

Women In The Woods

is usually on those days when you know there is a snow squall moving in and the deer will be moving. Knowing I shouldn’t, I leave my pack in the car and grab my gun and bullets and get into my stand as fast as I can.

I love sitting in the stand and listening to the woods around me as the weather changes. Noises

of these snow storms always find the woods buzzing with activity. Last year, I watched two deer come into a clearing from my right while a third came from my left. All were moving ahead of the snow.

quiet down and you can see the first flakes beginning the fall. The sun disappears and the world turns gray. I shot one buck as he came out into a clearing with two doe before the snow. In the time between when I shot him and when Dad and I found him, a few inches of snow had fallen making him almost impossible to find. But when we did, he was almost within view of my stand.

The mornings ahead

I don’t see the same type of movement when there is rain in the forecast.

I love hunting in the snow or when snow is coming. I reminded myself (and others) when we were dealing with the 90 degree temps and humidity in August, that soon the snow would be here. It would bring a new level of excitement to the woods and it transforms the woods and fields. Tracks are easier to check, beds are evident

by Erin Merrill, Portland, ME and those brown backs pop against the green of the trees and the white on the ground.

It is finally here… our favorite time of year and we need to enjoy every early moving, cold snap, 12

I love sitting in the stand and listening to the woods around me as the weather changes. Noises quiet down and you can see the first flakes beginning the fall. The sun disappears and the world turns gray.

(Photo by Diane Reynolds)

and I have been reviewing my list of gear and clothing and the condition of my pack. Finally, our favorite time of year is here!

An article of orange

the outdoors.

When I think back to some of the most recent seasons, I find without fail, that I will see a deer when I am not fully prepared. It

HELP US FIND The elusive Northwoods Sporting Journal’s moose Marty.

He has wandered into the northwoods.

Find Marty somewhere in the Northwoods Sporting Journal (Hint: he will be located in one of our ads) Send us the page number he’s on and you could be a WINNER! Win a FREE Northwoods Sporting Journal Marty Hat. We will draw one winner from all correct entries submitted each month. We will announce the winner in the next issue.

PLEASE MAIL THIS FORM TO: Northwoods Sporting Journal P.O. Box 195, West Enfield, ME 04493

Name Address City

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Phone I found Marty on page

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Marty

Shown actual size Bruce Langley (Marty was

found on pg 23)

Entries must be postmarked by 10/12/21 to be eligible for this issue.

hour day that we are lucky enough to be a part of.

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 16

The Singing Maine Guide

October 2021

Lopsided “Luck”

less consternation for hus- could be happening before bands everywhere who his eyes. It makes no sense

by Randy Spencer, take their wives fishing. to him. Acutely aware of Grand Lake Stream, ME It is the cause of endless this, she will keep her head Three days ago as The spinning rod she was h e a d - w a g g i n g a m o n g down, taking special care of this writing, I guided wielding had come from guides who witness what not to gloat. a couple from Martha’s Amazon only days before usually happens when they If the husband has Vineyard. They were es- they departed on their vaca- have a couple in their boat. insisted that his wife sit caping a summer popula- tion. Her husband, seated in Notwithstanding her in the bow, he will reason tion of 200,000 people on the bow seat, made some lack of experience, the that she is showing her the popular, small island initial attempts, looking lesser quality of her gear, lure or fly to the fish first, off the coast of Cape Cod. surprised at where each They both bought 7-day cast landed–nowhere near non-resident Maine fish- his intended target.

When finally, the lady ing licenses. Both were, by their own admission, “out angler got off a cast, her in-line spinner was imof practice.”

As there was a pretty mediately assaulted by stiff northwest wind, or a hefty smallmouth bass “Quebec clipper” clearing that jumped once, shook out the stifling, humid air the lure free, and left the of the previous week, I de- lady slack-jawed. “Wow!” cided a river trip would be was all she could say. Thus best since the lakes would began the theme for the be blown up with swells day, a very familiar theme and white caps. Most of that plays out in front of our rivers in Region C will fishing guides the world put a north wind at your over whenever they guide back so that you are rud- couples.

Our Martha’s Vinedering more than paddling yard gal, even though she throughout the day.

Sometimes the wife catches the big We traveled north for was much less experienced ones, even when the husband has about forty-five minutes than her husband, even the best equipment. until the river narrowed and though she was nervous the flow increased. Here, I about embarrassing her- or her position in the boat, so that explains why she’s killed the Grand Laker’s self with her casting, even she will out-fish him the getting more action. When outboard, and reversed though her rod and reel vast majority of the time. she gives up her seat after directions. The lady, seated were three days old, out- For his part, he will become lunch and continues to outin the midship seat, was fished her husband all day progressively quieter as fish him from the middle nervous about her casting long. There was no surprise the day goes on, complete- seat, he is left with no exly flummoxed as to why planation. Only bafflement. ability since it had been in this for me.

It is the source of end- something so outlandish Sometimes, the mood so long since she’d fished.

For his part, he will become progressively quieter as the day goes on, completely flummoxed as to why something so outlandish could be happening before his eyes. It makes no sense to him. morning. They switched after lunch. When a promising looking stretch of shoreline came up, I saw a familiar cedar tree leaning out over the water. I’d known large fish to lie under it in the afternoon. As we approached, Kate made an errant cast from the bow that landed in the cedar tree. I was sorry to see this, as I didn’t want to have to (“Luck” cont. pg 22)

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Terrors of the Puckerbrush

A jack-o-lantern moon floats above fir-bristled hills, like a helium balloon tethered to a porcupine. Warm moonlight filters through scraggly tree fingers and dapples the recently-fallen beech leaves. They rustle and crunch. Then again. A fiendish creature lurks in

tom is not a werewolf, banshee, or even the dreaded Tote-Road Shagamaw. It belongs to the seldom-seen, but quite ubiquitous tribe Soricidae – the shrews.

Shrews would be offended to be called a mouse (which are Rodents). Shrews are more closely related to hedgehogs and moles.

They have sharp, needle-like teeth reinforced by iron, which gives them a characteristic red or yellow color. This allows the teeth to resist wear, a problem for a micro-predator that creates so much carnage and must eat constantly. Shrews do most of their plundering in moist environments

Page 17

Northwoods Sketchbook

by Mark McCollough, Hampden, ME fast-burning animal make it through the depths of a New England winter?

Shrews do not hibernate, but can faint from hunger and enter into a condition called torpor. Putting on fat stores for the winter is not an option. Instead, some species lose 30 to 50 percent of their body weight prior to winter. They even shrink the size of their

a greater horror. A hapless deer mouse bitten by a venomous shrew is paralyzed, but does not die. The shrew employs “live hoarding” by caching (burying) its paralyzed victim, thus keep a fresh and savory meal always on the ready.

Shrews are the only terrestrial mammal that can echolocate (like bats). They emit a series of ultrasonic

This Halloween phantom is not a werewolf, banshee, or even the dreaded Tote-Road Shagamaw. It belongs to the seldom-seen, but quite ubiquitous tribe Soricidae – the shrews.

Illustration by Mark McCollough. the shadows. It gnashes red iron-tipped fangs. Venomous saliva glistens from their needle points. Beady, pinpoint eyes twinkle and blink in the far-too-bright moonlight. The vicious animal’s pointy snout twitches nervously, divining the aroma of prey from the dank night air. She emits a burst of high-pitched ultrasonic squeals then darts between shafts of moonlight. She must eat her body weight in prey before the moon sets or she dies. Her silkysmooth body quivers with an incessant need to kill… now.

This Halloween phan-

Shrews are abundant, but not often seen, in the New England woods. What they lack in size they make up for in ferocity. They have a high metabolic rate accompanied by a voracious appetite and rarely stop to sleep. They have a metabolism 60 times the rate of a human and need to eat constantly - ½ to 2 times their own body weight each day in small mammals, invertebrates, seeds and berries. Their hearts beat at an incredible 800 to 1000 times per minute. Shrews live in the fast lane, and they burn out fast. At most they live for a year or two.

under rocks and logs and under the leaf litter.

Shrews are captured but rarely eaten by larger predators. They emit a putrid, musky odor and taste, which is why you sometimes find shrews dead, but not consumed, on a woodland path. Once your cat tastes a shrew, it will never try another again! However, fish have no sense of taste. A rainbow trout caught in Alaksa had 19 musky shrews in its stomach. Labrador anglers know that a deer hair shrew imitation catches massive brook trout.

How does such a tiny,

bones, skull, and internal organs to reduce the calories needed to reduce their need for calories during the lean winter months.

Shrews have the largest brain to body size ratio of any mammal, comprising about 10 percent of their body weight. But no one knows what they are thinking about when their brain shrinks in winter.

Some species of shrews (along with platypuses) are among the few mammals that are venomous. Shrew venom is administered to their prey not by fangs (like a rattlesnake), but by grooves in their teeth. Thank goodness they are no larger; the contents of the venom glands of an American short-tailed shrew are sufficient to kill 200 mice. With their venomous bite, they can subdue mammals larger than themselves. They are welcome predators in hunting camps and old farmhouses.

But wait, shrews exact

squeaks to discern their surroundings for up to two feet around them. We don’t know whether they use this sixth sense to locate prey.

Like the rest of their lives, reproduction is fast and prolific. They build a baseball-sized nest of dry vegetation and raise several litters each summer. Gestation is just three weeks.

They have about 5 to 7 young that are adult-sized when just 4 to 6 weeks old.

There are seven species of shrews in New England – the masked, least, water, smoky, longtailed (or rock), pygmy, and northern short-tailed. From the peanut-sized pygmy shrew to the lumbering short-tailed shrew, they occupy nearly all habitats.

The pygmy shrew is among the smallest mammals in the world and weighs just a tenth of an ounce; about the weight of a penny. The largest, the short-tailed (Terrors cont. pg 22)

Page 18 Northwoods Sporting Journal

Outdoor Sporting Library

by Jeremiah Wood, Ashland, ME

Game wardens always seem to have interesting stories to tell. It makes sense. Spending most days out in the woods and on the water among the wide cast of characters that make up the hunting and fishing

California Fish and Game warden during his formative years, and was hired on with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the remainder of his career.

Those early years in California were more than

Wildlife Wars paraphrase his words, he preferred to conserve wildlife by catching the bad guys rather than spending years trying to answer biological questions and wade through the bureaucracy of changing regulations.

Those early days were pretty wild in the fish and game enforcement arena.

Grosz pursued poachers

Those early days were pretty wild in the fish and game enforcement arena. Grosz pursued poachers who often weren’t afraid to fight back, and had little respect for the law. community, and with the responsibility to uphold the law and seek out violators, a person’s bound to experience a lot. And when a warden retires and puts a career’s worth of stories on paper, it’s bound to be worth reading.

Terry Grosz was a

just interesting. Grosz had graduated with a Master’s degree in fish and wildlife management, but instead of pursuing a career as a fish or wildlife biologist, he became attracted to the excitement and ability to take a more active approach to wildlife conservation. To

who often weren’t afraid to fight back, and had little respect for the law. He also dealt with battles within the agency, including a supervisor who resented him for his advanced degree and assigned him to some near impossible tasks, including an undercover investiga-

tion into illegal s t u rg e o n snagging in northern California.

Grosz exited that one with about a dozen men tied up and strung out on a long rope walking in front of his jeep, for lack of enough handcuffs and a complete absence of backup.

There were other stories just as incredible as the sturgeon case in those early years, including be-

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ing knocked out by an illegal salmon spearer on a dark night by a spawning stream, trying to arrest multiple hunters at the same time for hunting across state lines, catching night hunters on a simple premonition, and nearly being shot or run over more than once.

Terry Grosz published “Wildlife Wars: The Life and Times of a Fish and Game Warden” in 1999.

This collection of stories won him the National Outdoor Book Award in 2000.

He published about ten other books since that time, including collections of short stories as well as fictional adventure novels, before passing away in 2019.

Most of his books remain readily available today.

J e re m i a h c a n b e reached at jrodwood@ gmail.com

October 2021

Me & Joe

(Cont. from pg 7) Joe said.

Brody’s eyes widened. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? That’s a mean stretch of water in any weather.”

“What? Hester roared.

“You’re just thinking of this now?” She slapped the warden on the arm. “Get down there! Get down there to the river and find my husband! And if you find his body, bring it back here so I can throw it in the landfill! It’ll serve him right! Better yet, I’ll go along with you!”

Brody shuddered.

“Now ma’am, I don’t think…”

“That’s right! You don’t! You…” she pointed an accusing finger at Joe. “Lead the way to this Murky Water place! We’ve wasted enough time already!”

Joe just eyed her for a moment, then turned without a word and stepped into the Jeep.

A half hour later we bumped and jounced to a stop in the turnaround at the end of the road to the falls. As the searchers all got out of their vehicles, the roar of fast water came to our ears. Joe reached into the back of the Jeep and pulled out his .38-55

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Winchester.

“What’s that for?”

Brody asked.

“That bear that’s been botherin’ the canoers on the lower river” Joe explained.

“If ol’ Jonas did drown here an’ his body washed up along the shore…well…a bear don’t much care what he eats.”

Hester blanched, but then her angry expression returned. “We’re wasting time! Let’s get down along the river and see what we can find!”

We searched the shore of the river for a quarter mile below the falls, using binoculars to study the opposite bank as well.

Suddenly, Joe stopped so abruptly that Pinch Brody nearly ran him over.

“What…?”

Joe pointed to the opposite shore. A huge black bear seemed to be tearing at something in the shoreline gravel. I could make out a crimson slash of bloody meat and the glaring white reflection of bone, as the bear fed.

“My husband!” Hester wailed. “He’s eating my husband!” The bear jerked upright at the grating sound of the woman’s voice.

With a twisting motion, he picked up the chunk of meat and turned to race toward the nearby tree line.

Joe threw the rifle to his

shoulder and fired. Gravel exploded just behind the running bear. One of the wardens raised his own rifle, but Joe stepped in front of him to get a better angle and the warden lowered his gun. Working the lever, Joe fired again, but the bear had disappeared into the woods.

Hester was pale and distraught. “My husband!” she croaked. “Not only did he kill himself. He got himself eaten by a bear as well!” She raised a fist as the color flooded back into her face. “You stupid coward! I’m glad you committed suicide! It saved me the trouble of beating you to death!” She turned toward the trail back to the vehicles. “I’m outa here!”

Pinch Brody eyed Joe thoughtfully. “That’s the first time I ever saw you miss,” he said, glancing across the river. “And you did it twice.”

“You never seen me every time I shot,” Joe said indignantly.

“No…,” said Brody, “no…that’s true.” He turned to the trail, then glanced into the woods to his left. “That looks like your canoe.”

“It is,” Joe said nervously. “We…uh…we plan on fishin’ the river tomorrow.”

Brody nodded slowly.

“I see,” he said, and started up the trail. Joe looked furtively at me and then we followed along behind.

Two days later half the town stood on the boardwalk or the edge of the street in the middle of town as Hester Nagg stood alongside a woman who looked surprisingly like her, except for more flashy clothes. Behind the two women, a large Cadillac De Ville sat loaded with all of Hester’s material possessions.

Mildred Incontinence, the chair of the ladies’ auxiliary, said uncertainly, “we really wish you would

Page 19

reconsider staying in the area, Hester…”

“I wouldn’t be caught dead staying around here!”

Hester said firmly. “This area has stolen my husband and holds little attraction for a woman of culture such as myself. I shall stay with my sister, Gretchen, in the southern areas of the state where crudity is not the virtue it seems to be here!” She sniffed and turned toward the Cadillac.

“I shall have my representative tend to the sale of the house. I, personally,” she said over her shoulder, “shall never return!”

(Me & Joe cont. pg 49)

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Page 20

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Aroostook Woods & Water

by Mike Maynard, Perham, ME As it turns out, this year’s bird season is going to be a very difficult one for me. Bittersweet with a splash of pain would probably be the best way

has been rambling about in my head all summer, are memories of the best bird dog I ever knew. Tucker was his name. He wasn’t my dog, though I had the

The first time Bob brought him to camp he was so tiny he couldn’t jump up on the couch; he wasn’t much bigger than a loaf of bread. We didn’t have any plans to turn him into a bird dog that weekend, but he did. to phrase it, although those words are too general to properly describe what ails my soul at this point.

They’ll have to do for now.

Among all the scattered debris of loss that

privilege to hunt with him for 10 wonderful years; I can, and do, claim a proprietary attachment to him.

Tucker was a bigboned Weimaraner who tipped the scales at 120

Special Times with Tucker

pounds; this dog had gargoyle feet and the patience of a saint. From birth he was unfailingly happy in all weathers, charming, and polite. He never had an angry growl for anyone or anything, other than red squirrels, who taunted him mercilessly.

We all have our crosses to bear in this life, and Tucker’s cross turned out to be 12oz. furry red balls of perpetual peevishness.

He was brave and stout of heart, but moose scared the hell out of him. I was the only one who could ever make him bark, and even then, I had to get down on my hands and knees and chase him around under the kitchen table at camp to get a sound out of him.

The first time Bob brought him to camp he was so tiny

he couldn’t jump up on the couch; he wasn’t much bigger than a loaf of bread.

We didn’t have any plans to turn him into a bird dog that weekend, but he did.

The next morning, around Pennington Pond, we stopped to let Tucker out to pee. Tucker dutifully concluded his business, and then promptly put his little nose to the ground and shuffled off into the bushes.

A moment later he came out, butt first, dragging the carcass of a grouse that someone had cleaned and thrown into the weeds. He dropped the bird at Bob’s feet, wagged his tail and waited for a reward. He knew what he was doing even if Bob and I were behind the curve. Treat received, he turned back into the brush only to reappear

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with another dead bird.

Several ‘Atta’ Boys! later, we had a bird dog on our hands. That first season was spent retrieving our own birds and then tossing them a short distance away and having Tucker find them. His reward for success was the heart. He learned very quickly that the sound of a shotgun meant it was time to go to work; snack time, too!

We used to give him the gizzards, until we finally learned that it was the gizzards that were making him throw up all over the back seat.

Monday through Thursday he was a couch potato, perfectly content to roll over and offer himself up for belly rubs to anybody who was willing to oblige him. But come Friday afternoon, once you slowed down and hit a dirt road… he came alive.

He would jump up front between Bob and me and stare out the windshield, his eyes as big as saucers.

He vibrated. He watched the road with an intensity that burned. God help the poor SOB who got in his way when somebody pulled the trigger on a bird.

Dick Butkus never hit anybody so hard.

I’m remembering the first time he cleaned up after me; he might have been two years old at the time. I had shot a bird in heavy cover, evil cover. It was well hit and I watched it go down. I marked the spot and walked in after it. I couldn’t find it. I thrashed around in that hell for an eternity, shredding clothes and losing a pint of blood. Finally, Bob hollered up, sarcastically as (Tucker cont. pg 21)

October 2021

Tucker (Cont. from pg 20) I remember it, “You want the dog?” “Yeah, send him in” I yelled back. I honestly didn’t expect much.

But he found the bird, and he found it pretty damn quick. I said, jokingly, “Find the bird, Tucker!

Find it!” The dog immediately put his nose to the ground and started going back and forth, running a grid search. A minute later he came jumping up out of a blowdown with the bird in his mouth. Amazing. … and he did that all the time, for the rest of his life.

Ever have a dog glare at you? I have. Tucker knew his job and performed it flawlessly; he expected no less from you. Many were the times he’d flush a bird for me, only to see me blow the shot. He’d stop in mid stride, perplexed, and then he’d turn and stare me down, eyes narrowed to angry slits. He’d turn and walk away, utter disgust wafting off him in waves.

Contempt, like tendrils of drool, dripping from his mouth. God knows how many times I had to apologize to that dog. So many good times, so many good memories. And maybe it’s the bittersweet memories that are the abiding ones after all, the ones that have a white-knuckle death grip on our hearts. Memories of people and dogs that have gotten away. It’s October.

Bird season. Get out there and hunt, make some great memories.

Michael Maynard is a part-time farmer, grandfather of several, and a briar scarred covert crawler. He can be reached at perhamtrout@gmail.com

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Letters

(Cont. from pg 10)

Cougars To the Editor: The first time that I witnessed a Mt. Lion or “Cougar” was back in Oct. of 2017. My grandson Justin Dee and myself were 3 miles in on the Barney Brook Rd (T-13 Rs Wels) off the Beaver Brook Rd, approx. 1/2 mile on East side of the Beaver Brook Bridge (page 64 in Gazetteer). This time I was 13 miles East of this location.

I will try and give you an in-detail description of what happened – on Aug 4, 2021 myself, Dale Dee, and wife Barbara along with our neighbors, Edgar and

Carol Morin left Caribou on our 4 wheelers toward Washburn. We were travelling on the Old Aroostook Valley Railbed, which is now called ATV Trail 632.

