Like lawn dandelions in spring, new outdoor books are popping out all over. Here for your perusal is a summary of the books and a short review of each. More detailed purchase information about these books is available at www.sportingjournal.com. Click on “Outdoor Books.” “More than Wolverine” by Jeremiah Wood. Wood is a trapper, biologist …
Yet again, a legislative attempt to allow Sunday hunting in Maine has gone down in flames. The bill, LD 2014, faced some formidable opposition, not the least of which was from the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) and the Maine Professional Guides Association (MPGA). Although SAM has long advocated for Sunday hunting, it opposed this …
“One of the poets, whose name I cannot recall, has a passage, which I am unable at the moment to remember, in one of his works, which for the time being has slipped my mind, which hits off admirably this age-old situation.” — P.G. Wodehouse At times I have done dumb things, in the …
“Gobble, gobble, gobble.” In the hardwoods on a ridge in Granby, Mass., a number of years ago, that sound of a wild turkey shattered the pre-dawn quiet. In the floating mist and the half light there was something chilling and mystical about this almost prehistoric vocalization. I had never before experienced any sound in the …
By V. Paul Reynolds Soon it will be time to go fiddleheadin’. For the true gatherer, the first fiddlehead green that pokes through the sandy silt in the lowlands near brooks and streams stirs an inner joy. I count myself among the true gatherers. Finding wild things to eat that were not processed by man …
Over the years, debate has ensued over whether the national environmental organization the Sierra Club actually has been an adversary of our hunting rights in this country. Not so long ago, the NRA, a proponent of hunting rights, dropped its supporting membership in the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) because of OWAA’s support of …
Sunday hunting in Maine or not? I can think of few other more tenacious outdoor issues that have been so perennially debated over the years, yet never resolved to anyone’s satisfaction. Even hunters themselves have been divided over this issue. There have always been compelling arguments on both sides of the question. Personally, I have …
If you head west from any marina in the Florida Keys, out into the Gulf, you will find dozens of small mangrove islands called keys. Rabbit Key is a 30-minute run from the mainland. Getting there is a bit of a challenge that involves finding the right “cuts” to avoid running aground on shallow reefs, …
By V. Paul Reynolds Last fall in this column I reported: “Clearly, the any-deer permit system needs a thorough overhaul. Through a legislative order, a stakeholder group has been assembled and is conducting meetings this fall and winter to address the issue. No doubt there will be a public input period once the group has …
It has happened yet again. On Feb. 10 in California, U.S District Court Judge Jeffrey White ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to overturn its decision to delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, who asserted ostensibly that USFWS does not know …
In the interest of transparency, as the politicians say, please know that members of the Reynolds family hold no stocks of any ammunition manufacturers. Know, too, that although an avid and longtime big-game hunter, I am a babe in the woods when it comes to ballistics. In high school, physics was never my strong suit. …
Fly fishermen are no dummies. At a fly shop, a bright, buggy-looking fly may wind up in the angler’s shopping cart, but it had better perform out there on the water. Sometimes it does; sometimes it doesn’t. Yes sir, the proof is in the pudding. These days Maine fly fishermen flock to one particular artificial …
