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Outdoors
  • Published
    December 8, 2012

    GUEST COLUMN: Moose check station stories: Unreal to surreal

    In late September 1980, Maine's annual moose hunt resumed for the first time in 54 years, but not without controversy. The six-day hunt was preceded by several legislative hearings in Augusta in 1979. In packed hearing rooms, the Legislature entertained passionate testimonials from anti-hunters, hunters, business owners, state senators and representatives. Arguments for and against the moose hunt was great live theater, unscripted and unrehearsed.

  • Published
    December 1, 2012

    ALLEN AFIELD: Tough odds in muzzleloader season

    Maine's muzzle-loading season in the bottom two-thirds of the state runs through this coming week and closes a half-hour after sunset on Saturday, Dec. 8. For details, check mefishwildlife.com or pages 21 and 22 in the "Maine Hunting and Trapping" booklet.

  • Published
    November 29, 2012

    OUTDOORS: Brave the cold for several highlights

    December marks the beginning of the winter solstice for us in the northern hemisphere. This year that will happen at 6:12 a.m. Dec. 21. That also marks the end of the Mayan calendar, which will just start another cycle. It will flip over to a new baktun that day as it does every 144,000 days, or about 400 years. No astronomical catastrophe will occur like an asteroid or comet hitting the Earth.

  • Published
    November 29, 2012

    OUTDOORS: This might be the winter of the grosbeaks

    Perhaps this winter will be the winter of the grosbeaks. In the last column, I wrote about the irruption of evening grosbeaks into central and southern Maine. Sightings continue throughout the state. Many people are seeing evening grosbeaks at their feeders for the first time in a decade or more.

  • Published
    November 24, 2012

    OUTDOORS — DEIRDRE FLEMING — More Mainers hooked on fly fishing

    It’s official. A year after some of Maine’s avid trout fishermen rolled out the state’s only fly fishing show, they’re committed to make it an annual event.

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  • Published
    November 24, 2012

    OUTDOORS:More Mainers hooked on fly fishing

    It's official. A year after some of Maine's avid trout fishermen rolled out the state's only fly fishing show, they're committed to make it an annual event.

  • Published
    November 24, 2012

    OUTDOORS: W. Virginia hunt almost heaven

    There's an old saying that you should be careful what you wish for because it might come true. Climbing into my stand on a balmy West Virginia morning I was wishing for cooler temperatures. It was already in the 60s and forecasted to nudge 80 later in the day -- hardly good weather for deer hunting. I went out just the same, and was rewarded with a nice doe.

  • Published
    November 22, 2012

    OUTDOORS: Damariscotta showcases natural diversity

    The Upper Damariscotta River Region is one of immense natural beauty, a scenic landscape of bays and islands, salt marshes and mudflats, rivers and streams. Bordered by hills, fields, and forests, the Damariscotta River is a nutrient-rich tidal estuary that is home to a diverse array of marine life, birds and animals.

  • Published
    November 22, 2012

    OUTDOORS: There’s something therapeutic in November’s bleakness

    The first thing I noticed crossing the New Hampshire line on my return to Maine was that the landscape had gone all Wyeth in my absence: Gray and moody -- and harsh.

  • Published
    November 17, 2012

    OUTDOORS: Around the World,In Search of a Record

    THOMASTON -- Stanley Paris has his work cut out for him. The countdown has begun for his solo nonstop unassisted circumnavigation world-record attempt.