We enjoyed a great supper at the Trail Side Restaurant in Washburn. On the way home after 6 p.m, when we were approx. two-thirds of the way past the Fowler Rd. heading East toward the Washburn Rd. and near the rest area hut by the Deadwater Brook (page 64-65 Gazetteer) when we witnessed the following.

Page 21

I was in front and going about 20 mph, when I saw a brownish animal walking on the side of the trail. I then stopped and Edgar pulled up beside me, at which time I pointed and said, “What is that?” Edgar said without hesitation, “It’s a mountain lion” and I agreed with him.

Knowing a wild animal does not present itself to you, I proceeded to follow it on the 4-wheeler, getting as close as 100 feet.

Told my wife to watch in the woods, told her I was sure the cat was leading us away because no wild animal would let you get that close to them without a good reason. Just then we both saw a small cat the same color about 50 feet in

the woods walking parallel to the large one on the trail bed. We went by this cat and another one appeared just ahead of the one we just witnessed. I told my wife Mom is trying to lead us away from her young.

At that time mom jumped into the woods at which time her long tail came up so we could plainly see it.

We all had no doubt at that time it surely was a Mt. Lion (Cougar). At no time did she turn and look at us, not even when she left the trail bed.

The Morins said they witnessed the same two baby mountain lions as we saw along with Mama.

Dale Dee Caribou

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 22

“Luck”

(Cont. from pg 16) go in and ruin a chance for her husband to raise a nice fish there. But, she shook it loose and reeled in. I took a paddle stroke, and waited. Carl took careful aim, but then landed his lure in the cedar branches too. “Carl,” I said. “Kate already fished that tree.”

Silly me. I thought this was funny, but judging from the

dead silence in the canoe, it clearly was not.

No one likes theories more than anglers.

Many have been floated to explain this strange phenomenon, few of them acceptable to the male half of the relationship. It’s just wrong, they rationalize, and have to settle with the conclusion that some things simply defy reason.

They certainly don’t want to contemplate that

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we men are almost always in competition, if not with someone else, then with ourselves. That we are usually out to “best” something, to “conquer” it, even though the adversary might only be a fish, or a golf ball. This approach doesn’t seem to agree with the fairer sex. She is there to enjoy the day, be one with nature, and take it all in, come what may. In response, fish flock to her. Always to his eternal dismay.

Randy Spencer’s new book, “Written on Water,” is due out in October from Rivercliff Books and Media. It will be available in print, as an ebook, and an audio book, narrated by Randy.

Terrors

(Cont. from pg 17) shrew, is about the size of a meadow vole. The water shrew uses its big, semiwebbed hind feet with fringed short, stiff hairs to propel itself underwater. Its pelage is so dense that it is impenetrable by water and serves to trap air bubbles. It uses the bristles on its feet to scamper across the surface of the water. A water shrew can stay submerged about 15 seconds by swimming vigorously. It uses it long whiskers to locate aquatic insect larvae, tadpoles, small fish, and other delectables. When it stops swimming, it pops to the surface like a cork.

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October 2021 Little is known about the shrew tribe. How many are in an acre of woodlot?

Are any species endangered? No one knows.

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Mark McCollough watches shrews from his home in Hampden, Maine.

He can be contacted at markmccollough25@ gmail.com

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Bassin’ with Pappi

Branch Lake angler Davyn Reynolds, 10, shows off the catch of his young angling career. (Photo by Diane Reynolds)

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Page 23

By Davyn Reynolds It was a normal seasonal trip to Maine for me.

I’m from New York and I usually come to Maine to visit my other side of the family every summer.

We’re on Branch Lake so me and my Pappi go fishing a lot.

That’s what this article is all about. So we went fishing like normal.

We went to a few spots.

We caught some Sun fish obviously, but then Pappi caught a keeper bass like 1 ½ lbs. Then I accidentally got my fishing line caught on the anchor rope really badly. So Pappi let me fish on his rod and he untangled my rod. Keep in mind his rod is a lot lighter than mine, like a lot.

So I got a huge hit.

I hooked it. It was a big

fight and I saw it jump well. Pappi was looking at the anchor. It was so big that when it jumped its splash was unforgettable.

Then I yelled “PAPPI IT’S HUGE!” Pappi rushed over

itself out. Then I pulled it towards the net and Pappi scooped it up. We landed the nearly 4 lbs beast of a Smallmouth bass. Then I’m just freaking out over the biggest catch of my life.

Then I get it like 5 yards away from the boat then it jumps again and then I’m like, “ Oh crap, it’s gonna get unhooked!”

We ate well that night.

to see. Then I get it like 5 yards away from the boat then it jumps again and then I’m like, “Oh crap, it’s gonna get unhooked!”

At that point Pappi’s even amazed and runs to get the net. And then Pappi gets down on his hands and knees with the net ready for anything. And to make sure it doesn’t escape, I let it tire

Davyn is the son of Zebulon Reynolds. He is ten years old and lives in Liverpool, New York. He was fishing with his grandfather Scott “Pappi” Reynolds. Davyn’s bass was 21 inches long and weighed more than 3 lbs.

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Question Of The Month October 2021 Deer Survival: How Critical Are the Deer Yards?

By Gerry Lavigne White-tailed deer have several adaptations that help them to survive the ravages of a Maine winter. They grow a highly insulated winter coat, accumulate large stores of body fat, and alter their metabolic rate. But one of the most important adaptations is shifting to favorable wintering habitat, or “yarding”.

As winter approaches, deer seek out forest types that shelter them from wind chill, maintain shallower and denser snow cover, and

bathed in sunlight provide browse within reach of deer. At least 85% of Maine deeryards occur along the shores of lakes, ponds and streams. The edges of these riparian habitats are often a rich source of hardwood and softwood twigs that deer need during winter. Surprisingly, a large component of winter forage falls from the tops of larger trees in the overstory in deeryards.

Litterfall is dislodged all winter long, albeit in small quantities, by wind, heavy

Many deer yards have a long tradition of use by deer, sometimes spanning decades. The location of favorable wintering habitat is a learned behavior among deer. provide forage.

In Maine, deer wintering habitat characteristically is comprised of pole-stage and older softwood-dominated forests.

These coniferous forests have varying amounts of spruce, balsam fir, eastern hemlock, northern whitecedar, and white pine as the dominant trees in the overstory. Most also contain some northern hardwoods, and aspen as well. The best quality yards have trees that exceed 30 feet tall, and whose canopy is over 70% closed by coniferous branches. These forests intercept the most snow and wind. In a top-quality deer wintering area woods, snow accumulation is only ½ what it is under leafless hardwoods, or in clearings.

Food is an important consideration in deeryards as well. Small openings

snow, and small animals like red squirrels and porcupines. In many yards, litterfall comprises 50% or more of the total groceries available to deer.

Timber harvesting in deeryards can be controversial. Too much timber removal can alter the canopy characteristics that provide shelter for deer.

However, more frequent light cuttings can improve the distribution of sheltering softwoods and foodproducing openings. In addition, proper timber management by logging can keep softwood forests productive with a balance of shelter and younger stands over long periods of time. This is particularly true in deeryards dominated by balsam fir, a species that lives and dies out in only 70 or 80 years.

Deeryards vary great-

ly in size in Maine. Many are only 50 to 100 acres, while the larger ones may exceed 10,000 acres. A typical Maine township covers 23,000 acres, by comparison. Central and southern Maine deeryards tend to be at the smaller end of the size scale, and often are quite numerous in any given town. In contrast, deeryards in the eastern, western mountain, and northern part of the state tend to be less numerous, but larger. During the early 1960’s there were more than 3,000 known deeryards in Maine. Our current inventory of deeryards is less certain, though probably considerably fewer.

From a timber management viewpoint, deeryards that exceed 500 acres are easier to maintain in forest types that are favorable to wintering deer.

Many deeryards have a long tradition of use by deer, sometimes spanning decades. The location of favorable wintering habitat is a learned behavior among deer. Fawns accompany their mother from summer range to winter range.

Newly-dispersed young bucks tend to follow along with long-time resident deer to learn the best place to winter over.

Migration from summer to winter range often occurs quickly during late fall to early winter. For most southern Maine deer, this is often just a quick jaunt over the next ridge to the stream valley. Among many deer in northern Maine, the trek to wintering range may exceed 20

miles.

During most years, deer move to deeryards when snow depth accumulates to 10 or 12 inches, and this is no coincidence.

chill. This shelter-seeking behavior is even observed on Maine’s coastal islands, which may remain snowfree most of the winter.

When on winter range,

As a general rule, deer will be on winter range whenever snow depths exceed 12 inches.

(Illustration by V. Paul Reynolds)

A deer’s front knee joint is about 12 inches above the hoof. When a deer needs to lift its foot completely out of the snow to get around, it instinctively seeks out shallower snow. Leg-lifting in snow costs a lot of energy for a deer, and they are wired to conserve energy any way possible. During a snow-free December, deer eventually still seek the shelter of coniferous forests. When the raw cold of early January arrives, deer gravitate to their wintering habitat to minimize energy loss to near-zero temperatures and severe wind

deer congregate, often at impressive densities. In thriving deer populations, given an adequate amount of wintering habitat, deer congregate at densities of 75 to 150 deer per square mile. In contrast, normal deer densities on summer range in Maine vary from 5 to 30 deer per square mile.

Concentrations this large in deeryards are advantageous for deer, as they all share the energetic cost of creating and maintaining trails.

An intricate web of trails in the snow is an integral part of deer win(Question cont. pg 28)

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Safe Guarding the Heritage

October is here and they live or how they were hunting is in the air! Un- reared without any expodoubtedly my favorite time sure to the sport. Hopefully

could possibly be a key to success. Having children of my own and learning about what’s being taught in school, has brought to focus the importance of reaching out to our youth.

Children are indeed our future. There are certainly many who do not know what lies beyond their own back yard. Guiding outdoor activities with people of all walks of life

Page 25

Maine Outdoor Adventure

Maine has approximately 94% of private land.

For certain, we all must work together in keeping lands open for our future generations. Teaching them the basics of respect, ethics, and stewardship will provide hope in keeping our lands open and traditions

Maine has approximately 94% of private land. For certain, we all must work together in keeping lands open for our future generations.

The author and his gundog after a great day in grouse country. of year. Hunting across our country has always been a season to give thanks for the bounty we receive.

Hunting to many, including myself, is of tradition, fellowship and harvest for our tables. Unfortunately, not all share the same perception, attitude and sentiment. Some folks were raised with hunting, some taught later in life and some not at all because of where

this article lends itself for better understanding, and how the tradition of hunting is perceived.

I always welcome discussions that differ from my own opinions and beliefs. After all, isn’t that what America is all about?

Instead of trying to argue and convince others who disagree, maybe getting involved with our youth and setting an example

affords me an opportunity to talk with many folks with different beliefs and perceptions. There is certainly good and bad in every form of sport and industry. Hunting and fishing certainly has its share of opportunists.That being said, there are still many that respect the land, land owner and the quarry they seek. I believe that awareness and education is vital if our hunting is to continue on. Unfortunately we cannot teach people to care or to have respect, but we still can have hope in keeping hunting and fishing alive by setting an example of good stewardship.

At long last, revived from the archives of the once-authoritative books on New England streamer flies and how to use them: Trolling Flies for Trout & Salmon, by Dick Stewart and Bob Leeman.

Trolling Flies for Trout and Salmon was first published in 1982 and again in 1992. There were 350 signed Limited Edition hardcover copies and several thousand hard and soft cover copies sold out with the two printings. Many fly tyers view this book as an up-to-date version of new and available streamer fly patterns and crave to have it in their library. Used copies have been selling on AmazonBooks.com for the last few years with a price tag up to $300.00 for each copy! There are 125 pages with 32 color plates of more than 90 classic streamer flies and tying recipes from a Winnipesaukee Smelt to a Barney Google and a Rangeley Centennial. Leeman and Stewart also share with readers many tips and tactics for trolling streamer flies for trout and salmon throughout New England.

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alive. Posting of property by landowners is becoming more and more restrictive and in most cases, outright closed. Landowners deserve the respect and consideration by all who want to use their land.

Almost everyone loves nature. Sometimes what separates some folks regarding hunting and fishing, is a fundamental belief and mindset. The ongoing discussion of some conservationist and a preservationist is still very active today. When these terms are used in reference to hunting and fishing, a split in the road occurs separating the masses. You

by Rich Yvon, Bradford, ME can google the two terms and compare the meanings.

What I have experienced is the underlining, practical sense of the two terms. Put simply, conservationist seek the proper use of nature, while a preservationist seeks protection of nature from its use. Can a person be both? Absolutely!

A conservationist is a person who uses the land, puts the resource first, and includes man as a part of nature. Also, on the other hand, some things need preservation because without it, it would cease to exist. Hunting and fishing laws are intended for the regulating of conservation. Simply put, if we take care of the animals, fish and their habitats, the fishing and hunting will take care of itself. Putting man before the fish or that deer is simply unsustainable. The words quoted resonates with me every day of my life. “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” - Aldo Leopold— (Heritage cont. pg 27)

“This wonderful fishing book is the gospel when it comes to streamer flies and trolling tactics. A Classic!

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 26

Ramblings From T8-R9

by Benjamin Rioux, Millinocket Lake

By Jeff LaBree

As a guide in the northern part of Maine, I get quite a few questions about the water conditions I encounter. Once again, we are seeing very dry and warm weather patterns and a significant lack of rain through most of the areas we are fishing. With low water levels in the streams and ponds, fish struggle to survive in the ever-shrinking cold water springs.

I regularly see trout surfacing as they gulp air to supplement the lack of oxygen these diminishing pockets of cool water offer them. But don’t despair, the temps are dropping rapidly as I painfully type this out (finger cramp), and cooler nights should bring fish the

relief they so desperately need.

Here are a few tips to help you when encounter-

You’ll need sinking lines and flies designed for those dredging retrieves.

Try leech patterns, wooly buggers, a maple syrup with a smaller nymph tied 18 inches behind works well at times. ing stressed out spring hole trout. Tip one: don’t fish there. Tip two: ok, you’re fishing there, so use a barbless hook with a strong leader and tippet so you

October 2021

Fooling Fall Trout

can land them faster and send them back on their way. Tip three: only spend a short amount of time at that particular spot. Tip four: try not to touch the fish when releasing. Keep them in the water, quickly pop out the hook, and forgo

tions year-round, but the fish are still vulnerable to surface temps so should be released quickly to they can retreat to cooler levels.

Consult your water depth maps and search for those small but deep (20-35 feet) ponds. They will usually

The author with a fall catch. that photo-op until water prove to be fun summer temps drop and conditions spots. You’ll need sinking improve. I know of some lines and flies designed for deep-water ponds which those dredging retrieves. have good water condi- Try leech patterns, wooly

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buggers, a maple syrup with a smaller nymph tied 18 inches behind works well at times.

On a side note, I get asked a lot about where I go, and I’m sure other guides deal with questions of this nature also. Many times I am hesitant to tell people. The reason isn’t that I don’t want these folks to enjoy success on the water, but more that I am simply worried about the stress the weather has put on the fish in spring holes in the summer.

Jeff Labree is a mainstay at Libby Camps and an accomplished fly fishing guide with a wealth of experience fishing and guiding in the North Maine Woods. In his spare time he is a master fly tier and a eager purveyor of knowledge on all things fly fishing and the outdoors. You can reach Jeff at jeffssmelt@gmail. com

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Octoberr 2021

Heritage

(Cont. from pg 25) conservationist, naturalist, philosopher. I am one, who most certainly cannot!

After all. we are a part of nature, taking up space and resources. If we are to live on this planet with all the wild things, we must put it first, if we are to coexist. There are no perfect solutions or answers but I believe that everyone can contribute in a positive manner on the problems facing us today. Here in Maine, knowing the landowner and working with them is vital to our hunting and fishing traditions.

Maine currently works on the “Implied Permission Structure”. Although it’s legal to access land which is unposted, we all need to follow the unwritten rule of asking permission first.

More info can be accessed by going here https://www. maine.gov/ifw/programsresources/outdoor-partners-program/index. html to be a better land user. Awareness, education and respect is needed if we are to retain our outdoor activities and wild things we enjoy so much.

Rich is a Registered Maine Guide. He owns and operates Twin Maple Outdoors guide service and sporting lodge located in Bradford.. He runs fly and spin fishing trips.Rich also guides Maine partridge, turkey, moose, deer hunting and recreation adventures. He serves as a board member for the Native Fish Coalition, Maine chapter.

He is also an outdoor writer, tree farmer, fly-fishing instructor and certified NRA firearms instructor.

Call: 207-907-9151 or Email: info@Twinmapleoutdoors.com

Mo

Northwoods Sporting Journal

(Cont. from pg 14) the red Jeep Liberty off the Island Pond Road, but no sign of Mo. Wardens Preston Pomerleau, Mark Hutcheson and I arrived at the location of the Jeep shortly after and without saying anything to each other, we knew the situation did not look promising. The Jeep was still

running, with the driver door wide open. Inside the low fuel light was on, indicating the Jeep had been running all night. At the back of the truck was a ruffed grouse that was frozen stiff from the cold temperatures the night before. We shouted for Mo and heard no response.

Warden Pomerleau decided that he would send his K9 Gordon out on a “hasty

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Page 27

search” near the vehicle to see if Mo was nearby.

I listened to the faint bell on K9 Gordon’s collar as he traversed the nearby woods looking for clues.

Meanwhile I searched the Jeep, trying to piece together what could have happened to Mo. Warden Pomerleau returned with Gordon and said they had not found anything except two spent shotgun

shells approximately 50 yards into the woods that matched the shells in Mo’s cupholder. Our search was just beginning.

Part II to be continued next month Kale O’Leary is a Maine Game Warden that patrols the Oxbow District in central Aroostook County.

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Page 28

Question

inches of snow, deer cover most of the available deeryard. From 18 to 24 inches of soft snow, deer tend to occupy only those stands that provide the best shelter (and shallower snow).

Soft snow that exceeds 24 inches pretty much confines deer to trails within their best shelter stands.

A deer’s brisket and belly is only 24 inches from the ground. Forced off-trail in 2 or 3 feet of soft snow, a deer will bog down and flounder. Plunging through belly-deep snow quickly leads to exhaustion. Not a good way for a deer to defend itself from the relentless pursuit of coyotes, or your neighbor’s freeranging dog!

The depth and duration of snow cover determine how long deer will utilize wintering habitat during any given winter. As a general rule, deer will be on winter range whenever snow depths exceed 12 inches. Yarding can occur continuously from November to early May (20 to 24 weeks) up north. Or it can

(Cont. from pg 24) tering habitat. These pathways connect food patches and bedding sites. They also serve as escape routes when deer are harried by coyotes, bobcats, domestic dogs, or man. Like the wintering area as a whole, the location of some trails in a deeryard follow the same routes year after year, providing the forest cover remains favorable.

Deer use of wintering habitat is never uniform throughout a given winter.

Their area of use varies with snow conditions. Shallow snow or supporting crusts allow deer to forage and travel widely, sometimes beyond the “normal” deeryard boundary. In contrast, deep, unsupportive snow forces deer to use only a small portion of the available area. In one large deeryard I studied along the lower Dead River, deer use of their yard varied from 500 to 2,500 acres on a weekly basis. In 12 to 18

occur for just a few weeks in February nearer to the coast. During some years, yarding conditions may come and go a few times, with deer moving between summer and winter range repeatedly. This typically occurs only in the central and southern part of the state.

During times when deer are restricted to their trails, they are unable to gather enough forage to avoid serious weight loss.

When these unfavorable foraging conditions persist for 10 to 12 weeks, Maine deer begin to die of starvation. Fawns born the previous summer are the most vulnerable to starvation.

Surprisingly, so too are mature bucks. Fawns are not very efficient at storing fat prior to winter; mature bucks typically lose most of their fat during the rut.

Does older than fawns tend to attain and retain the most life-saving body fat even during severe winters. Central and southern Maine locations rarely have 12 or more weeks when deer

are severely bottled up.

Unfortunately, this is the norm in the north. Winter mortality patterns reflect this difference.

Snow accumulation also affects predation rates among wintering deer in Maine. Conditions where deer are restricted to their trails favor predation by coyotes, as deer flounder up to their bellies. Although it takes 10 or 12 weeks to starve a deer, restricted mobility in deep snow can occur in 10 or 12 hours, and coyotes are consummate opportunists.

Deer can also be vulnerable to predation losses when driven onto glare ice, where they lose their ability to stand or run. Whether in deep snow or on glare ice, coyotes routinely kill healthy, adequately nourished deer, i.e. coyotes are able to prey non-selectively under favorable conditions. In addition, coyotes handily kill weak deer later in the winter, when more individual deer are in poor shape. During severe winters, overall herd

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losses tend to be higher in deeryards where coyotes are present than in those where coyotes are absent.

