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Outdoors
  • Published
    February 21, 2013

    Lab tests turn up lungworms in Maine moose

    Officials are recommending care in dealing with dead animals, including wearing rubber or latex gloves when field dressing game.

  • Published
    February 8, 2013

    ALLEN AFIELD: Snowmobiling spurs Maine’s winter economy

    Most residents of this state have at least an inkling that snowmobiling spurs the winter economy, particularly folks in rural hamlets in northern and eastern Maine. They really get a firsthand view of this sport's importance, as sledding crowds flock to local businesses.

  • Published
    January 25, 2013

    ALLEN AFIELD: Striper catches have plummeted

    Stripers Forever (SF), a conservation organization that monitors our striped-bass resources, recently pointed out that the recreational catch of wild stripers along the Eastern Seaboard has dropped from nearly 29 million in 2006 to 8 million in 2011, thanks to poor spawning success in Chesapeake Bay and also to over-harvesting by recreational and commercial anglers.

  • Published
    January 18, 2013

    ALLEN AFIELD: Fly-tying creates lifelong memories

    Fly-tying booms across Maine each winter, a wonderfully pleasant pastime that requires no license to participate -- just good eyes, nimble fingers and sedulous nature.

  • Published
    January 11, 2013

    ALLEN AFIELD: In end, we are reminded why we hunt these speedsters

    In my preteens, rabbit hunting meant a short walk east from my home, taking me through a stately grove of white pines and then to a tumbling brook that rushed downhill, enough of a drop for a kid to sled the bank.

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  • Published
    January 4, 2013

    ALLEN AFIELD: Winter daydreams keep us going

    This past Christmas afternoon, I visited the Freeport store to buy the finishing gifts for a late holiday celebration three days later and found many discounted items, including a collection of 40 Northeastern saltwater flies in an unbreakable fly box. This proved a perfect gift for my oldest daughter, Heather, who fishes in the Atlantic off Long Island in New York.

  • Published
    January 3, 2013

    OUTDOORS: A skier’s/snowboarder’s wish list for 2013

    As skiers and snowboarders in Maine, we have it pretty darn good. We have resorts lauded by the national press, with Sugarloaf, Sunday River and Saddleback noted as three of the Northeast's best. Skiing is easy to get to, with community slopes less than an hour from each of Maine's urban centers. This fall, as it does every year, the Ski Maine Association sent a press release detailing the dozens of improvements to snowmaking, terrain and facilities.

  • Published
    January 3, 2013

    OUTDOORS: In the face of a winter sky, a lengthening day

    The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, who faces both forward and backward at the same time. Janus is also known as the god of gates, doors, bridges, beginnings and endings, transitions, movement and even time itself. That is especially fitting now that we have survived the often forecasted end of the world and are ready to create new beginnings and transitions and an age of greater cooperation on Earth.

  • Published
    December 15, 2012

    ALLEN AFIELD: Checking out new habitats

    This coming week, a bog with its surrounding ring of black spruce, tamarack and occasional white cedar strikes me as the perfect destination for a hike, a surprising conclusion when considering so many critters in this habitat have migrated away or lie concealed in trees, shrubs and forest debris or beneath the ground and water surface.

  • Published
    December 8, 2012

    ALLEN AFIELD: Tracking is just plain fun

    Before winter arrives with a white vengeance, outdoor folks of all skill levels and ages enjoy December hiking and tracking. With a light cover of fresh snow for a canvas, veteran and amateur trackers alike can easily spot and read critter signs.