Again, deer in the northern half of the state are more routinely subjected to the snow conditions that favor predation by coyotes than deer elsewhere in Maine.

As a result, overall winter losses are almost always higher in the north than in more southerly locations.

The onset of snowmelt during the spring months, I’m sure, is a welcome change for winterweakened deer. As days lengthen and warm, deer take advantage of sunny areas in their wintering habitat. But they generally stay on winter range until snow depths in the hardwoods and openings shrink below 10 to 12 inches. When that time occurs (generally from early March to early May), movement back to summer range is quick.

Somehow, I can’t blame these winter survivors for seeking greener pastures!

Gerry Lavigne served as Maine’s whitetail deer research leader for many years. He currently is a wildlife consultant for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM)

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Atlantic Salmon in Grand lake Stream

It was only a few years ago that Atlantic Salmon began to show up in Maine’s Grand Lake Stream. Being a regular

of the flow, produced the same happening---a quick hit, hard pull, snapped leader and tippet! Holy cow!

What’s going on here? I

least, not at this spot that day. However, at the “Big Falls Pool”, things didn’t change much. I hooked a fish on the flat above the falls. Upon spotting the fish, I was dumbfounded, to say the least.

There, stretched out along the far shore, with my cast fly in its mouth, was a gigantic fish of near,

Page 29

“Just Fishing”

by Bob Leeman, Bangor, ME nothing but a memory of that one!

While there, I flung a few flycasts into the tail of the first churning pool below the flat that races on to “the rips”. Up from the depths came a fish with a big mouth wide open to

day! I was really introduced to those migrators from the sea. And, it was quite an introduction! But on my weak fly outfit, there was little to no chance of landing one.

I did hook into another fighter downriver a

Up from the depths came a fish with a big mouth wide open to crunch my offering, then churning into the depths to sulk, and finally snap off. Boy, I figured, that was some big bass! or over, three feet long!

Holy Hanna! I couldn’t believe it! That’s an Atlantic Salmon, if I ever saw one!

And in Grand Lake Stream, no less. That’s what took my flies down river this morning. What the heck is this all about?!

Anyway, I tried to Atlantic Salmon in Grand lake Stream. work this behemoth upriver Who’d a thunk it? Lou Savin with an Atlantic some more, but he wasn’t Salmon. (it was released) about to move. Then, afangler on the “river”, I was hate to say it, but a new fly ter countless hauls and rather abruptly alerted to produced the same thing. line twanging, he whirled that discovery.

Finally I wised up and around, and sped down It was mid-spring, tied on a heavier weight over the falls and was gone. maybe somewhere around tippet. But this time, it was There I am, left standing in mid-May or so, I had all over. No more hits! At the middle of the river with driven down to “Little Falls” for a flycast or two at “Driscoll’s Run” so-called.

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crunch my offering, then churning into the depths to sulk, and finally snap off.

Boy, I figured, that was some big bass!

Later that day, however, I tried that spot again.

This time, guess what. Yep! Another Atlantic Salmon muckled onto my offering on the second cast. I was sure this time, it was no smallmouth bass! Did I land this one? There was no way, Jose! He sucked and strained in the depths until the frail leader with a tough tippet finally let go.

Imagine it! What a

few days later, but by the chatter at the local general store the town centered around, the foreign visitors came from the ocean.

Morning coffee at the liar’s bench revealed more than a few skirmishes of hookups, snapping flyrods like dry twigs, testing leaders to breaking points, and futile downriver “chases” that just meant “hanging on for dear life”.

In conclusion, most anglers and their equipment were hardly up to the task.

So, where, oh where did (Salmon cont. pg 35)

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 30

Circle

(Cont. from pg 11) an Island in Penobscot Bay where he lived. He got permission for us to erect stands and hunt on summer home properties where he arrowed many deer until he could not pull back a traditional bow any longer.

Uncle Craig took up bowhunting at age 50 after

he retired as a Maine Army National Guard Blackhawk Helicopter Crew Chief. I got to call in his first turkey for him and during that first fall, he arrowed a big bear and an 8 pt buck. He says that all bowhunting is a thrill but trying to arrow a mature gobbler makes him turn to jelly! He has taken many deer, bear and turkeys with a bow and

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also harvested a bull moose with archery tackle.

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October 2021

tive about the increasing problem with unethical archers arrowing deer and turkeys on front lawns in residential areas. The 100 yard discharge law for firearms and crossbows did not apply to bow and arrow on non posted land within 100 yds of a building, and no enforcement action could take place. My State Representative Will Tuell drafted a bill and contacted me for input. I advised to make sure that Target Practice and Hunting in the Expanded Archery Zones were exempt from the proposed law. After input from Game Warden Colonel HOURS: 11AM-8PM

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Scott and IF&W Committee members, the final bill was changed and is now law for the 2021 Archery season.

Summarized as follows: “It is unlawful to discharge an arrow from a bow on land of another person and within 100 yards of a building on that land, without permission of the owner or adult occupant of that building, or cause an arrow from a bow to pass across the land of another person within 100 yards of a building without permission.” Hopefully this new law will prevent no hunting ordinances to be enacted in towns and cities where there has been a problem with violators.

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Page 31

The Charm of Camp

As the leaves brighten and fall hunting seasons open, many of us will head up to camp. Camp might be a house on a lake, a stream-side cabin, or a camper parked in a field or woodlot. Camp might be tucked away in the Western Mountains, nestled in the

hang on the hooks by the door - L.L. Bean, Filson, Johnson, and Woolrich.

Perhaps your heavy, greencheckered wool coat, a camp favorite, has its own designated hook. Your lucky hat, a faded hunter orange ball cap boasting the name of some dusty

classics by Edmund Ware Smith, Burton Spiller, and Gene Hill. A stack of yellowed paperbacks awaits the rainy days - the racy, who-killed-who mystery novels of the 70’s and 80’s.

I’m sure if one were to thumb through the books, they would discover four

Maine Tails

By Jonah Paris, Scarborough, ME vegetables - green beans, corn, and peas. Jars of salsa, boxes of pasta, cans of B&M baked beans, and your favorite treat, brown

front for easy access. On the top shelf is your bottle of fine bourbon or whisky stashed away for toasting a successful hunt. On the

A colorful array of flannel shirts and jackets hang on the hooks by the door - L.L. Bean, Filson, Johnson, and Woolrich. Perhaps your heavy, green-checkered wool coat, a camp favorite, has its own designated hook.

Each deer camp is different, but all have their certain charm.

(Illustration by V. Paul Reynolds)

Kennebec Valley, hidden somewhere DownEast, or far up in The County.

Friends and family, those who have joined us season after season, will come with us. We will also bring along new folks and let them learn for themselves why camp during the fall holds a certain charm.

Your gun rack at camp will be full this season, first with shotguns in October, then with rifles in November. Or maybe there is no gun rack, and instead guns are propped in the corner, oiled and polished in anticipation for the morning hunt. Your box of birdshot, 12 gauge #7.5, is carefully separated from someone else’s 20 gauge #6. But come deer season, separating ammunition will be unnecessary; most everyone at camp shoots .30-06 Remington Core-Lokt.

A colorful array of flannel shirts and jackets

Maine general store, hangs proudly nearby. Assorted pairs of boots line the wall, some neatly together, some kicked about.

We can learn a lot about a person by their reading material. Naturally, one might wonder what books and magazines fill your bookshelf at camp.

Certainly, a growing pile of Northwoods Sporting Journals, an aged Maine Sportsman, more than a few outdated Uncle Henry’s, and a collection of

leaf clovers, grouse feathers, and maybe a two-dollar bill pressed somewhere between forgotten pages.

The bedside table at camp holds all the treasures that you have accumulated in your pocket over the course of the day - three dimes, six pennies, a quarter, your pocket knife, two empty shells, and a small, rusty screw that you found behind the couch that goes - or went - to something, somewhere, at some point.

You’ll be sure to add this screw to the Mason jar above the sink containing other marginally useful pieces of hardware. These types of things are always good to have up at camp.

The cupboard will be well stocked with the camp essentials - canned potatoes for breakfast (also quite suitable for lunch and dinner) and other canned

bread in a can, are in the back beside the tins of tuna and smoked oysters.

And no early morning prehunt camp coffee session is complete without a donut or three, so the boxes of donuts are kept right in

bottom shelf is a mouse trap awaiting the camp’s newest inhabitant.

Now for the dogs, the ones who enjoy camp as much as we do - the setters, spaniels, hounds, (Camp cont. pg 41)

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

All Weather Deer Hunting

The Buck Hunter

by Hal Blood, Moose River, ME October is the month that us deer hunters are becoming more anxious every day, as soon, we will be able to hit the woods in pursuit of those wily bucks once again. I know some of you are already archery hunting, but most of us are the gunpowder type hunter.

I started flinging arrows as a kid but when it came to

October 2021

a moose permit, want to shoot some partridge or chase rabbits with your beagles. October is just a beautiful time to be in the woods. Leaves are always filtering down from the trees, either from a cold frosty morning or cool northwest wind. The fallen leaves create an odor in the woods, that I call essence

Maine, anything weather can happen. We can’t change the weather, so we have to adapt our hunting strategies to it. Whether it’s warm, cold, windy, rainy, or snowy, there are always tactics to help tip the odds in your favor of encountering a buck. The important thing is to be out there and, in the game, instead of sitting back at camp. I’ve killed bucks in every kind of weather imaginable.

Sometimes I asked myself why take the punishment

won’t matter if you want that buck bad enough.

Deer are used to the any type of weather as they live it year-round. They have ways of adapting to whatever mother nature throws at them. By learning deer habits and their ways of adapting to the weather will make finding a buck a little easier than

the wind. When it’s raining or snowing a buck likes to lay under or behind spruce, fir or hemlock trees. The limbs hold some or the snow and soften the pounding rain. Just remember that no matter where he might be bedded down, it will be somewhere that he can watch where he came from. That’s how they get

wandering the woods aimlessly. That buck wants to be as comfortable as he can be whatever the weather is. If it’s warm, he will be somewhere cool and shady, which is usually in the green growth. Cold during the hunting season doesn’t bother a buck but a wind with it will. He will try to lay where the terrain or trees block the wind.

I’ve seen on windy days where a buck had bedded down where it was windy, and then got up and moved maybe only 20 yards and bedded back down out of

to be big “old” bucks.

Instead of using the weather for an excuse to not get out and hunt, use it as your reason to get out there. As the old saying goes: “you can’t shoot from camp”!

Until next month enjoy the essence of fall and “Good luck on the trail”

Whether it’s warm, cold, windy, rainy, or snowy, there are always tactics to help tip the odds in your favor of encountering a buck. deer hunting back then, one deer was the limit and still is in most cases. I decided early on that I would much rather wander the woods in search of a deer than sit around and wait for one to wander by, so I put the bow away and stuck to the rifle hunting. Nowadays, there is a lot more opportunities for the bow hunters as most states allow multiple tags and special seasons. Good luck to all of you archers and it won’t be long until us gun toters hit the woods.

There is just something about getting into the woods in October, whether is because you drew

of fall. I don’t have a very good sense of smell, but that odor is as plain as day to me. It signals that deer season is fast approaching and I’ll be in search of an old mossey horned buck.

I’m hoping that after this unseasonably warm weather in the north country, that the cold air will settle in and bring tracking snow. On a side note, about frost. I was up to Penobscot Lake in late July and when I got up on the morning of the 28th, there was frost covering everything. It’s hard to believe that can happen in the summer, but in the North country of

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of being soaking wet, when it rained all day. The same was true when it was 10 below zero with the wind blowing a fine snow that felt like needles hitting my face. On those kinds of days, it’s easy to stay at camp and drink coffee, hoping the weather will change. On those days, it’s hard to get started but once you do, you’re in the commitment stage and the hunt becomes more important than your comfort.

The prize, (a big buck) and how to find him it what you become focused on.

Another way to put it is “if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count”! The fact that it is cold or rainy

Hal is a Master Maine Guide and Author. He lives in Moose River Maine with his wife Deb. Hal can contacted at: hal@bigwoodsbucks.com

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

New Deer Rifles

It’s that time of year again. The time of year we all wait for. I am of course talking about hunting season. The days are cooler, the nights are getting chilly, and our thoughts are consumed with filling the freezer with venison and hanging a big rack on the wall. Most of the major manufacturers have new

the boxes. I will concede that if this rifle interests you, the price tag reflects the craftsmanship on this work of art. The rifle is the Winchester Super Grade: Fine fit and finish Pre 64 style action 3 position safety Claw extractor MOA trigger system for clean, crisp pull

hunter. CVA offers a very reasonably priced full featured rifle called the CVA Scout. It has: 100% ambidextrous synthetic stock Crush Zone recoil pad Dura sight scope rail Reversible cocking spur 6.3 to 7.5 lbs – depending on caliber and barrel length 14” length of pull This rifle is available in most popular calibers

Guns & Ammo: A Guide’s Perspective

by Tom Kelly, Orient, ME

Whether you go afield with your old trusty .30/30 or a brand-new high-tech precision modern sporting rifle, remember the safety basics. Never point your gun at anything you do not intend to destroy. Your rifle scope is not a set of binoculars. Know your target and what is beyond. Florescent

In the limited space available in this column, I am going to feature three rifles that may appeal to different types of hunters with different needs.

offerings for us to covet. In the limited space available in this column, I am going to feature three rifles that may appeal to different types of hunters with different needs.

The first rifle is not brand new, but continues to offer new features, calibers and packages. I would call this an “every man/woman rifle”. I am referring to the Ruger American. It is a reasonably priced, no frills, full featured rifle. Some of the features include: High performance at a reasonable price Adjustable Marksman trigger from 3-5 lbs Factory bedded action Free floated barrel A great price.

Polymer stocks and matte finishes do not appeal to everyone. There are still some hunters looking for heirlooms to pass on to sons, daughters or grandchildren. For these discriminating sportsmen, the next rifle checks all of

and some that are cutting edge like .350 Legend, .444 Marlin, .450 Bushmaster, Free floated barrel .35 Whelen. It is also very AAA or AAAA ma- reasonably priced. ple – The number of A’s This list is by no denotes the complexity means all-inclusive but of the grain pattern stock intended to give you a peek and bolt handle are finely at what is available. I am checkered. personally looking forward Bolt body is jeweled to the new Merlin rifles This rifle is equally at that will be released in the home in a display case or a fourth quarter of 2021 by tree stand.

Ruger.

We have discussed the budget end of the firearm spectrum and the collector’s end.

Now let’s discuss the entry level deer rifle. I have never been a big fan of light caliber guns for young MADE IN shooters. I believe that if a MAINE new shooter is taught the fundamentals of shooting, they can and will master a rifle in a major caliber.

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Page 33

orange saves lives. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

Have a safe and enjoyable hunting season. Take a new hunter with you. Pass along all your knowledge to the

next generation and come see us at the lake.

Tom is a Registered Maine Guide. He is the owner/operator of Shamrock Outfitters in Orient Maine with his wife Ellie.

He is a retired police officer as well as a retired manager from two major firearms manufacturers.

He is an NRA Certified Instructor as well as a Hunter Safety Instructor in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. You can reach Tom at Shamrock Outfitters (207) 694-2473. Please visit our Facebook Page: Shamrock Outfitters and Properties and come visit us on East Grand Lake.

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Page 34

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

The Maine A Hunting Heritage When my kids turned recommend starting your of the truck and load your Woods ten years old, I made sure young hunter or friend out gun in northern Maine.

Matt LaRoche, Shirley, ME

It is important that us hunters take the time to introduce nonhunters to the world of pursuing game.

It is easy for us hunters to want to take our sons and daughters hunting, but we need to make sure we invite our want to be hunter friends that grew up in a more urban environment

the big woods of northern Maine.

When I was eleven years old, my older brother and I wanted to take-up hunting so my dad took Mark and I out hunting behind the house. Dad carried the shotgun while we followed Pop around in the woods. We saw a

they received training on proper gun handling, marksmanship and hunting techniques. My two older kids were all in and couldn’t wait to go hunting while my youngest daughter, at that time didn’t have any desire to shoot or go hunting. As it turned outshe is now my outdoor girl who likes all things outdoors including hunting.

I setup a blanket as

on grouse. They are fun to hunt and fairly easy to shoot – at least north of Greenville/Millinocket.

You can walk old logging

I encourage you to take a youngster (or friend that wants to learn how to hunt) bird hunting this fall.

They might just become

We had a good time and missed a lot of opportunities to bring home something for supper. I did manage to shoot one nice cock pheasant that fall. I was hooked for a lifetime! along on a hunting trip once in a while. Our sport depends on the general population at least understanding the benefits of hunting.

The North Maine Woods (NMW) is a great place to take a young person or inexperienced hunter grouse hunting- or as I like to say, “bird hunting”.

There is nothing quite as encouraging to a young hunter as bringing home something to eat. I think it satisfies some primeval desire to provide food for the family. The odds for a young hunter to be successful are pretty good in

pheasant on that hunt that dad missed as it flew out of a tree – that was the extent of our field training. Dad did give us instructions to,” Not shoot anything that we did not want to eat.”

Mark and I proceeded to hunt the woods behind our house and the neighbors farm just up the road sharing that Harrington Richardson single shot 12-gauge shotgun. We had a good time and missed a lot of opportunities to bring home something for supper. I did manage to shoot one nice cock pheasant that fall. I was hooked for a lifetime!

a backstop down cellar and we shot the BB gun at targets during the winter.

In the summer, we shot the .22 rifle at targets outdoors.

Both kids could handle a firearm safely and were ready to hunt by the time they turned ten years old.

One bit of advice an older friend gave me was to have the young hunter walk in front of you in the woods so you can keep an eye on them. I found this to be very helpful in the instruction of my son and daughter during their hunter training.

Killing a deer in Maine is not easy. So, I

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roads, point out animal sign and talk with your son or daughter on your hunting excursion. Grouse hunting in general is a low stress pursuit in the big woods of northern Maine.

I have a saying about grouse hunting, “What is the difference between a dumb partridge and a smart partridge? About a 100-miles.” Those birds that spook when you close the truck door in southern Maine are indeed the same birds that sit on the side of the road while you get out

a lifelong hunter and advocate for the sport in the future.

Enjoy your time afield this fall.

Matt LaRoche is a retired Superintendent of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, owner of Maine Woods Guide Service and an avid outdoorsman. He can be reached at 207695-2877 or at matt.laroche2877@gmail.com . See www.mainewoodsguide.com

October 2021

Coalition (Cont. from pg 13) position on high-impact tackle. And it’s hard to challenge nonnative fish introductions, the biggest immediate threat to wild native trout, when you are the group most accepting of them.

A problem with modern trout advocacy is the idea that trout should be unlimited, or everywhere.

And that stocking is OK, as long as it doesn’t impact wild native trout. In some cases, it is trout advocacy groups that are doing the stocking, and sometimes over wild native trout.

To be clear, there is no conservation in wild nonnative trout. They are not a “placeholder” as some say, and in fact their existence is usually at the expense of

Northwoods Sporting Journal wild native fish, and often wild native trout. In many cases, naturalized nonnative trout are the primary reason for the lack of wild native trout.

The idea behind Native Fish Coalition was to provide absolute focus on wild native fish without being burdened by recreational fishing, commercial interests, or politics. And all fish, not just gamefish, as all species are part of a complex system that does not work without all its pieces in place. And to take a “why not” position in regard to wild native fish conservation, not a “why.”

Wild native fish take angling to the next level.

They are natural and belong where they are found.

While most states have lost this, Maine still has it with myriad wild native brook trout, Arctic charr,

lakes trout, and landlocked salmon. And with any luck, Atlantic salmon will once again return to Maine’s rivers in numbers high enough to support a recreational fishery.

While much of the damage to our wild native fisheries can’t be reversed, we can and should stop the bleeding, protect what we have left, and try to regain some lost ground where it is ecologically and economically feasible to do.

This, and only this, is what real fish conservation looks like.

BOB MALLARD has fly fished for forty years.

He is the former owner of Kennebec River Outfitters, a Registered Maine Fishing Guide, and a commercial fly designer. Bob is a blogger, writer, and author. He is also a native

fish advocate and founding member, Executive Director, and Maine Board Member for Native Fish Coalition. Look for his 4 books, a fifth (Stackpole) due out December 2021.

Bob can be reached at www.BobMallard.com or info@bobmallard.com

Salmon

Page 35 Big Lake, located downriver, revealed several lake trollers, with streamers mostly, hooked a number of these Atlantic Salmon and were flabbergasted, to say the least. It was also rumored that some of these fish were kept, believing that they were landlocks.

Yeah? Tell me another one!

It was a memorable year!

(Cont. from pg 29) these giants come from, to be invading the pristine waters of Grand Lake Stream?

It appeared that some Canadian fisheries biologists were experimentally trying to detail the travels of these warriors after attaching minute tracking devices to their underskin. These fish had been captured in a trap in the St. Croix River, then released above the river’s barriers. Also, reports from

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Page 36

Northwoods Sporting Journal

View From The River

by Laurie Chandler Bremen, ME I did not have the honor of knowing David Moses Bridges. After reading The Canoe Maker, by Jean Flahive and Donald Soctomah, I surely wish I could have. The Passamaquoddy artisan was dedicated to saving and passing along his traditional craft, as well as preserving the culture

remained unchanged for thousands of years.

“Building a birch bark canoe begins in the forest,” David Moses explains. “All the materials we need will be found here. We call this part, and what we get, our ‘gatherings’.”

In June, when the sap is running, the father and

“Building a birch bark canoe begins in the forest,” David Moses explains. “All the materials we need will be found here. We call this part, and what we get, our ‘gatherings’.” and rights of the Wabanaki people. In his fifty-four years, he did these things well.

The Canoe Maker captures the curiosity and wonder of a young son as he helps his father to build a traditional birch bark canoe from start to finish. Gifted illustrator Mari Dieumegard chronicles their journey, and the stories of the grandfathers, in a mix of bright scenes and birch bark etchings.

This tale reverberates with the spirit and stories of the Passamaquoddy, and the fine craftmanship that has

son set out to find the perfect tree. The search takes many, many hours. Carefully, David removes the outer bark, allowing the mighty birch to live on.

They find cedar to shape into planks for the ribs and gunwales. From the spruce come roots for stitching the bark and sticky globs of gum. Mixed with ash and bear fat, the gum will seal the seams and make them watertight.

I especially loved the scene where darkness settles over their forest campsite. Content after a meal of dried moose meat and pine-

The Canoe Maker

needle tea, the father and son watch the silvery-white moon rise. Below the starry sky, David tells the ancient Wabanaki story of the first canoe. The canoe maker is mociyehs, the partridge.

He builds canoes for the birds of the forest and then a special one for himself.

The surprising ending explains the drumming of the partridge that continues to fill the woods today.

Back home, the pair patiently begins construction, a process which will take all summer. Each step unfolds with careful precision. As a fine canoe takes shape, nine-year-old Tobias is learning, and so, too, is the reader.

David Moses Bridges passed away on January 20, 2017. To honor his memory, Tobias built another birch bark canoe.

This time, he worked with Steve Cayard, the master canoe maker with whom his father had apprenticed.

The tools they used—the crooked knife, barking knife, drawknife, awl, and axe—were David’s, passed down to him by his greatgrandfather.

P e r h a p s To b i a s thought of his father’s words, so long ago. “When

GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT!

At camp, this guy and his gundog - after a morning of chasing pa’tridge - found a comfy place to spend some time with their favorite read, the Northwoods Sporting Journal.

Where do you read your copy of the Sporting Journal? At camp, in the boat, at the ice shack? We’d love to see a photo of you with your copy of the Journal at an unusual place. If we like it, we will publish it in the Journal. If we select your best shot for publication, we’ll send you an exclusive Sporting Journal hat created just for the occasion. Send your Jpeg photo and a short blurb to vpaulr@tds.net. Please include your contact information, too. www.sportingjournal.com

October 2021

I hold his tools in my hands,” David had said, “I feel a deep connection with the past. I believe the work that I do is not mine alone.

It is a creation of the land and our people.”

Jean Flahive has written several other children’s and young adult books.

Remember Me: Tomah Joseph’s Gift to Franklin Roosevelt, also coauthored with Donald Soctomah, won a 2009 Moonbeam Gold Award. Soctomah, the Passamaquoddy Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, has written several tribal history books and the children’s book, Tihtiyas and Jean, coauthored with

Natalie Gagnon.

Of the white birch, Soctomah writes, “Its bark is deeply interwoven into our history and our lives.

The bark was used in constructing wigwams where people were born and spent days and nights with family. Birch bark is also used in basket making, calling moose, and to travel the rivers and oceans in canoes. In the olden days the birch bark served as a vessel to carry people to the spirit world.”

The Canoe Maker was chosen as a 2020 Maine Literary Award Finalist.

Published by Maine Au(Canoe cont. pg 39)

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

The Casual Dress Nymph

Back in the early 1930s, an innovative fly tyer and fly fisherman, Polly Rosborough, began developing fur nymph patterns and dubbing techniques that are still popular

It is productive for many species, having caught brook trout and landlocked salmon on this fly, fishing it deep as a nymph. The Casual Dress employs several tying tech-

Dressing Hook – Size 2 to 12, 3x long.

Thread – Black 6/0 Uni thread.

Tail – A short bunch of muskrat fur with guard hairs left in.

Body – Muskrat fur dubbed in a spinning loop.

Collar- Muskrat fur with guard hairs wound in a loop or otherwise distributed around the hook.

Head – Several turns of black ostrich herl.

Page 37

Fly Fishing

by Joe Bertolaccini, Orrington, ME way is to produce a segmented effect in the body.

I find it easier to make a standard thread dubbing loop at the front end of the tail. Then wind the thread forward to where the body will end. Snip a bunch of muskrat fur off the skin, cut it up into small pieces (1/4 inch or so) and place about a three inch length of the chopped up fur (for a size 8 hook) on the inside of the loop. It may help to add a light coating of dubbing wax on the thread to hold the fur in place prior to winding. Twist the loop with a dubbing tool to form (Nymph cont. pg 41)

For the body, Rosborough’s method involves preparing a noodle of fur, placing it in a spinning loop, twisting it to form a chenille rope and winding

Among his many creations is the Casual Dress Nymph that he originated in 1960 and first used on a trip to the Tying Steps If weight is desired Deschutes River in (which I prefer) wrap leadcentral Oregon. today. His flies have many moving parts that include fur tails and collars and fuzzy bodies that make them very attractive to fish.

Among his many creations is the Casual Dress Nymph that he originated in 1960 and first used on a trip to the Deschutes River in central Oregon. This fly could best be described as an all-purpose nymph, but depending on the hook size, how sparsely it’s tied or how it is fished, it could represent anything from a drowned mouse to a dragonfly, damselfly, stonefly, crayfish or baitfish.

niques that are not widely used in other well known flies, but are very effective in creating patterns with a great deal of lifelike action. With that, let’s take a closer look at Rosborough’s Casual Dress Nymph.

free wire around the front 1/3 of the hook shank, being sure to leave sufficient room for the collar and head.

Cut a small bunch of muskrat fur for the tail, including guard hairs, directly from the hide and tie on top of the hook above the barb.

it forward from the tie in point of the tail to the front end of the weighting wire.

The reason he does it this

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 38

Grouse Hunting Basics

On Point

by Paul Fuller, Durham, N.H. Due to last year’s outstanding grouse season, I’ve never had so many emails asking about grouse hunting. Plus, most of the major grouse camps are booked for this fall. You

October 2021

ing the season into three periods. The first period is during early season grouse hunting. During this period, the grouse food plate is huge. The entire forest is one big dinner plate. Biolo-

with clover in the ditches.

Slowly walk the roads and you’ll very often get flushes from the ditch. There is nothing more satisfying then shooting a grouse on the wing. Another tip is if you’re driving the roads and see a grouse run into the woods, send a friend around to head it off. One stays on the road. One of

the second period. Nuts and berries are usually in most good grouse cover, however, apples will require an old abandoned farm.

Find the orchard on that old abandoned farm and you’ll have a jackpot. For

throughout the winter.

Now let’s address shelter. Shelter provides the grouse with protection from severe weather and predators. The best shelter is a mixture of young hard wood growth and coni-

If you don’t hunt with dogs, find logging roads with clover in the ditches. Slowly walk the roads and you’ll very often get flushes from the ditch. There is nothing more satisfying then shooting a grouse on the wing. can separate yourself from the maddening crowd by being just a little smarter about your approach to grouse hunting. Here’s how.

Like most living things, there are two major requirements for staying alive: food and shelter.

Combine the two and we have what the biologists refer to as habitat.

Let’s address grouse food first. I break down grouse food sources dur-

gists have identified over 500 plant species, when green, that the grouse eat.

High on the list are wild strawberry leaves, clover and wild raspberry leaves.

Since the food plate is so big, it’s difficult to find a grouse “hot” spot. They could be anywhere. If you hunt with bird dogs, find what appears to be good habitat and just let the dogs do the work.

If you don’t hunt with dogs, find logging roads

the two will often get an on-the-wing shot. Great fun and fair chase.

The second period is what I refer to as midseason. In New England, that’s usually the third and fourth week of October.

By then, there has usually been a frost. The frost kills much of the green; clover and strawberry leaves turn brown which means they have no nutritional value.

Nuts, berries and apples are the favorite foods during

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The author with a Ruffed Grouse. nuts, look for acorns, beech fers. Both, due to density, and hickory. All very tasty provide enough shelter for the grouse. For berries, to prevent aerial predawatch for mountain ash, tors from penetrating the high bush cranberries and foliage. Grouse are edge grapes. The mountain ash birds. They like habitat that and high bush cranberries allows them to move short will grow wild through distances from shelter to seeds dropped from bird food. Find a thick conifer poop. For grapes, you’ll stand that borders food and need one of those old aban- you’ll find grouse.

If you’re hunting solo doned farms.

The third food pe- and on-foot, remember riod during hunting sea- that grouse move more son, starting in November, frequently early morning consists of tree buds and and late afternoon. And, rose hips. For tree buds, the same if you’re hunting look for aspen and black with bird dogs. For dogs, cherry in the more wild the bird scent required for landscape. Where you’ve pointing is strongest when found that precious aban- the bird is moving. Scent doned apple orchard, those rises into a scent cloud trees keep on giving; the when the bird is warm buds are a delicacy for the which comes from moving. grouse. Tree buds are what Temperatures between 40 primarily feed the grouse (Grouse cont. pg 41)

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October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Early Days at Tim Pond Camps Tim Pond Camps, the oldest camps in the Dead River Region, were built in 1877 by Kennedy Smith, who was born in Readfield in 1834, but spent his formative years in Fayette, where he roamed the woods every chance he got.

In 1858 he left Maine and ventured west, trying his luck at prospecting gold in California. Not striking any loads, he then went to Granada, but not having any prospect or promising enterprises there either, he soon returned to Maine.

In 1860 he enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Civil War and was awarded for distinguished service.

In 1865 he settled down a few years, guiding sportsmen into the Rangeley Lakes, and soon travelled north into the woods of Maine and built a farm on Eustis Ridge. Having established his farm, Smith began guiding sportsmen as early as 1874, for in December 1877, Simon Philbrook of Readfield wrote a letter to Forest and Stream, mentioning that his

Old Tales from the Maine Woods

by Steve Pinkham Quincy, MA

Tim Pond Camps trip this past September “is my fourth trip there, and I have always found plenty of fish.” About this time Smith decided to go into the hostelry business and improved the rustic lean-to on the shore of Tim Pond.

By the summer of 1878 he had opened up a rough buckboard road about one and a half miles toward the pond and had built one log cabin which could accommodate four guests. In the spring of 1879 the road was opened “half way to the pond and a log house is just being finished with modern cooking stove near the vitalizing spring of medicinal waters…nearby are three

camps.” In 1880 he wrote that “when I was at the pond last, I found where a hunter had killed and dressed a deer in the dooryard of my camps, and put the head on the corner of one of my camps.” Another correspondent wrote, that Smith “had three splendid log houses, of gothic patterns, and was to erect two more. He has a small ‘clearing’ on the edge of the pond in the heart of the wilderness, and in the pond is a small wharf, erected as a place for the mooring of boats, of which Mr. Smith has seven or eight.” That summer Smith and a small crew finished clearing the six-mile buckboard road

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Canoe

Page 39

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(See page 49)

to the pond.

In July 1881 Smith had a crew of six men working on a road to Beaver Pond, “cutting the last two miles to the Seven Ponds. He expects to have it ready this week, and hopes to have a camp up

Camps to Julian K. Viles, a hardware dealer from New Portland, but stayed on for another season, to ensure a successful transition. That fall as he was coming from Seven Ponds to Tim Pond on a buckboard, a tree fell without warning across the

About this time Smith decided to go into the hostelry business and improved the rustic lean-to on the shore of Tim Pond. also, when he will be ready for his friends.” His son Edgar, now of age, operated the camp at Beaver Pond, while Kennedy operated Tim Pond Camps.

By the summer the road to Tim Pond and Seven Ponds had been widened to allow the use of double teams to bring the guests and their luggage as well as the necessary supplies to keep the establishments running smoothly.

In May of 1886, Smith sold his Tim Pond

wagon, crushing him down and breaking six ribs. It was five hours before he reached camp, and weeks before he was able to move about. Now idle, that winter he worked in a lumber camp as a cook, and later built and ran another set of camps at Round Mountain Pond above Eustis.

Steve is an avid hiker, paddler and historian, having collected over 26,000 Maine Woods articles to date.

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 40

What's In Your Woods

by Bud Utecht, T4 Indian Purchase Township Have you ever heard a couple moose sparing or battling in an all-out fight?

Yea, me neither. I always have been told that it happens and assumed it to be

Antlers are the fastest growing tissue of any mammal, and can grow an inch per day. Amazing that one of those monster bulls will grow the mammoth

October 2021

Clash of the Titans

few months later they just fall off.

Many times when we see pictures of bulls going at it they are just sparing, pushing each other around a bit. This usually starts with some posturing, where they display their antlers, slowly turning

the other moose away. I’m guessing this is a situation of, I grew these I may as well use them for something.

Even on game camera, there is no doubt when it’s for real and when it’s just a friendly match of, let’s show off for the ladies.

boys continue to show off.

Most of the sparing activity will be between younger bulls, while the all out battles will be the big boys.

With all the photos I get of this activity, one would think everyone would hear them while out in the woods, how-

During the rut, the small bulls just spar a little, but the big boys go at it in earnest. (Photos by Bud Utecht) fact. Well fact it is, they do spare and battle, and they do it a lot.

It certainly was a fun surprise when the first pictures came through with a couple bulls going at it.

Then more pictures, in many different locations.

What was surprising was they don’t stop when the rut is over. In fact they keep sparing until their antlers have fallen off. All evidence from my cameras point to the bulls stopping after the antlers shed.

bone in just 4 months. Also interesting is they are used to intimidating other bulls from breeding rights in his territory. If the intimidation doesn’t work they will clash. These battles can be violent as each tries to become the dominant male and send the advisory packing. Now picture these 800 lb, to over 1000 lb, animals crashing this mass of bone into one another.

The force is staggering and they rarely break and never come off. Then a

Bud Utecht Registered Maine Guide

Trail Camera Consultant (207) 404-1442

bud@whatsinyourwoods.com

side to side showing off for the pursuer. It then shifts to the animals moving in fairly close to each other, from there one will drop his head to signal game on. The other follows suit immediately.

In October, I have a favorite go-to spot where there is a gathering of moose; usually at least three bulls and a cow or two. The bulls will fight and then one will stop while the other takes over.

At this point they are not fighting for the cows because the one that stops just hangs around watching or just milling about but not leaving. If it were for real, the victor will chase

Interestingly enough, this even happens right into December. The bulls will be hanging around a cow, sparing for attention. Matter of fact it reminds me of

ever it is quite the opposite.

Very few people see or hear moose fighting, which leads me to believe they must have spotters like the boys on the playground

In October, I have a favorite go-to spot where there is a gathering of moose; usually at least three bulls and a cow or two. The bulls will fight and then one will stop while the other takes over. some people I’ve seen. I have pictures of three bulls, all with their heads down, antlers centered toward the other two, with a cow looking on. Somedays, I don’t know what to make of this, although I am pretty sure she doesn’t either.

None the less, the big

looking out for the teachers.

Bud Utecht is a Register Maine Guide, sporting camp owner, Browning trail camera dealer, and consultant. His trail cameras are strategically placed throughout the Maine Woods. Feel free to email Bud for trail camera tips or to discuss what’s in your woods. bud@ whatsinyourwoods.com

October 2021

Camp

(Cont. from pg 31) labs, pointers, retrievers, and so on. If you have a fireplace or wood stove, I’ll bet that your friend knows just where to be after a long day’s hunt.

If Aurora, the beagle, is visiting your camp, she’ll look for the easy chair and make herself right at home; if you’re already sitting in it, expect company. After a day spent exploring the grouse roads and skidder trails, she’ll soon be snoring. But likely, your dog is more well-behaved than mine, and will happily head for their crate.

When it comes time to leave, each will do their chores. Someone will sweep the floor and empty the trash basket; another will wipe down the table and strip the linen. Gear will be packed up and stowed away. And when you lock the door at camp and turn away towards a more stressful, bustling world, you will feel that bitter tinge that each of us knows all too well. And yet, you and I are still smiling because we know the charm of camp - the smell of wood smoke and frying bacon, the sound of a dog rustling through leaves and the bang of a shotgun, the snort of a startled buck on the hillside, the stories and laughter around the table, and the red sunset over the pines out back - returns to us each fall.

Jonah Paris teaches English at a small high school in Southwestern Maine. A four-season outdoorsman, Jonah lives in Gorham, ME with his girlfriend, Ashley, and beagle, Aurora. Jonah can be reached at ​jonaheparis@ gmail.com​.

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Nymph

Grouse

(Cont. from pg 37)

(Cont. from pg 38)

a compact rope of fur and hair, wind it forward from the tail to just in front of the wire and tie off, leaving sufficient space for the collar and head. A light coat of head cement can be spread along the hook shank prior to winding to increase the durability of the fur body.

To prepare the collar, form another dubbing loop immediately in front of the body. Cut a small bunch of muskrat fur from the hide and place inside the loop so that the tips of the guard hairs are all facing in one direction, perpendicular to the thread and spread out to a length of about1 inch.

The hair should be placed on the thread close to the butt ends. This procedure may be a little tricky at first because the loop has to be held open when inserting the fur and then tightened to hold it in place, but like everything else, practice makes perfect. Again, a little dubbing wax might help. Twist the loop tight with a dubbing tool and take several turns in front of the body, stroking the hairs rearward as you proceed, and tie off. The hair collar should extend back about ½ the body length.

Take several turns of black ostrich herl in front of the collar, and tie off forming a neat thread head.

Further information on Polly Rosborough’s original patterns and tying methods can be obtained from his classic, “Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymphs.”

and 60 are considered the best for bird scent and dog work.

Susan and I hope you have a great upland season.

Joe has enjoyed fly fishing for over 65 years.

His book, Fundamentals of Fly Fishing, is now available. He can be reached at: brewerberts@aol.com

Page 41

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 42

Muzzleloading Afield

by Al Raychard, Lyman, ME

In case you have heard, read about it, or seen a mention on television, changes are coming to the Federal duck stamp. If you don’t hunt waterfowl, woodcock and other migratory birds it won’t matter much, but if you hunt at all, perhaps it should.

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October 2021

Duck Stamp Change

Keep in mind that for the most this is money invested and habitat purchased by hunters that benefits not only migratory birds, but a long list of other wildlife, as well and is public property all Americans are allowed to enjoy whether they hunt or not.

I say “for the most part” because since about 2018, encouraged by the US Fish and Wildlife Service due to the decline in number of hunters nationwide, in particular migratory bird hunters, more hik-

our waterfowl hunting heritage and recognize the contribution of waterfowl hunters to conservation efforts.

But not everyone was happy.

Some artists who compete for the annual coveted honor (Illustration by John Ford, Sr.) The U.S. Fish and o f h a v i n g their design chosen said selection.

Wildlife Service it restricted their creative For what it’s worth, said it is freedom due to the size and here’s the way I look it. eliminating, “the limited space allowed, and I don’t think our current celebrating of our groups like the National President cares much about waterfowl hunting Audubon Society opposed hunting, or hunters, or heritage” theme. the move saying it stirred guns, except maybe ways to up unnecessary political downplay our contribution And the Biden controversy. I can’t quite to wildlife and conservaadministration understand any contro- tion programs through the said in August that versy about honoring a years and to weaken even artists “will have group that has contributed more the 2nd Amendment. more freedom of and continues to contribute Whatever you thought of so much, but that’s just me. our former President, and expression” Anyway, it looks like that’s a whole different without a mandate things are about to change. story, he was in our corner, to include a gun…. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife that of hunters and lawers, birders, conservation Service said it is elimi- abiding gun owners. This supporters and collectors nating, “the celebrating change of the duck stamp who don’t actually hunt of our waterfowl hunt- requirements, small as it have purchased more duck ing heritage” theme. And may seem, is just another the Biden administration move to chip away at our stamps than hunters.

A few years back a said in August that artists hunting heritage and make Trump administration reg- “will have more freedom hunting, hunters and their ulation required all duck of expression” without a contributions a little more stamps have a hunting ele- mandate to include a gun, irrelevant. ment in the illusion. For dog or some other hunting Al Raychard and his example, a recent stamp component. They will be depicts a lesser scaup and able to if they so desire, wife Diane live on 43+/a couple duck calls float- but it will no longer be acres in Lyman, Maine that offers good deer and ing in the water nearby. required.

The change will go turkey hunting opportuniA previous one showed a into effect in 2022, after ties which they both enwood duck and decoy. The idea here was to celebrate this year’s competition and joy. If the property had a trout stream it would be SEND US YOUR CLASSIFIEDS! true paradise. Al can be LET US HELP YOU SELL YOUR THINGS! reached at alraychard@ sacoriver.net Call 207-732-4880 * E-mail: info@sportingjournal.com

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

A Letter to Mom

NOTE: What follows here is a letter I wrote to my mother in just a short time before her death. Other than close members of our family, I never told this to anyone else. Until now.

When someone hands you something like this to read your first thought is, Oh God, what now. Well, don’t worry, this is a happy story; at least it has a happy ending.

I don’t know. Are there angels among us or is God constantly standing by to prevent the foolishness of little boys from ruining their own lives and that of others?

I have had a lot of time to ponder this question since what I am about to tell you happened 57 years ago. I have never been a religious person. Not in the usual sense, at least. I tried church, but was never moved by being there.

But, when I was outdoors, where things were wild and

HAVE A SAFE

as they were meant to be, it was a different story. There I found time and I found myself. That is my church!

That is where I sit and think and whenever I start to feel pride in my accomplishments and start patting myself on the back for what I have done, I remember that incident 57 years ago. Then I am humbled and realize that I didn’t get here all by myself. Also, that was where I decided to finally tell this story to you.

Marilyn must have been less than one year old because I was pushing her around the yard in a baby carriage. Remember how carriages were back then? Mostly a canvas-like material hung from a metal frame with a stiff bottom, and of course, a hood to shield from the sun. You had put a pillow in the carriage as a kind of mattress for her.

Tommy and Terry Richardson came along

and enticed me to head down the road with them.

To do or see what, I can’t remember, but it must have been important sounding because I went along with them, pushing Marilyn on ahead of me in her carriage.

We went down the hill toward town and had just about reached the little brook at the foot of the hill when Tommy and Terry started to run. Being eight years old and wanting to keep up, I started to run too. Again, pushing Marilyn on ahead of me in her carriage. Tar roads back then were not too smooth. The front wheels of the carriage hit a rock or something and the carriage handle was jerked out of my hands as the carriage catapulted forward. What I saw next will be etched in my mind until the day I die.

I saw two things flying through the air. My little sister and the pillow that had been her mattress only a micro-second before. In that micro-second I thought, I have killed my sister! There was no doubt in my mind, at that mo-

Page 43

Northwoods Voyager

by Gil Gilpatrick, Brunswick, ME

ment, but that she would surely die when she hit the tar road!

Then the miracle happened! The pillow landed on the tar first. Then little Marilyn landed on the pillow! I could not believe what had just happened. I was so shaken that I didn’t even tell Tommy and Terry about it, but just turned around and went home.

I cried all the way and vowed I would never tell a soul about what had happened. Recently, however, I realized the story should be told. Why, I don’t know.

I just know it is right. Marilyn didn’t even cry during or after this all happened, and was unaware of it until a few months ago when I told her about it on her last visit.

I don’t think Marilyn realizes how her life, and mine, were saved by whoever, or whatever, reached out and tucked that pillow under her just before her

AND

little body hit the hard surface of that tar road.

But I do!

Now, nearly eighty years later she is still with us and I am looking to seeing her soon for the first time in several years. I assure you that this story is absolutely true. Take from it what you will.

Gil Gilpatrick is a Master Maine Guide, and is the first living recipient of the Legendary Maine Guide award. He is a life member of the Maine Professional Guides Association, a founding member of the Maine Wilderness Guides Organization, and served as a member of the Advisory Board for the Licensing of Guides from 1996 to 2010. He is a member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association and is the author of seven outdoorrelated books. Contact him at Gil@GilGilpatrick.com

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 44

October 2021

Back Seat Shooters

Outdoors In Maine

by V. Paul Reynolds, Ellsworth, ME Four cow elk answered the call. On cue the elk emerged from the aspens and began to mill about along the edge of the small creek that meandered through the wide open drainage.

Nothing but tall sweet grass between us and the elk.

But it was a long shot.

Wife, in a prone shooting position beneath an overhanging lodgepole pine, snapped off the safety on her scope-mounted 7 mm-.08. She took a deep breath.

the guide would be headed for the game pole instead of the elk. Wife, no longer composed, eventually took the 120 yard shot. The elk were ready to bolt. It was a rushed shot. Insofar as we could tell she never hit her elk. As the guide and I searched in vain for telltale hair or blood, out of earshot from Wife, he said,” Man, she is a strong-willed woman!” He intimated that if she had taken the shot as directed she would have punched her tag.

Perhaps. We’ll never know for sure.

time it was a kill, a wellplaced lung shot that put the big animal down after a 50-yard gallop.

Although I am not sure what the shoot- command protocol is for seasoned big game guides, I would suggest that any If looks could kill, the guide would be headed for the adults mentoring young game pole instead of the elk. Wife, no longer composed, hunters school your youth hunter thoroughly in adeventually took the 120 yard shot.

“Don’t shoot. Don’t The guide has become shoulder from a crouched vance, but at the moment shoot,” whispered the a close friend over the position, I watched the cow of reckoning, when the guide kneeling beside her. years, but Wife - though stop broadside at a little pressure is on, let him or The lead cow turned she has long forgiven our over 100 yards. Taking her decide all by themand presented a broad- guide friend - had reason to deep breathes after cock- selves when or when not to side shot. “Shoot! Shoot!” dislike the confusing shoot- ing the hammer on her squeeze that trigger. urged the guide. She did don’t-shoot commands. A .35 Remington, it seemed not shoot. She glanced at guide can be your expert to me like she was taking the guide, not pleased at all. in the pursuit and find the her merry old time with The elk turned look- animal for you, but at the the shot. “Shoot, dammit. ing head on. “Wait, wait, critical moment of deci- Shoot! I said impatiently don’t shoot,” he counseled. sion, the coach needs to zip only to myself, oh so softly.

If looks could kill, it up. For better or worse, Finally, WHAM! This let the shooter call the shot, so to speak, without additional pressure.

A few years later, I called a Maine cow moose into a logging yard for Wife - her first moose encounter. Looking over her

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The author is editor of the “Northwoods Sporting Journal.” He is also a Maine guide and host of a weekly radio program — “Maine Outdoors” — heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on “The Voice of Maine News - Talk Network.” He has authored three books; online purchase information is available at www. maineoutdoorpublications. com. or www.sportingjournal.com. Contact email — vpaulr@tds.net

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Doe Permits Demystified?

Now that the annual doe permit drawing has concluded – the Maine Deer Hunters page of Facebook has been flooded with inquiries such as “if I have a regular doe permit and a superpack doe permit can I shoot 2 does and a buck?”

lowing does not consider the expanded archery hunt which, for this column, will be considered a totally separate hunt with its own set of rules – which, in fact, it is.

Let’s begin with the regular doe permit, which

Page 45

Post-Script From Pocasset

license are automatically entered into a superpack

by Josh Reynolds, only doe permit drawing.

If you win one of these, Wayne, ME you may take a doe in the superpack permit – you ing a doe on the bonus tag zone listed on the permit would have an opportunity does not prevent you from during any season (reguto use both of those permits taking a buck too. The key lar archery, firearm and = 2 does for the season, but to all this is knowing what muzzleloader). Important if you did this, you could zone each tag is in and be– you may also take buck I will attempt to clear some of this not take another deer (buck ing sure you are hunting in anywhere in Maine where the proper zone given the up and along the way, offer some or a doe). it is legal to hunt in any The next 3 columns tag that you have. interesting alternative options for season. Translation, you Following this thread, are the bonus doe tags – hunters to consider. can shoot a doe and buck. these work the same as the if you were somehow or “If I get a bonus tag, can is the first column you see If you happen to have a superpack doe tags, they awarded every doe permit I still shoot a buck and a in the doe permit results regular doe permit and a (Permits cont. pg 52) are a true bonus tag. Shootdoe with my bonus tag?” page on IF&Ws doe perAre you confused? Frankly, mit drawing page on their I was, and began to second website. This permit allows guess myself, so I figured the winner to take one deer others must be in a similar of either sex in the WMD state. Just looking at the listed on the permit. This results list, with 5 different can be done in any season;

by Homer Spit options available to some regular archery, firearms hunters, can get confusing. or muzzleloader. Keep in I will attempt to clear mind, if you use this tag, Many moons ago, when I was a young, eager deer hunter, my woods’ gear consisted some of this up and along you may not take another of a rifle, a compass, a knife and some waterproof matches. Maybe a candy bar if a whole the way, offer some inter- deer, doe or buck, for the day in the woods was planned. I wore olive-colored gum-rubber boots, dark green wool trousers, and a black and red checkered wool shirt. No hunter orange in those days. esting alternative options rest of the seasons.

My how things have changed! Today, my deer hunting day pack is a yard sale: water for hunters to consider.

Column two is the Subottle, min-stove, propane, tea bags, metal cup, hand warmers, drag rope, whistle, GPS, Before we get going, un- perpack Doe permit. Peo- topo map, dry socks, energy bars, wool neck-up, Leatherman, doe urine, scent cups, and derstand that all of the fol- ple who buy a superpack assorted other survival paraphernalia. Today I wear top shelf Danner thinsulate boots,

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Maine’s legendary buck hunter, Dick Bernier, who passed recently, always wore a green jacket and no blaze orange when he posed for photo taking with his trophy bucks.

When asked about that he assured me that he wore the orange when he hunted. I always wondered if, indeed, he shed the vest when he got out of eyeshot and “on the track.”

These contrasts may all be explained partly by advancing age and partly by the times in which we live.

My motto as a young deer slayer was “travel light.” As a grey-haired, long in the tooth, lucky-to-be-in the-woods-still vertical old hunt geezer, who sits a lot near deer runs, I tell myself, when I rest my pack and my left hip, “Any fool can be uncomfortable.”

One thing I know: the digital age has infiltrated our hunting heritage at warp speed. I shudder to think what the future will bring. This fall in Maine for the first time, turkey hunters will no longer have to visit a tagging station. And game wardens, who used to catch poachers by sitting in the bushes in the rain on cold, dark nights, have begun to nab scofflaws by using their cell phones and social media from the truck cab. (Be careful what fish or game boasts you post on Facebook).

A fisherman who wants to check a pond’s catch limit is out of luck if he forgets his cell phone, or loses a cell signal. No more hand carried law books. Ughh.

In Maine and New Hampshire, lost hikers have become a near contagion as more and more younger people rely on cell phones, instead of maps, compasses and woodsmanship.

In my early days, the hours in a tree stand waiting for deer to show were used for clearing the mind for personal introspection and some deep thinking. Not today. Deer hunters in tree stands click away on their cell phones checking the stock market or texting their hunt buds.

If you are a deer hunter, there is a certain irony in taking too many gadgets and distractions into the woods. After all, the solitude and the simplicity have always been the main attraction for most of us who hunt, right? “Simple pleasures are the last healthy refuge in a complex world,’ said Oscar Wilde.

Homer Spit lives on a lake in Maine. He likes to keep a low profile.

Page 46

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Anticosti

by Mark Cote, Rumford, ME It was the last week of November; so far I hadn’t seen anything other than a bunch of does, skips, and one spike horn with 10” tall needles. I hoped that today

The doe stopped.

Her mouth was wide open and her tongue was hanging out.

The steam of her breath made vapor clouds over her head. She had obviously been running for a while.

was going to be the day the big boy presented himself.

I got to my stand before daylight. It was supposed to be the perfect day; the overnight temperature was twenty degrees and there was no moon. A low pressure system was approaching and the rut was

in full swing. Just one day before, I watched the spike I mentioned chasing a hot doe for 2 hours in the forty acre field my stand overlooks.

There was no noticeable wind…it was dead silence. As the sun crested the horizon, I reveled in the serenity, knowing I was insulated from the stresses of the world. No phones, no traffic, no conflict of any kind. I was in my happy place. I live for this time of year.

As the world woke up, turkeys could be heard descending from their roosts.

I heard cattle in the distance saying good morning to one another, and crows calling from every direction, welcoming the new day.

It was now legal shooting time, it was time to load my rifle. My binoculars gave me the ability

October 2021

A Shot for the Food Chain to gather enough light to scan the perimeter of the field. Without them, it was difficult to see effectively.

As the morning progressed and it became easier to see, shadows disappeared. Bushes that looked like deer looked like bushes once again.

Turkeys were now in the field and a porcupine began grazing on clover to my far left, 320 yards away according to my range finder.

I was adequately set up for the long shots presented by a forty acre field. I have a pop up blind equipped with a bench style table, bi-pods on my Browning X-bolt .30-06 with a long range varmint style Leupold scope zeroed in at 250 yards. All I needed was the opportunity.

Suddenly, from my left, I spied a doe in an all out run. My opportunity was imminent. My heart raced, my belly burned.

All the hundreds of rounds fired at the rifle range couldn’t possibly prepare me for the adrenaline rush I felt. I knew that every beat of my heart had the ability to move the crosshairs of my scope. It is the feeling that keeps me hunting.

The doe stopped.

Her mouth was wide open and her tongue was hanging out. The steam of her

The author with the coyote he anchored amidst a coyote-deer chase. breath made vapor clouds ticed this shot hundreds over her head. She had ob- of times at the range. As viously been running for a long as I could control my while. She looked behind breathing, I should be able her intently…and so did to make the shot on her I. Where was the big buck pursuer. that was after her? The low She bolted for another light conditions made it 50 yards and stopped, out hard to spot her stalker. of strength, to look beShe couldn’t decide hind her, gasping for every whether to stay in the field breath. She was exhausted.

The buck I expected or retreat to the cover of the brook bed that bordered the to see chasing her was field. Her movements were not the trophy buck I was jittery and undetermined. hoping for at all, it was a Her indecision gave me coyote! A stinking coyote! the opportunity to range At any rate, it was time to her distance. She was 217 flip the safety off. I squared yards away. I have prac- off, my bi-pods were down, I was in a locked position; it was time to roll.

The doe ran, and so did the coyote. I yelled, which normally makes a coyote stop, but this one had breakfast on its mind.

I took a running shot, but unsurprisingly missed. It stopped and ran back the way it came from. I reloaded and yelled again. It continued to run. I fired again, (Food Chain cont. pg 59)

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Page 47

Broadheads for Coyote

Archery equipment has been evolving since the time of our ancestors. Today all the smart tech firms are working hard in the hunting industry to bring forth more reliable archery tackle. It is possible in this day and age to harvest every game species with a bow.

Try shooting a coyote with your bow and arrow!

Now that’s a difficult undertaking worth facing!

Most hunters may not dream about shooting a coyote with archery equipment. Some folk may regard it as a waste of time.

I’m definitely one of the minority. I hunt almost every game animal in Maine with my bow and the coyote brings to the table a difficult challenge.

My setup includes the REALM compound bow by Bowtech, set at a 65- pound draw, Maxima RED carbon arrows tipped with the Trauma broadhead

by Dead Ringer Hunting, plus a RETINA LOCK fiber optic bow sight by Feradyne Outdoors. A deadly combination for any type of hunting. I’ve hunted with Bear bows, Golden Eagle bows, and Matthews bows but have been the happiest with Bowtech, thus far.

Same goes for broadheads.

I’ve hunted and killed game with many different types.

I’ve used the Thunderheads, Rage and Muzzy,

but the devastating exit holes – up to three inches - along with thick blood trails left behind by the Trauma broadhead makes it a coyote’s worst nightmare.

All broadheads made for big game hunting will work. Go with what makes you feel confident in your rigging. Being confident makes you hunt smarter

the country side like a twister bringing forth hybrid broadheads, shotgun sights and other items, like the Hammock Seat. The Hammock Seat can be a bowhunter’s best friend when ambushing a coyote from ground level.

Dead Ringer Hunting is right on the heels of Primo’s and Hunters

On The Prowl

by Justin Merrill, Cherryfield, ME coyotes for the reason that it is aerodynamic in flight, being no thicker than my carbon arrow, allowing me to shoot through the tiniest of shooting holes.

To top it all off, the coyote will never know what hit him! Dead Ringer would say, “Devastation Beyond Belief”!

When bowhunting

have killed deer and bears with the Rage. I made the switch before hunting the coyote with my bow. I’ve chosen the Trauma over the Rage to use when hunting coyotes for the simple reason that it is narrower and has a stronger “O” ring that won’t disengage the blades in flight before hitting the target. This “O” ring on the

All broadheads made for big game hunting will work. Go with what makes you feel confident in your rigging.

Being confident makes you hunt smarter and better.

and better. Thus making you more successful.

Have you watched the Verminator – Predator or Prey DVDs? I’ve followed Randy Anderson and Rick Paillet for many years and have tried their predator hunting methods along with the same archery tackle with some success. Like every other new fad out there, the old gets replaced with the new, and the same goes for hunting equipment.

Dead Ringer Hunting happens to be a fairly new company that has taken the hunting industry by storm sweeping through

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Specialties in regards to popularity. Although they may have a long way to go, Dead Ringer Hunting has partnered with many hunting shows. If people haven’t asked about this company while shopping at hunting retailers then they soon will be. I’ve been using their Trauma broadhead while hunting

coyote in the North East, like Maine, most shooting lanes have tree limbs and tiny branches - that you swear weren’t there when you set up your ambush.

So it pays to have a broadhead that won’t snag on those “hidden” branches, like a lot of fixed blade broadheads would. There are other sleek expandable broadheads on the market, like the Rage, that would work fine for shooting coyotes in thick brush. I

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Trauma won’t break after dozens of shots and can be slid right back up the ferrule to lock blades in position to be used again, even after passing through a coyote. Field point accuracy is what I get on every shot from my bow when using any type of expandable broadhead but have yet to find any flaws with the Trauma. This broadhead has been super for small game and even deer. I’ve (Coyote cont. pg 52)

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Page 48

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Kineo Currents

by Suzanne AuClair, Rockwood, ME

Moosehead Lake and the waters connected to it so far are clean, cold, and well oxygenated. We are home to the last stronghold of native wild brook trout along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. We’ve been fortunate so far because we are located in what has been a remote area. This is changing quickly now.

Over the past two years, long lines of traffic are coming up over Indian Hill and bringing with it a new kind of tourist that has not been a large part of existence here before. They are bringing with them, from somewhere else, large boats, cigar boats, and jet skis. While this type of recreation is common in populated areas, like at Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire, it has not been here.

With the new influx,

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one of the greatest concerns by some locals is how to keep the Moosehead Lake region free of invasive plants, fish, and other hitchhiking invasive plants that can unknowingly be

Invasive Aquatic Plants

has choked out many of Maine’s lakes and ponds south of here, result in habitat losses that can never really be rectified, loss of property values, poor water quality, and loss of fishing, swimming, boating and other water recreation opportunities. Once the water is infested, the quality of place is forever changed.

Controlling the expansion

life says that the word “invasive” is used for the most aggressive non-native species that grow and reproduce quickly, and can spread with or without human help. It says that the estimated damage from invasives worldwide totals five percent of the global economy. The estimated cost of damage in the U.S. is said to be about $120

With the new influx, one of the greatest concerns by some locals is how to keep the Moosehead Lake region free of invasive plants, fish, and other hitchhiking invasive plants that can unknowingly be latched onto the incoming transporters. latched onto the incoming transporters. Then take root in Moosehead Lake, and filter into Maine’s North Woods. This would be one of the greatest tragedies of this century for the North Woods.

How well the tourist industry folds the care of our clear waters into its marketing plans will make all the difference in how people will know about, and care about, it too. In other places, like Sebago Lake in southern Maine, we’re way beyond a day late and a dollar short.

Invasive infestations, like the milfoil that

October 2021

of something like milfoil is next to impossible. Water quality experts say the best way to conserve valuable waters is through education. What this says to me is that the Maine Office of Tourism ought to incorporate this into all of its marketing. It would be easy to do, and could be done in a fun way, pulling vacationers, families and kids all on board, like what Smokey Bear did for camping when we were growing up. It’s amazing what people can do when they get behind something.

The Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wild-

Greenville

billion annually. In Maine, it runs in the millions.

Closer to home, Sebago Lake is said to be one of the most popular boating lakes in Maine and New England. The milfoil found in Sebago can easily be spread to other lakes in that region, since boats are considered the primary ways these plants move.

Milfoil has become a problem in many lakes south of here. Not only that, but with the new mode higher travels from south to north, it’s a pretty good bet that those boats will make it to Moosehead Lake. Again, people are flocking into the North Woods now as never before, with license plates from all of the U.S. It’s just a matter of time before this problem comes here, as it has elsewhere.

This summer a local group, Friends of Wilson Ponds, celebrated their 30th anniversary with a program here in town. In it, they talked about how to identify and help conserve Moosehead’s stellar natural resources. One way they mentioned was to join an on-line mapping tool. Very easy! One is called iMapIn-

vasives. Check out the info on the Maine Natural Areas Program. Part of their mission is to conserve Maine’s natural heritage. It’s a new world out there. As waters throughout Maine become connected in ways not easily done before, and so the spread of invasives, the good part is information can spread almost as easily.

According to the organization called Maine Lakes, a motorboat or fishing lure that passes through a bunch of variable leaf and eurasian milfoil can carry chopped up pieces. Each piece is capable of forming a new plant. Milfoil can move from lake to lake on a propeller, trailer, fishing gear or anchor. Thick mats form, robbing water of oxygen and increasing sedimentation. These mats become so dense that swimming, boating, and fishing are greatly impeded — not what we want to see sully here. Likely, it would make a mess of our native cold-water fisheries, like the prized wild brook trout.

Because Moosehead is now almost 100 percent reliant on outdoor recreational tourism as its main economy, it’s a short leap for Maine tourism marketers to include a new version of Smokey in our state’s advertising campaigns, sooner, rather than later.

Just like the moose and the lobster.

Suzanne AuClair lives near Rockwood. She has been writing about the Moosehead Lake region for 27 years and produced “The Origins, Formation & History of Maine’s Inland Fisheries Division.”

She is an award-winning member of the New England Outdoor Writers Assn.

October 2021

Me & Joe

(Cont. from pg 19) “Uh…ma’am…”

Lloyd Primerate, the owner of the local bank, raised a tentative hand. Hester turned on him abruptly.

“What?”

“Uh…that is…you can’t actually sell the house…it’s not yours.”

Lloyd quailed at her wrath and took a step back.

“What do you mean, you little twerp? I inherited all my husband’s property!”

“But the house and the land wasn’t his to leave,” Primrate said nervously.

“He actually owed more to the bank than the property was worth.”

Hester flushed a beet red. It was almost possible to see steam rolling from her ears. “Fine!” she shouted. “Keep the house!

I want nothing more to do with it or this despicable town! Come on, Gretchen!

Let’s get out of here!” She wrenched open the passenger door of the Cadillac and lunged inside, slamming the door behind her.

Her sister, as large, square, and prepossessing as Hester, albeit with a heavy layer of makeup on her face and class in a dress that must have cost hundreds of dollars, took a step closer to the sidewalk

Northwoods Sporting Journal and laid a hand on Pinch Brody’s arm.

“And why might you be, big boy?” She smiled sweetly, displaying several gold caps.

“Uh…my name is… that is…I’m Warden Brody, ma’am.” Pinch said in dismay.

“And tell me, Warden Brody, are you married?”

“Yes, ma’am, I am!”

Brody said instantly. “Happily!”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Gretchen said with a look of dissatisfaction on her face. “Well,” she patted his arm. “If you ever decide to get a divorce, you just give me a call. I’m in the book!”

Brody gulped audibly and nodded his head.

Gretchen flounced around the car and slid into the driver’s seat. The engine roared and, without a backward glance from either woman, the car lurched off down the road toward Ashland.

Pinch Brody mopped his face with a handkerchief. Joe stepped over beside him.

“Pinch,” he said quietly, “you ain’t married.”

“Shut up!” Brody hissed angrily. “She might hear you and turn back!”

“Well,” Joe continued amiably, “all’s well that ends well.”

“Ends well?” Brody

said sarcastically. “Yeah, the town might have gotten rid of that hag, but you can’t tell me if ended well for poor ol’ Jonah Meek.”

“Oh, I don’t know…”

Joe turned and looked at his Jeep where it sat behind the crowd of townspeople. A voice sounded nervously from inside the vehicle.

“Is she really gone?”

Slowly, in a tangle of legs and arms, Jonas Meek unfolded himself from the back of the Jeep and stood on the street. Immediately, the crowd began to clap and cheer. Jonas grinned shyly.

Warden Brody stared.

“But…but…but…he’s supposed to be dead!”

“He is dead, as far as that woman is concerned,” Joe agreed, staring off down the road where a cloud of dust marked the Cadillac’s passage.

“You cost the state search money!” Body shook angry finger in Meek’s direction. “And you!” he swung the finger to include the townspeople who were now staring at him. “You all were in on this! You knew he was alive!”

“Of course we knew,” Mildred Incontinence said with asperity. “This situation had gone on long enough! We knew if Jonah died, that woman would

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Page 49

leave and never come back. We just supplied her with the justification.” She smiled up at Brody. “In this area, we take care of our own!” A murmur of agreement rose from the crowd. Joe laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Come on, Pinch. You don’t want to get these folks mad at you for no good reason.” He guided the game warden off down the boardwalk.

“You knew about this from the start,” Brody accused.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Jonah has been staying in Joe’s back shed. It’s a little cramped, but we fed him well.”

“And the meat…the bear?”

“The meat an’ bones were from Hogan Flensing’s slaughterhouse. We took it over the river to where that bear’s been prowlin’ in my canoe.”

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“And you missed that bear. On purpose!” Brody continued, scowling once more.

“Yeah,” Joe agreed sadly. “Kinda hated to do that…bad for my reputation. But I wouldn’t of kilt that bear for anything. He done the trick.”

Brody nodded slowly.

“And Jonah will go back and live in his mortgaged house and trap fur and live a happy life. “ T h a t ’s w h a t w e hope,” Joe nodded. “But life is an uncertain thing.

Jest like with you, warden,” he said looking over at Brody. “I mean, if’n that Gretchen woman was ever to call you up an’ suggest anything, why, it’s a good thing to know that you’d have the whole dang town on yore side.”

Brody shuddered again, and started off down the boardwalk. “Amen!” he agreed. “Amen to that!”

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 50

Vermont Ramblings

by Dennis Jensen, Vermont Fall smoke pole season did not go as planned.

When the Vermont Fish & Wildlife introduced the first-ever fall muzzleloader hunt last October, I was pretty confident about my prospects for success.

Held at the very end of Oc-

The Hunt: Definitions of Success

deer at those distances.

Well, the season came and what do you know?

Over two mornings, I had two different spiked bucks well within killing range.

But all antlered bucks were not legal during this special hunt. And, sad to say, I

Reflecting on this later, I got a good feeling about coming so close to killing that deer; but it was not to be. tober, I was almost certain that I could tag a goodsized doe during the limited, four-day hunt.

The fact is, during archery seasons over the past decade or so, I had a fair number of mature does out in front of me, but almost all of those deer stayed beyond the 40, 50 or 60-yard range. While I have a sight for those 40-yard shots with my crossbow, I did not feel confident at that range.

But my trusty smoke pole could take care of any

never saw a single doe over those four days.

What happened?

Over-confidence, for one thing. Also, I remained at that same ground blind — the one where I had taken does two consecutive years during the December muzzleloader season — and that proved to be a big miscalculation. The problem, if you want to call it that, was the abundance of acorns and the place I hunted had a few very big red oak trees but did not

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A young deer pauses while feeding in a field not far from the author’s home. The fall muzzleloader season will be held in Vermont Oct. 28-31. (Photo by Dennis Jensen) carry the numbers where an abundance of oaks elsewhere meant an abundance of acorns on the ground.

While on the subject of success or failure, I believe that those two words are loaded with meaning because, over the years, I have come to alter the definitions of both of those words. Back in the older

days, I measured success strictly on the basis of whether I killed a deer or did not.

Today, I still want to kill a deer, of course. But my definition of success has altered somewhat. One morning, during the fall bow season last year, I was surprised by a mature doe that had come down, silently, from the big ridge behind my ground blind. I only saw a patch of brown, at first, and then the deer turned to my blind side, thick woods, to my right and vanished. I cursed

to myself for not spotting the deer earlier. About five minutes later, I caught movement, again to my right and that same deer was headed back up the hill but this time I had open woods offering a decent shot.

I was seated in the opposite direction and had the task of turning 180 degrees and any movement would have been easily detected.

Then the doe paused, with her head completely behind a bull pine and I turned, settled the bow for a shot just as she would step out, at 20 yards, but that did not happen. Instead, she turned and with only her rear end offering a shot, she sauntered uphill. I passed on taking that poor shot..

Reflecting on this later, I got a good feeling about coming so close to killing that deer; but it was not to be. Was that a successful morning in the woods? It clearly was for me.

Dennis Jensen is the outdoor editor for the Rutland Herald and the Barre Times Argus in Vermont and a freelance writer.

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October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October Is My Favorite Month

As regular readers of this column know, October is my favorite month. It is a beautiful time to be afield or on the water. The foliage is at peak and the biting bugs are gone. Although mornings may be chilly, the freezing temperatures that we will experience while deer hunting in November have not arrived.

Although many of us devote much of October to

to four deer in Vermont’s two-part archery season if they do not shoot any deer in the other deer seasons. The purchase of an archery deer license and tag is required for each deer. No more than one of the deer taken during archery season may be a legal buck if no buck is taken in the other deer seasons.

Antlerless deer hunting is allowed during archery

Novice weekend is also October 23-24. A Novice is a person who purchased their first hunting license within the past 12 months and is 16 years of age or older.

The muzzleloader antlerless season is October 28-31 for those with WMU specific permits.

Bears are plentiful and farmers across the state are welcoming hunters

A hunter may take up to four deer in Vermont’s two-part archery season if they do not shoot any deer in the other deer seasons. hunting and scouting, fishing is often quite good and there is little competition from other anglers.

Brook, brown, rainbow and lake trout and landlocked salmon seasons do not end until October 31. The same is true for both largemouth and smallmouth bass.

As the waters have cooled, lake trout and salmon have come up from the depths and are feeding in anticipation of being iced in. Down riggers and lead core lines needed to get down to the depths they inhabit during the summer are no longer needed.

Some of my most memorable October experiences involved days spent fishing remote mountain streams for brook trout while also hunting ruffed grouse or partridge as we know them in Vermont.

A small pack rod is easily carried and does not interfere with shouldering my shotgun.

Those of us who hunt with a bow or cross bow will be out October 1 for the first part of the archery deer season which continues to November 12.

A hunter may take up

season statewide this year.

Hunters planning a Vermont archery deer hunting trip will find it helpful to download a copy of the 2021 White-tailed Deer Harvest Report from Fish and Wildlife’s website with this link: https://tinyurl. com/nz4ej23m. It has the number of deer taken in each town in last year’s deer hunting seasons.

A crossbow may be used by anyone.

Youth weekend is October 23-24 and one deer of either sex may be taken with no antler restriction.

to reduce the populations that can destroy acres of corn. The season continues through November 21.

Turkey season for archery only is October 2-22. Archery or shotgun season is October 23-31 or November 7 depending on the WMU. Ruffed grouse, and gray squirrel seasons continue through December 31 and snowshoe hare through the second Sunday in March.

Woodcock are legal statewide through November 8.

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Page 51

Outdoors In Vermont

by Gary W. Moore, Bradford, VT

There are three zones for waterfowl, Lake Champlain, Interior and Connecticut River.

Duck hunting opens October 13 in the Champlain and Interior zone and October 5 in the Connecticut River zone.

Be sure to check the syllabus of state and federal hunting regulations for migratory birds and know which zone you will be hunting in.

Be very familiar with the Vermont Hunting and Trapping Guide which can be picked up at license outlets or viewed on line at https://vtfishandwildlife. com.

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and fishing for the species you seek to avoid a violation that can ruin your day and the whole season.

Get out, hunt, fish, canoe, hike or simply take a walk. October is the best month for outside activity.

Syndicated columnist Gary W. Moore is a life long resident of Vermont and a former Commissioner of Fish and Game.

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Page 52

Coyote

(Cont. from pg 47) seen the Trauma being used for shooting a turkey and the large bird never made it twenty yards. I would say thats an all around arrowhead, in my opinion.

All broadheads will

Northwoods Sporting Journal kill a coyote but not all will fly flawlessly or slip through thick brush like that of a .243 or .270 bullet. I used to love the fixed three blade Thunderheads

by NAP and have harvested a handful of deer and small game with that broadhead like the snowshoe hare.

I once thought I would

never change broadheads.

All hunters exude some amount of skepticism when trying out new equipment and I am no different. I scrutinize everything when it comes to my weapons.

I don’t, and no one else, wants their equipment to fail upon the moment of truth. I must have shot

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October 2021

the Trauma broadhead at my 3D coyote target two hundred times, in all types of shooting scenarios, before I went hunting with it. All that practice had not been in vain. Despite my occasional bad aiming or poor follow through, the majority of the shots were “dead on”.

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Permits

(Cont. from pg 45) available, it is possible that you could legally harvest 5 does in a season – or 1 buck and 4 does.

Lastly – Regular archery season. In this season, you may legally harvest a doe in any WMD that offers doe permits. No need for permit; however, if you do this, you are done, no more deer for you -unless you won a superpack tag or bonus tag.

To put all of this another way – the only way you may kill a doe and still be able to kill buck is to have won either a superpack doe permit or a bonus doe permit. Which brings me to my final thought which I hope the deer management gurus at IF&W will seriously consider.

Regular archery season. To further promote opportunity and help along with deer management goals. I propose that the regular archery season be amended so that bow and crossbow hunters be allowed to kill one doe, without a special permit in any WMDs that currently offers bonus tags. Give this a trial run for a season and look at the harvest numbers. Given how many bonus tags are being awarded and not used, this option seems a good one in my eyes. I sure would like an opportunity to doe hunt with my bow, in the regular archery season, in a broad range of WMDs and still have the opportunity to hunt for a buck in firearms and muzzleloader season. This law change would allow that to happen.

Josh Reynolds is the Assistant Editor of The Journal. He can be reached at jreyn207@gmail.com.

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Fascinating Hunter Study

October is my month.

Hunting and fishing options abound. Trout and bass fishing are open in rivers, streams and trout ponds until October 15th.

Some of the best fall days I have had have been fly fishing for brookies, rainbows and browns on the Androscoggin River below Errol.

I enjoy the areas around the Seven Islands Bridge and a couple of spots in the Thirteen Mile Woods stretch. If you head over there, make sure you have some sculpin streamers in your vest and maybe a Muddler Minnow or two. They’ve worked for me.

Pheasant season opens on October 1 st and runs through the end of December. The fall shotgun season for turkey runs the week of October 11th – 17th ONLY in WMUs D2, G, H1, H2, I1, I2, J1, J2, K, L and M. Hunters who didn’t fill both turkey tags during the 2021 spring season may harvest one bird during either the fall archery (which runs through December 15th) or fall shotgun season. And, new this fall, hunters have

the option of harvesting a bird using a .410-gauge or 28-gauge shotgun with certain ammunition requirements. Hunters will also continue to have the option to register their birds either online or in person.

Regardless of registration method, hunters must register their turkey within 24

hours of harvest.

Our moose season for those lucky permit winners back in June, is October 16th – October 24th.

The Youth Deer hunting weekend will be October 23 rd and 24 th and the muzzleloader season for the “Big Kids” opens the following weekend (October 30th) and will run through Tuesday, November 9th. This year at least, we won’t have the opening weekend of muzzleloader hunting interrupted by the end of daylight savings time like we did last year.

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Squirrel Season is now open and get set for training your eye by hunting for squirrels. By the time the Rifle Deer Season comes along your eye should be right on and hopefully help you shoot and kill that exclusive white tail buck of your dreams.

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New Hampshire Outdoors

by Peter St. James, Warner, N.H. tance between the hunters stands and the nearest open road. That’s the average distance! The study went on to say that 90% of the hunting pressure occurred on 51% of the areas in the

247 yards was the average distance between the hunters stands and the nearest open road. The study went on to say that 90% of the hunting pressure occurred on 51% of the areas in the WMAs. So, there was little or no hunting on the other 49% of the land.

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We don’t have to set the clocks back until Sunday, November 7th. Getting up at one time on opening day and then an hour earlier the next day doesn’t make for establishing a good routine.

I read a story recently that surprised me but also reaffirmed what I had thought for a while. The

Page 53

www.vtfieldsports.com

article was based on a study

by Jackie Rosenberger of the University of Georgia Deer Lab. In the study they used GPS to track fiftyeight volunteer hunters in two Georgia Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs).

Her study found that 247 yards was the average dis-

WMAs. So, there was little or no hunting on the other 49% of the land. In the study, hunters preferred areas near the roads and they avoided steeper terrain which in turn created deer sanctuaries in more remote and rugged areas.

We all know that as

hunters age, the desire to hoof up some funnels and ridges may still be there but sometimes their legs and lungs are telling them otherwise. The fact that they’re still out there hunting though is the upside to that story. So, if you find someone that’s content doing some borderline Road Warrior hunting, just get past them and the deer than have been pushed away from the road will be in that unhunted 49% just waiting for you. Or, something like that? But then, maybe on your way in, you’ll bounce a deer back toward one of the Road Warriors who will be thankful for the fact (Study cont. pg 56)

Page 54

Green Mountain Report

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Vermont Duck Fever

by Bradley Carleton, Charlotte, VT October. What’s not to love? The fragrance of woodsmoke in the air. The scent of the lake turning over. The wonderfully cool nights and outrageous colors of autumn in Vermont.

The late-night smell of fresh cut hay awakens me from a deep slumber. The clock glows it’s obscenely chartreuse digits. 3:04 a.m.

26 more minutes until I wake up and head to the duck. Oh, heck! I can’t get back to sleep. Might as well get up and get that first cup of French roast I can smell wafting up from the kitchen. Within minutes, I am out the door. I’m borrowing an old truck this year since my trusty Tundra finally died. The old diesel engine chuckles to life and I pull out of the driveway in a cloud of smoke. John meets me at the dock and we putt across the bay to

our favorite Opening Day honey hole. His new pup, Finbar, is washing my face as we ride into the swamp.

We set up the blind, arranging the guns, shells, blind bags, and calls, then assign Finbar to “his place” where he can watch over the spread and mark the birds that fall. The eastern sky begins to unfold in all its glory. Dark purple turns to helio, then sage and finally the glowing orb begins to fill the sky with a

we say at the same time.

Five more minutes until legal shooting. I have my phone alarm set to go off at the appointed hour.

Suddenly a series of loud quacks break the silence.

John turns to me and says

retrieve. Later I will sit in my tree stand and smile at our good fortune at the beginning of a perfect October day.

This year, barring any further setbacks from the pandemic, Dead Creek Day

At the barking of his trusty old Benelli, two birds fall into the spread. Finbar rockets out of the blind for his first real live retrieve. Later I will sit in my tree stand and smile at our good fortune at the beginning of a perfect October day. magnificent burnt orange.

Overhead, we hear the whooshing of wings and then a peep. Something splashes into the water in front of us. It cries a lonely “whoo-eeeek.” “Woody”

“Dammit Carleton, you got me again! I swear every year that I’m not gonna’ fall for that doggone ringtone and every year you catch me!” Then, as if magic, the sound returns over the decoys, an answer to the ringtone. Three large mallards are backpedaling into the spread, legs down.

“Take ‘em John!” I whisper loudly. At the barking of his trusty old Benelli, two birds fall into the spread.

Finbar rockets out of the blind for his first real live

in Addison will commence on Saturday, October 2 at the Dead Creek Wildlife Refuge in Addison, VT. It’s a great day full of waterfowling exhibits, seminars and contests. There will be bird banding, decoy carving, hunting dog handling, fishing how-tos, building bird boxes and live critter exhibits. My hunting partners, John and Chris will be there to help with a goose calling and equipment seminar, complete with blinds that the kids

can crawl into. Out talented friend Ken Bora, of Burlington, will bring his big Chesapeake to demonstrate retrieves and pass out dog kisses to anyone who is interested. We have such a blast! The kids will get a chance to blow a goose call and handle decoys and learn a lot about goose hunting in Vermont.

I recently became aware of a local phenomenon that seems to be catching on across the state.

Vermont now has 13 bass fishing teams in our high schools throughout the state. I interviewed one of the volunteers, Dan Conley and he told me all about it.

Dan co-coaches the Champlain Valley Union RedHawks team along with Jim Turnbaugh of Burlington.

This is there fourth year competing against other schools across the state.

(Fever cont. pg 59)

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

The Washington Loon Count

I really enjoy being the coordinator for the Washington County, Maine Annual Loon Count. It allows me the opportunity to analyze all data concerning Common Loon status from

breeding age of six-seven years. During the very vulnerable first year, they have to survive predation by snapping turtles, large fish, and bald eagles. Often baby loons ride on top

parents and learn to fly and forage for food. The juvenile loons then leave them and form groups called “rafts”.

I was told that before the half hour count, two chicks were witnessed being killed by a snapping turtle and a bald eagle. And five adults were seen after the count and two adults

Page 55

The Bird Perch

by Karen Holmes, Cooper, ME

cessful. Eggs were never seen or just disappeared.

Thirteen chicks came from nests in unknown locations. These did not have predation from foxes, skunks, otters and racoons.

there are many actions that can be done to help to produce and maintain a healthy loon population. They can help protect loon habitat and even build and locate loon nest platforms. They can sponsor collection bins In 2015 65 adults and 8 chicks were where lead tackle can be reported while this year 97 adults and disposed of. They can vol15 chicks were seen. Maine Audubon unteer to count loons durwill receive our 2021 count as well as ing the annual loon count and even monitor loons all those from all over Maine. It will be year long. Studying and interesting to see their conclusions. were found floating dead Heavy rains did not flood protecting loons is imporbefore the count. These the nests. Human distur- tant because they are an inThe loon count indicates that loon numbers in were not necropsied and bance at the sites was prob- dicator species for healthy Washington County are on the upswing. so whether they were killed ably low. It was reported to aquatic habitats. Loons can several water bodies there. of their parents’ backs to by boat strikes, predation me this year that boaters evoke a genuine feeling for I have been the volunteer avoid them. Loon adults or died from some sort of and jet skiers were often a the environment. They are coordinator since 2015 and chicks have large feet illness is unknown. concern for people watch- “the voice of the wilderness,” which many of us which is providing a truly protruding at the back like Washington County ing the known nest sites. interesting learning expe- propellers of a submarine. in 2021 actually had 104 They produced high cherish and protect. rience. I have determined This causes the newly adults and 17 chicks. From waves hitting shorelines that the numbers of the born downy chicks to espe- analyzing data over the and therefore disobeyed Karen Holmes does as adults and chicks reported cially lose body heat. They years, I have also con- the state law of keeping much volunteer work for during the count in Wash- can stay warmer aboard cluded that more nests are speed down until being various organizations as ington County are steadily their parents until their being seen and reported 200 feet from shorelines. she can. She truly believes increasing. downy plumage is replaced every year in Washing- These infractions were all of us must do what we In 2015 65 adults and by feathers. All loon chicks ton County. One nest was reported to game wardens can to preserve wildlife 8 chicks were reported cannot fly for about three observed to successfully and hopefully they will be for future generations. She while this year 97 adults months after hatching. hatch out two chicks, while stopped in the future. I al- lives in Cooper, Downeast and 15 chicks were seen. They remain with their four others were unsuc- ways explain to people that Maine.

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 56

MA Hunting Abounds

Mass Wanderings

by David Willette, N. Adams, MA By the time you read this the Massachusetts hunting season will be in full swing. September 7th, is the starting date for Black bears, running until September 25th and then shutting down until November 1 where it runs until November 20th, when it shuts down again until November 29th, run-

incidentally. I encourage all bow hunters to get a bear tag, ($5), as you never know when a bear will walk by your tree stand and bear season is open for nearly the whole month of November, prime time to be hunting deer. A bear’s coat is much fuller at that time of year as well. The best bear hunting is in the

Last year Bay State hunters put the smack down on nearly 15,000 whitetails, and for the second year in a row, bow hunters led that charge, killing 6,655 deer, compared to 5,138 deer killed by gun hunters. ning until December 11th.

Please read all the rules and regulations before heading out as there are certain weapon requirements and limitations. Massachusetts has a healthy bear population proven by the year to year increase in nuisance bear encounters. Last year hunters killed 325 bears.

There is no baiting bears or running bears with dogs so you either have to scout very hard and find a place where bears frequent often or get lucky and take a bear

western end of the state where Berkshire County nearly doubles and other county in dead bears.

Small game hunting gets rolling in the midOctober when pheasant, rabbit, quail, coyote and grouse are fair game. I’ve never seen so many rabbits this year as compared to other years. There are two to three rabbits on every lawn in the state it seems.

I have no idea if this carries over into the woods where its legal to shoot them but

if it does then you better bring plenty of shells. If the rabbit population is an indicator, (over-population of prey animals), then there “shouldn’t” be a lot of coyotes. We’ll have to wait and see on that. Grouse are almost non-existent where I live. I can’t remember the last time that I flushed a grouse. Pheasants are always fun and the state does a great job of stocking them too, mixing up the days and times when DFW stocks birds making it difficult for hunting to pattern the stocking trucks.

I don’t know how much of that exists any more though as the state lands are a lot less crowded that they used to be. There are some proposed new regulations for pheasant hunting, such as establishing a pheasant/ quail permit and eliminating season bag limits. The current limit is six birds.

I don’t know if this is a good idea as it could entice hunters to slaughter the birds if they hit it just right on stocking days.

There’s also a proposal to implement a rooster only restriction. It used to be that way a long time ago but was changed because the hens didn’t winter over well and almost all of

them would die. I can’t see how that’s changed.

Waterfowl hunters should pay attention to the season dates as they are all over the calendar with early seasons for Canada Geese, Rail, and Snipe, but most waterfowl seasons open in mid-October. And almost all waterfowl have a split season.

The crowning jewel, (if you can call it that), is of course deer season.

Downstate near Boston the archery season opens on October 4th, which is two weeks earlier than the rest of the state, which opens on October 18th.

Bow season for everyone ends on November 27th.

Last year Bay State hunters put the smack down on nearly 15,000 whitetails, and for the second year in a row, bow hunters led that charge, killing 6,655 deer, compared to 5,138 deer killed by gun hunters. Gun season opens on November 29th and runs until December 11th and the muzzle-loader season, (2,842 deer killed), opens December 13th and closes December 31st. The surplus antler less deer permits will become available in late September. Massachusetts has a very healthy

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David Willette is the author of “Coyote Wars”.

He can be contacted at coyotewars@gmail.com

Study

(Cont. from pg 53) that you wanted to hunt the hard stuff. There really are no easy answers when it comes to hunting are there?

Peter St. James is a member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, Outdoor Writers Association of America, is a licensed NH Fishing Guide and has a daily radio show on WNTK-99.7FM. Reach him at: stjames.peter@ gmail.com

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 57

Sled Maintenance Time

I am already thinking about riding my snowmobile and thinking about places I want to ride to when the trails open. My garden harvests are winding down. I have canned all of my garden vegetables and the evenings are cool making me think about the coming winter. For me, I start with pre-season main-

year, then have the dealership do the maintenance the next. I like having the mechanics at the dealership go through everything since they are the real experts and may be more likely to notice a problem that I might not.

If you are busy and don’t know if you will find the time to do the mainte-

The older your sled and the more miles it has, the more important the entire checklist becomes. (Photo by Rod Fraser) tenance. You can do your nance yourself, I strongly preseason maintenance recommend having a dealer yourself, but this year, I do your pre-season work. will take my sled to the lo- It is well worth the money cal Polaris dealership and to know that your sled is them do it for me. I just ready to go when the snow have too many fall projects.

Whether you do the maintenance yourself or take it to the local dealership, I believe pre-season maintenance is a must-do. I know people who think that pre-season maintenance is unnecessary, but I believe that my snowmobile is an important piece of machinery that must be well maintained in order to ensure reliable performance. I like to alternate and do the maintenance myself one

starts to fly and it gives you peace of mind knowing it is completed and you are ready to go.

If you are conducting the pre-season maintenance yourself, refer to your owner’s manual.

Your owner’s manual has a maintenance checklist that indicates what you should be inspecting, cleaning, and replacing as part of the pre-season maintenance.

Additionally, I recommend you keep a record of mileage when certain actions are taken. The manufacturers have recommended mileages for maintenance

The Trail Rider

by Rod Fraser, Hyde Park, MA maintenance intervals. I usually log between 1500 - 2000 miles per year, so having these things done once a year, at pre-season maintenance, keeps me on track without really having to worry about the mileage since the last change. If you are having the maintenance done by your dealership, make sure you communicate that you want all of these things replaced, not just inspected.

groomed is the wrong time to discover a problem that takes you off the trails.

When inspecting your track and studs, pay careful attention to each stud and make sure that none are tearing the track. A torn track at the stud can result in a puncture of the forward heat exchanger and associated coolant loss and overheating. This happened to me a few years ago on an older sled. When I was out on the trail, the track tear Most manufacturers recommend increased just enough so changing your spark plugs, engine that the centrifugal force coolant, crankcase oil, fuel filter, oil of the track at high speed filter, and suspension shock oil every caused the stud to hit the 2,000 miles. heat exchanger. Getting actions so keeping track of The older your sled towed to the nearest road mileage is extremely help- and the more miles it has, and waiting to get picked ful and also demonstrates the more important the up was not my idea of a fun excellent care to prospec- entire checklist becomes. afternoon. Get your pretive buyers when selling Hoses become hard and season maintenance done your snowmobile. brittle and can leak. Re- and get ready to ride!

Most manufacturers placing old hoses pre-seaRod Fraser is an avid recommend changing your son sure beats replacing spark plugs, engine cool- them in the middle of Feb- outdoorsman and twentyant, crankcase oil, fuel ruary. Bushings dry out, year Navy veteran. Origifilter, oil filter, and suspen- shrink and wear-causing nally from Maine and livsion shock oil every 2,000 problems with suspension ing in Rhode Island, Rod miles. If you are a heavy and steering which can also has written extensively rider who logs in a lot of be a safety and control is- about snowmobiling. Visit miles, tracking mileage is sue. When we have plenty his website at www.roderimperative to keeping these of snow and the trails are ickfraser.com

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 58

The Tyer’s Corner

by Hugh Kelly, Detroit, ME

This month’s fly is an old Maine streamer with a well-respected history.

It has a double wing; the inside feathers are yellow and the outside ones are grizzly. This two color arrangement gives a three dimensional look when the feathers twitch in the current. Color, size and action are all important attributes of a good fly and this streamer’s method of displaying color is a unique one.

Recipe for the Barnes Special Thread – Red Hook – Streamer, size 4 or 6 Body – Silver Mylar Rib – Optional, silver oval Mylar Throat – White hackle collar Wing – Yellow saddle, flanked by grizzly saddle, over red and white deer

tail

Start this streamer by choosing your hook. I use Mustad 94720 (renamed R79-94720) size 6. This 8x long hook is a standard for

Maine streamers whether you troll or cast. Mustad has changed the hook so you may have to use the new version; it works fine.

The original recipe called for a tail of Jungle Cock body feather but when this bird became protected in the 1970’s and the feathers became hard to find, the tail became optional. The tailless streamer continues to perform well so the tail

October 2021

The Barnes Special

is rarely seen these days, even though Jungle Cock is more available now.

The body is silver Mylar and a silver oval rib is optional. Start the Mylar just behind the eye, wind to the bend in the hook and then return to the starting point. Tying two layers of Mylar is a good habit; the

fly body will look much better if you do this. There are four components to the wing-two layers of buck tail for an under wing and two pairs of saddle hackles for the feather wing. The under wing starts with a small bunch of red buck tail. This should be as long as the bend of the hook on the 8x shank. Don’t use too much material here; a small bunch is all you need. On top of that, tie in a smaller bunch of white buck tail.

This bunch should be about

the same length as the red buck tail. This is a good time to put a drop of cement where you tied in the buck tail.

The saddle hackle wing starts with a pair of yellow saddle hackles. You’ll notice that the feathers have a dull side and a glossy side. The dull sides of the feathers should face each other and the shiny sides should be to the outside of the fly. Outside of these feathers are the outermost wings, the barred grizzly saddle hackles. Yellow feathers inside, grizzly feathers outside. Tie them in and don’t be afraid to use your fingers to twist and turn the whole assembly until it looks right. As soon as the outer wings go on you can see the visual effect. This fly looks like a small yellow perch.

If you disagree with that you’ll have to agree that the barred grizzly looks a lot like the parr markings on fingerling game fish.

Lastly, tie in a white saddle hackle and tie it

full like a dry fly. If you tie a lot of streamers, this is going to feel strange.

Let it, this collar is a trademark of the Barnes Special. After you’ve wound the hackle, tie it off and trim the excess. Use the fingers of your other hand to pull back on the white hackle you just wound on and wind your thread back to turn it into a collar style hackle. If you’ve ever wondered why the Barnes Special has such a big red head, this is why. It’s all the thread you use to wind back on the hackle to turn it into a collar. By the way, the original recipe did not use red thread; that came later.

Try this fly at Grand Lake Stream; it’s a favorite there.

Hugh Kelly has fly fished and tied his own flies for over 40 years. He and his family live in Detroit where he ties flies, drinks Moxie and plans fishing trips. He can be reached at hkellymaine@gmail.com and he writes a fly tying blog at puckerbrushflies. com

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

obviously an effecFood Chain was tive deer killer. The shot

(Cont. from pg 46) and once again, I missed.

It went another ten yards back and finally stopped.

I repositioned the rifle to the next open window of the blind, took careful aim, and fired.

For ten seconds, everything went silent. I could see the coyote was mortally wounded, but my ears were in excruciating pain. My victorious fist pump was going to have to wait. My ears were killing me. When I moved the rifle, the barrel was not extended outside of the blind window. The resulting percussion not only hurt my ears, it ripped an eight inch section out of my blind as well. I never guessed it would do that, but still, I considered the pain was worth it.

As I regained my hearing, I was surprised to see the deer was still in the field. Upon further inspection with my binoculars, I discovered it wasn’t a doe at all. It was a yearling spike buck. The earlier low light conditions prevented me from seeing the three inch spikes nestled between his ears.

He stayed in the field for at least twenty minutes. Legal as he may be, I couldn’t bring myself to take him, even though the season’s closing bell was quickly approaching.

This guy deserved another chance. Who knows how long he had been plagued by this predator? Eventually he regained his strength and continued on his way. It was poetic justice to watch him meander into the safety of the dense brush and on to his next adventure.

A few hours later, I drove down and recovered the carcass. It was a thirty nine pound female. She

revealed the contents of her stomach…venison and hair…and lots of it. She hadn’t even digested the last kill. Taking her out of the food chain was doing the wild a favor in my opinion.

For the first time in years, I ended the Maine deer season without a Maine deer in the freezer, but I didn’t feel defeated at all. It was a fantastic season. I don’t regret a single minute… now that the ringing is gone from my ears.

Fever

(Cont. from pg 54) Last year, even with the pandemic affecting everything, CVU had nine kids that competed against So Burlington, Essex, Colchester, Burr & Burton and North Country. The previous year they had 21 students and expect that with some of the restrictions being relaxed, this year could be a great one. The CVU team meets throughout the fall and practices on Lake Iroquois in Hinesburg.

The coaches teach fishing

Page 59

techniques and have two boats that take out two kids at a time for three hours, then switch off with the others. The culmination of the season are the two tournaments. The Classic Tournament and then the State Championships are held each year. Each team catches their bass, and the top five fish are kept in the live well then weighed in as they return, just like the pros. VT F&W takes the live fish in their tank trucks and releases them back into Lake Champlain. If you are young and in high school,

ask your Athletic Director about forming your own team. The truly amazing fact about all of this is that it is entirely volunteer staffed. What a great way to promote the sport! Who knows, one of these young people may wind up being the next Kevin Van Dam or Michael Iaconelli.

Bradley Carleton is the founder and Executive Director of www.sacredhunter.org which teaches the public respect and empathy through hunting and fishing.

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 60

Against The Current

by Bob Romano, Rangeley, ME This past summer, I was invited to speak to enrollees in the Junior Maine Guide’s program. Adopted by the legislature in 1936, the program is sponsored by the Maine Summer Camps and endorsed by the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. It has been testing young people since 1937.

Candidates must pack for a five-day camping trip.

This year, the nearly fifty candidates, most ranging in age from 14 to 16, camped beside the Kennebago River under the watchful eyes of their counselors. On their last night, as they sat around a roaring campfire, with the Milky Way sweeping across the darken sky above us, I had the honor and pleasure of telling a few tales about those who

October 2021

Maine’s Future Guides

generation” of aspiring poets, writers, and artists gathered in the City of Light’s many cafes and bistros while drinking French wine and dark espresso. At about the same time, many of New England’s fly fishing’s notables gravitated to the seasonal cottages located beside Upper Dam in the heart of the Rangeley Lakes Region of western Maine.

It is here, at Camp Midway, that Wallace Stevens established himself as one of the region’s premier

In 1970, twelve days after her death, a bronze plaque was erected at Upper Dam honoring this first lady of the streamer.

The monument remains even after a new structure replaced the one that had existed since its construction in 1850.

child. Stricken with a lung ailment in her early thirties, she hoped that spending time on the water and in the forest close to her home would provide a cure. About that time, she caught her first trout. The rest, as they say, is history.

Cornelia began spend-

This year, the nearly fifty candidates, most ranging in age from 14 to 16, camped beside the Kennebago River under the watchful eyes of their counselors.

Testing occurs during the week-long exercise and consists of 21 written and practical tests that range from cooking, preparing a campsite, canoeing, map reading, fire starting, and first aid, as well as how to maintain and use a knife and axe.

I’m told the average passing rate is only 50% and I’m ashamed to say, the young folks attending this year’s exercise would put this old codger to shame, for I would surely fail the stringent requirements to be met in order to receive the coveted green-andwhite JMG patch. Those who fail are permitted to attend a second year, and many do.

had walked the same trails, paddled the same waters, and waded the same streams that they would share with their sports should they become Maine Guides. These included stories about Johnny Danforth, Fred Barker, Herbert Welch, Shang Wheeler, Colonel Bates, and Wallace Stevens—familiar names to those of us who fish and hunt in western Maine.

I think it may have come as a surprise to many of those seated around the fire to learn that three of the central figures in western Maine’s sporting history were women.

During the 1920s, many Americans traveled to Paris where this “lost

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Send a check for $23.00 to Bob Romano, 62 Mt. Vernon Rd., Columbia N.J. 07832 Be sure to provide name and return address for an autographed copy with bookmark. Email Bob at magalloway@mac.com for more information.

guides. From the 1920s through the 40s, many of the state’s native brook trout, and later landlocked salmon, were measured in pounds rather than inches.

Even so, when Wallace’s wife won second place in Field and Stream’s fishing contest for catching a brook trout weighing in excess of six pounds on a streamer pattern of her own invention, she caught the imagination of the magazine’s readers.

Over the next thirty years, Carrie Stevens would go on to create more than 150 streamer patterns, many of which are still cast by today’s anglers. Carrie preferred long-shank hooks and designed the bodies of her patterns in a streamlined manner to better imitate smelts. She also added shoulders to reflect the gills of baitfish. Another of her innovations was to shorten the material she used so as not to go beyond the bend of the hook, thereby avoiding many missed strikes.

Maine Junior Guide’s patch.

Any discussion of western Maine sporting traditions would be incomplete without mentioning Louise Dickinson Rich.

In 1933, while on an outing along the Rapid River below Middle Dam, the author of We Took To The Woods, as well as many other books, met Ralph Rich. The couple married a year later, residing along the Rapid River until Ralph’s untimely death in 1945. The book is an account of their time together in what was true wilderness at the time and has been the inspiration for many who have also “took the woods,” including my wife and I. The third Belle of Maine’s North Woods was born in 1854. Cornelia Crosby had been a sickly

ing all her free time fishing in and around the Rangeley Lakes. Soon, she began writing stories about her adventures. At six feet tall, she was an imposing figure, sometimes wearing clothes suited to her days on the water, which raised eyebrows of the “proper” women of that time.

Eventually, she came to the attention of the Maine Central Railroad that was looking to increase tourism in the area. It was the railroad that gave her the name by which she would come to be known—Fly Rod Crosby.

Cornelia organized Maine’s exhibit at the First Annual Sportsmen’s Show at Madison Square Garden, and at a subsequent (Guides cont. pg 62)

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

Page 61

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(Cont. from pg 60) show met Annie Oakley, the two women becoming fast friends. Advocating for Catch-and-Release at a time when such methods were unheard of, Fly Rod became Maine’s first licensed guide.

Later in life, she converted to Catholicism, donating land given to her by the railroad. Collecting funds from local residents and tourist, she was instrumental in the building of Our Lady of the Lakes Church located in the little town of Oquossoc, a few miles west of Rangeley, Maine where services are still held each Sunday.

Standing not far from the river where Cornelia Crosby once cast her flies, I hoped some of the young people seated around the flickering flames of the campfire might someday become part of the state’s rich sporting tradition. Noting the many young women

in attendance, I was confident some would follow their former sisters of the Angle across the lakes and streams and down the forest trails that have not changed much since the Abenaki first paddled their canoes across the Canadian border.

Information about Maine’s Junior Maine Guide’s Program can be found at their website: juniormaineguides.org Published in 2000 by Tilbury House, Fly Rod Crosby The Woman Who Marked Maine by Julia A. Hunter and Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. contains many historical photographs and is the authoritative study of Cornelia Crosby’s life.

Recognized by Yankee Magazine as the “Best Outdoor Museum in New England,” The Outdoor Heritage Museum located in Oquossoc, Maine has many exhibits dedicated to the state’s sporting history.

October 2021 Down 1 Body of water on the Moose River 2 Mountain ---, a k a spoonwood 3 Atlantic ---, coastal food fish 4 --- Mountain Preserve, South Paris

7 Franklin County mountain, near Kingfield 10 This bird is well under par Across 11 It might be snowy 1 Trail starting at York County 12 Dangerous ground or great Mount Katahdin 5 It keeps your head for hunters, or anyone 12 Creature such as 10 or 11 Down else warm 6 Southern Maine region with an eponymous mountain 8 Young salmon 9 Bauneg --- Mountain,

13 Hunter’s end result 14 --- Cambridge River, feeding Lake Umbagog 15 --- Munsterlander, a hunting dog

Crossword Anwsers

Across: 1 Appalachian, 5 Touque, 6 Agamenticus, 8 Parr, 9 Beg, 12 Bog, 13 Bag, 14 Dead, 15 Large.

Guides

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Down: 1 Attean Pond, 2 Laurel, 3 Herring, 4 Noyes, 7 Abraham, 10 Eagle, 11 Egret, 12 Bird.

Page 62

Northwoods Sporting Journal Available to All Active Duty Military Personnel Worldwide!

E CTIV A O Y ET FRE ILITAR M

In these troubled and divisive times for our country, we at the Northwoods Sporting Journal remain proud to be Americans. We still stand for the National Anthem and thank our lucky stars that we live in the land of the free.

And we still salute our military men and women, who have served and continue to serve their country, here at home and in faraway lands. To them we owe our gratitude and appreciation for what they do, and for safeguarding our American way of life, which we value deeply.

As a way of saying thank you, we make the digital versions of the Northwoods Sporting Journal past and current - available online to service people around the world. If you have a loved one or friend now serving on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, or anywhere else, please let them know that they have free access to our digital magazines at: www.sportingjournal.com

October 2021

Northwoods Sporting Journal

The Lure Carvers Wish

The young lad was determined to go fishing; yet the overwhelmingly enticing allure of artificial baits seemed to overpower his meager resources. After all, it was the early 80’s in Japan, and few twelve year-old boys could af-

carved the baitfish lure.

Hiroshi contacted Master Endo, pleading with him to take Hiroshi in as a student and teach him how to carve lures like him. But, Master Carver Tatsumi Endo refused. It wasn’t until 1990 after Hiroshi made

Master Tatsumi Endo informed Hiroshi he too had become a Master Lure Carver and Designer...It was now time for Hiroshi to go out on his own and establish his own brand.

It was then that Hiroshi opened his own shop “Dream Rush” along the shores of Lake Biwa in Shiga, Japan in 1996.

Best Bassin’

by Bill Decoteau, Hampden, MA his Nishine Lures performance. It takes two-three years before a Nishine Lure is ready for product production! Fast-forward to 2017 and Master Lure Designer Hiroshi Nishine’s line of Nishine Lure Works

Even in mass production, Hiroshi still hand-carves the master prototype from which each mold is made.

Nishine Lures Abino 110/ ICAST 2021 Best of Show.

(Photo Courtesy of Hiroshi Nishine/The Hook-Up Tackle)

ford the handcrafted masterpieces young Hiroshi admired! Hiroshi’s imagination accelerated to full speed, echoing over and over again, “All I need is a carving knife and a piece of wood!” Little did he realize at the time his self-motivational skills were about to take him on a lifelong adventure.

As Hiroshi continued carving fishing lures, his finished products became more detailed resembling the minute spiny structural body frame of actual baitfish. His passion coupled with an artistic ability only encouraged him to become better with the next lure he carved.

Hiroshi recalls the day he was mesmerized by the most beautifully detailed and unique hand carved fishing lure he had ever seen. Master Tatsumi Endo

three personal requests, that Master Tatsumi Endo accepted Hiroshi Nishine as a student within his Japanese Endo Art Craft School.

It would take Hiroshi Nishine six years before

While Hiroshi’s lure dream designs continued, he knew in his heart in order for him to capture the attention of the best bass anglers in the world, he needed to be involved in the United States and Canada. With that Hiroshi moved to Canada and became involved in the development of Shimano and Tru-Tungsten lures up until 2006. It was later in 2006 when Hiroshi established his trademark “Nishine Lure Works” company.

Hiroshi handcrafts each master prototype meticulously to perfection constantly testing each of

FORT KENT POWERSPORTS Sales • Service • Parts • Sportswear

Page 63

baits are featured now on his own web site www.

NishineLureWorks.com as well as major on-line tackle retailers.

Nishine Lure Works mission is simple, to stop at nothing and develop the most effective fishing lures in the world. Hiroshi’s obsessive attention to detail, precision engineering, and endless testing (All of which he does himself!)

ensures that nothing is left to chance. Even in mass production, Hiroshi still hand-carves the master prototype from which each mold is made. It is Hiroshi’s wish that everyone will discover the artistry, craftsmanship, and perfection when they fish lures produced by Nishine Lure Works.

And, so it was at the 2021 ICAST show in Florida where a young twelve-year-old lure carving boy from the 80’s, now a Master Lure Carver and Lure Designer received one of the most prestigious awards offered to an individual Lure... Best of Show/Actual Innovation!

The Hook-Up Tackle Company stated, “The Nishine Abino 110F is a fully cus(Wish cont. pg 64)

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Wireless Internet Air Conditioning Cable TV • Private Decks Hot Tub Suites Efficiencies 2 & 3 Bdr. Apts.

In-room Coffee Makers Tanning Bed • Private Beach Coin-up Laundry Large Parking Lot Vehicle Plug-Ins

Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 64

Wish (Cont. from pg 63)

Decoteau is an outdoor journalist with a strong passion for pursuing the Black Bass. His activities include; emceeing The Bass University weekend educational seminar programs, as well as emceeing benefit tournaments such as Maine’s Annual May Special Olympics Team Tournament, Fishing For Freedom, and working with the USO.

tomizable topwater bait with over 6 years of R&D. Each prop blade can be removed or flipped around for different action. The belly weight can be used as is for a loud knocking sound or changed out for a tighter action and less knock. Adding the Nishine weight in place of the blade allows the bait to wake or slow sink. Basically, what(Cont. from pg 12) ever you can think of, the Abino can do!” teaching classes with no God Bless and Best plans to quit. He estimates Bassin that over the 60 years he has helped more than 1,400 NOTE:Next month’s people become safe, ethical column of Best Bassin, hunters.

Hiroshi Nishine will reveal “We are immensely several secrets pertaining grateful to Russ for all his to the Abino 110F unique work and dedication to the presentation abilities. program over six decades,” said Hunter Education ProB i l l y “ H a w k e y e ” gram Coordinator Josh

News

October 2021

Mackay. “He is a great person who enjoys interacting with people and helping them to learn about the sport of hunting and to help maintain this long-standing tradition. There are few things in life that any of us do for 60 years, but Russ and his wife also just celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. Thank you Russ.”

To learn more about the Hunter Education Program in New Hampshire, visit https://wildlife.state. nh.us/hunting/hunter-ed. html

underway September 15, and the statewide resident Canada goose hunt runs September 1-25.

Highlights of New H a m p s h i r e ’s h u n t i n g seasons can be found in the New Hampshire Hunting and Trapping Digest, which includes New Hampshire hunting season dates, bag limits, check station locations, and more.

Hunters and trappers can pick up a free copy at New Hampshire Fish and Game Department headquarters or their local license agent when they buy their license. The Digest can be viewed New Hampshire online at www.

Hunting Season Here huntnh.com/huntNew Hampshire’s fall ing/publications. hunting seasons kicked html. Other helpful off on September 1 with online resources the opening of black bear include the most reand gray squirrel seasons. cent Wildlife HarArchery seasons for turkey vest Summary Reand white-tailed deer get port and the Small Game Summary Report.

Hunters look forward to the opening day of deer season all year, and the much-anticipated regular firearms deer hunting season starts on November 10. Both the archery and regular firearms seasons for deer will again end

STACYVILLE SHERMAN • SHERMAN MILLS

one week early in Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) A. Check the Hunting Digest for WMU-specific either-sex deer hunting regulations and additional bear hunting opportunities.

This fall’s shotgun turkey season will again run for 7 days (October 11-17) and includes a full weekend.

The following is a general overview of New Hampshire’s fall hunting seasons. Be sure to consult the Digest or visit www. huntnh.com for additional information.

2021 NH Hunting Seasons

W H I T E - TA I L E D DEER: Archery: September 15-December 15 (ends December 8 in WMU A) Youth Deer Weekend: October 23-24 (News cont. pg 68)

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 66

Marsh Island Chronicles

by Matthew Dunlap, Old Town, ME My first ‘real’ duck hunt came nearly thirty years ago one October afternoon on Pushaw Lake, which bestrides both Orono and Old Town in southcentral Maine. I was out at the invitation of Glenn Taylor, now the executive chef at the University of Maine; at the time, he was our head baker in the catering division and I was a cook. We talked about hunting a lot. He was a fanatical duck hunter, and while I had done a little jump-shooting over the years, I had never hunted from a blind over decoys. I also hadn’t hunted in a few years, owing to school and work. “Get your license and stamps,” he urged. “I’ll take you out.”

So there we went, after cutting out of work a

little early. I had my old single-shot H & R Topper in sixteen-gauge—hardly an ideal waterfowling piece, but it was the only shotgun I had, so it would have to do.

Duck Soup

rocks to where the duck was floating so Chip would know where to swim to.

From there, he enthusiastically plunged into the lake, swam out, grabbed one of the decoys, and proudly brought it back to us, anchor line and all.

As the sun tracked low across the horizon,

It was thrilling to see them swoop low over the decoys, and as they set their wings and slowed, we would pop up and take our shots. It was everything I could have hoped for, and more.

Glenn even had a beautiful golden retriever named Chip who had a fabulous pedigree, descended from a Canadian national champion retriever, although as the day wore on, his skills as a retriever drew more laughs out of us than anything. At one point, after dropping a duck with a skilled passing shot by Glenn, we had to throw

October 2021

the shooting picked up, and we each managed to drop a couple of ducks apiece. It was thrilling to see them swoop low over the decoys, and as they set their wings and slowed, we would pop up and take our shots. It was everything I could have hoped for, and more.

Once we picked up our gear—leaving enough

light to see what we were doing—we headed back to the landing. I sat in the front of the boat, drinking in the whole thing, feeling as hooked on anything as I ever had.

Then, there were the ducks. I was excited to prepare wild duck for the table. But these were not premium table-fare ducks, and they would prove an enormous challenge for even a reasonably skilled commercial cook. Mergansers—that’s what we had brought in—are diving, fish-eating ducks, and wild game can tend to taste like what it eats. “You’re going to want a marinade for that,” Glenn advised with a smile.

I had three of them, so once I breasted them out, I tried preparing one with lemon and onion. No dice; the gamey flavor blew right through the lemon.

Over the next couple of

nights, I tried intensifying the flavors with soy and garlic, and finally with peppercorns and curry. I had plenty of leftovers.

Even burying the cubed, cooked meat in chili could not silence the vengeful cry of the Merganser’s ghosts.

The solution, longterm, was to hunt for different ducks. It was an idea elegant in its simplicity, and since I was committed to spending as much time in a duck blind as I could get away with, I could explore the spectrum of the migration of the eastern flyway as teal, wood ducks, and the divers would shoulder their way past the resident mallards and black ducks on their way to their winter feeding grounds, somewhere warmer.

Over the years, my gear has improved considerably, although for nostalgia’s sake I occasionally take the H & R out (in those early days, in a spasm of imprudent enthusiasm, I bought a ton of non-toxic bismuth shot in sixteen gauge, and I hate to waste anything). Every time I go out, I think of that first afternoon, and that old joy wells back up in me. But I always remember, as I set out a gang-rig of whistler decoys in the later part of the season—give the Mergansers a pass. Duck soup makes for a lonely, arduous dinner.

Matt Dunlap is a sportsman from Old Town and is a periodic co-host on Maine Outdoors, heard statewide every Sunday night at 7:00 pm on WVOM 103.9 FM, WVQM 101.3 FM, and 1450 AM in Rockland.

Northwoods Sporting Journal

October 2021

SELLERS LANE

BUYERS ROAD

Page 67

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Farmington - 67 or 63 acre lots sold separately or combine as they about each other. Located at the end of town maintained road. Private location. Recently harvested. $95,000 per lot.

8 + ACRES Nicatous Lake - Butterfield Island. A private self-sufficient 8 acre island with historic cabins from the 1920's & 30's and a newer main cabin. Move right in, fully furnished. Boat house with dock on mainland. $615,000.

274 Main Street Madison, ME 04950

#3427-Bingham; Newly renovated with year round sun-porch as well as two covered porches. Large eat-in kitchen, living room, laundry room, bath and first floor bedroom. Up to 3 more bedrooms and another bath on second floor. Large field and total of 3 acres. $225,000.

3428-Madison; Lovely double wide with 3BR, 2 baths and private yard.

New flooring, many updates and a beautiful back deck and porch was just added. Large back yard for gardens and a nice containment for pets. 5.51 acres. $169,500.

#3429-Solon; Needs TLC but much has been done. Includes large kitchen, dining room, living-room, bedroom, bath and laundry on first floor. Two bedrooms on second floor with room to expand.

Workshop, small garage, nice deck and 4 separate sheds on large in-town lot. $87,500.

#8436 Concord; 7 acre lot on top of a hill with possible views.

About 30 years of wood growth, nice lot! Power, phone and internet available at roadside. $39,900.

Roxbury - 29 +/- acres. Rugged, steep terrain and good road frontage on Route 120. Half this lot has been recently harvested. Small stream. This property lies at the base of the 1,985' Partridge Peak. $49,900.

25+ ACRES Trescott - 25 +/- acres. Ocean frontage along Moose River cove stretching 3,100' and consisting of classic rocky shore front, sea grasses, tidal Moose River cove and ocean views off in the distance. Beautiful waterfall on the property. $249,900.

321 + ACRES Rumford/Peru - 321 acres. View from Lovejoy Hill/Burgess Hill, South Peak are simply amazing. Recently harvested. Snowmobile trail (17N) passes thru lot. Good access. $295,000.

800 + ACRES Hancock County - Over 800 acres with 5,400 sq. ft log cabin completely surrounding Fox Pond. Miles of maintained trails. Adjacent to 20k acres of conservation lands. FOXPONDESTATE. COM $4.3mm

105+ ACRES Caratunk - 1,064 acres. Views of the Kennebec River - Wyman Lake, Moxie Mountain - east & Bigelow Mountainswest. Interior gravel roads and groomed snowmobile trail. $625,000.

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Year round access. Amazing views. $150,000.

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

Page 68

FOR SALE Campground & Guide Service 55 Sites • 45 Permanent Seasonals 12 Fully Equipped Cabins 10 Boats With Motors 50 Plus Bear Sites Serious Inquiries Call 458-1551

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News

(Cont. from pg 64) Muzzleloader: October 30-November 9 Firearms: November 10-December 5 (ends November 28 in WMU A) BLACK BEAR: Starts September 1 (end

October 2021

date varies by WMU) GRAY SQUIRREL: September 1, 2021-January 31, 2022 SNOWSHOE HARE: October 1, 2021-March 31, 2022 (bag limit varies by WMU) RUFFED GROUSE:

October 1-December 31 MOOSE: October 1624 (by permit only) FALL TURKEY: Shotgun: October 1117 (certain WMUs) Archery: September 15-December 15 (ends December 8 in WMU A)

200 +/- acres Masardis Maine. In the same family for 100 years and managed sustainably as a woodlot. This well forested tract of land features its own brook and a special corner that is exceptionally mature. Interior lot that allows hunting without concern for trafficked roads. Snowmobile to your getaway in the winter and drive on a nice, graveled road the rest of the year. Enjoy the trees, create paths and trails or clear a spot near the brook or other prime spots and build your dream cabin. An investment that will both grow and pay for itself as some wood can be harvested to help with costs. Land-they are not making any more of it.

This is a very good opportunity you do not want to miss!

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Grand Falls- This cabin was landed on this lot two years ago and ready to finish off and use.

This 41 acre lot sits high on a hill with great views on Lord Brook Rd. ATV and snowsled from this location. Take a look. $79,000

Lakeville- 52 acre lot with rustic cabin sits at the top of the hill offering breathtaking 180 degree views of area lakes & hills. ATVing & snowmobiling are at your door step on Vista View. Set it up for solar and live here year round. $89,000

Lakeville- Spacious inside with a covered porch & large back deck.

Two sheds. Solar & generated power.

Two driveway entrances for your convenience on Birch Hill Rd. Extremely low taxes & access to dozens of lakes. $109,000

Prentiss TWPSitting on 43 acres in a nice wildlife area, the cabin has been lived in, year round, the past few years right on Rosewood Haven. Put the work into removing the mold, put down a floor & turn this into a nice, little hunting cabin. $49,900

C a r r o l l P LT Cute little cabin with substantial makeover right on Main Road. Walls & ceiling are insulated, new windows, knotty pine interior, 100 Amp electrical.

New metal roof, new privy & gray water bed for sink. Possible Owner Financing. $44,900

Lakeville- Lots of well wooded land.

This cute cabin is located at the end of a private road with no through traffic on Spaulding Pond Rd. Situated in a wonderful area for many of Northern Maine’s recreational activities.

Ready for you today. $70,000

Lincoln- New lot On Long Pond. This lot has power being run on Trails End. This lot has a nice driveway and gravel pad. Very nice frontage and easy access. This is a must see. $89,900 Mattamiscontis TWP- Stunning riverfront lot with electricity nearby and on year round road on the Penobscot River. Possible owner financing to qualified buyers. Only 5 minutes from I-95 or downtown Lincoln. Quiet & rural yet easily access. $39,900 Springfield- Looking to purchase a small piece of northern Maine? This 2+/- acre parcel would be perfect. Priced to move. Ready for your camper or getaway cabin right on Route 6. Call today to come see your little slice of the north woods. $18,900 Lincoln- Grab this lot now if you want to own one of the few locations left on Transalpine Rd. This large lot feels out in the woods but is only 1.1 miles from the hospital & one more to downtown. Come look today!! $18,900

Fish for Alittle slice of heaven far from the beaten path..but close to town • 90-plus acres of woodland wild • 25' x 25' log-end cabin overlooking a 7-acre pond, with a 32' aluminum native dock.

• Just 7 miles from downtown trout Presque Isle • Abundant wildlife including and moose, bear, deer, partridge, rab$249,900 bit, ducks, and geese $39,900 salmon • Immediate access to over 2,300 miles of groomed snowmobile and ATV trails Property abuts Aroostook State Park in the North Maine Woods. •• 1,200' road frontage on dead-end road offers possibilites for development

October 2021 SELLERS LANE

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Northwoods Sporting Journal

REAL ESTATE

Page 69

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Northwoods Sporting Journal REAL ESTATE

Page 70 SELLERS LANE

SELLERS LANE

BUYERS ROAD

BUYERS ROAD

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October 2021

1 & 2/3 story home with 2 sides wrap around porch, small garage/ work shop, 5 acres, option for 9, extras! $250,000. twitcheast64@gmail.com 207-746-5871 Woodville, ME

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COOPER: This beautiful 100 +/-acre lot is on the East Ridge Road and has some views of the hills and Eastern Cathance Lake. Watch the sun come up on your own 100 acre piece of property. There used to be an old home on the lot but it was torn down several years ago. Land was cut over several years ago and is growing back nicely with some good trees. Plenty of room for gardens and to have animals. Super great price for such a great property. $80,000.

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Overhead Door Company of Bangor

“The original since 1921”

Residential Sales, Service Parts for Residential, Commercial, Industrial 24-Hour Emergency Repair Reliability and so much more

Commercial

1-800-696-2235 56 Liberty Drive, Hermon www.overheaddoorofbangor.com

Judd Goodwin Well Co

"We Do It Right The First Time"

Complete Well & Pump

Installation, Service and Repair Residential • Commercial Camps • Cottages

P.O. Box 17 Greenville, ME 04441 Office: 207-695-3645 Cell: 207-280-0923 goodwinjudd@yahoo.com www.juddgoodwinwell.com Member Maine Groundwater Association

HYDRA OIL 5 GAL $35.99

Plus many more hydraulic oils, gear oils, and transmission fluids at great pricing!!

$149.99

$13.

99