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 …
Reversing the precipitous decline in Maine’s traditional deer-wintering areas will help restore our North Woods deer numbers. Deer yards used to comprise about 12 percent of our big woods. Today that figure is a dismal 3 percent. For a number of reasons, state regulation and cooperative protection agreements with timberland owners over the years have …
When I was a chubby 13-year-old boy, I won the Maine Soap Box Derby race in Brewer. First prize was a chance to race my derby, “The Ole Lucky 7,” in Akron, Ohio. A spanking new 12-foot aluminum boat and 5-hp Scott-Atwater outboard motor was also presented to me. For a kid who loved to …
COVID preoccupations notwithstanding, this past year in Maine was unusual in more ways than one. An extremely rare, and most colorful, mushroom was found in the North Woods. And along the coast of the Pine Tree State, the sighting of a highly rare Russian raptor created quite a buzz in the bird watching community. The …
Anticosti. Just drop this single word before any dedicated deer hunter and you immediately spark visions of a deer hunter’s paradise, a mythical place of dreams, where whitetails abound in a wild setting of dense black spruce, daily snow squalls, winding rivers and low-lying open bogs. The ads and the websites for the Anticosti Island …
Over the years, Maine’s fall moose harvest numbers have varied from fall to fall. As one of the state’s most popular big-game hunts, it has a lot of public visibility. Maine citizens — those who hunt, as well as those who simply enjoy moose-watching along the state’s wetlands and forest clear cuts — pay close …
In the St. Lawrence Seaway, Anticosti Island’s whitetail deer population is flourishing with upward of 50 deer per square mile. During the first day of my hunt there I saw 36 deer! As a Maine deer hunter, you can’t help but ask yourself this question: what is the variable that explains this stark contrast between …
This event is true. The names have been changed. It took place on a deer hunt in northern Canada. There was some snow on the ground, and more coming. Bill, with his rifle slung over his shoulder, was driving a four-wheeler along a riverbed. As directed earlier by a hunt guide, he was following old …
Each year about this time, the Maine Warden Service urges us to use extreme caution before venturing out onto any ice that may be covering Maine’s waterways. This is timely advice. Almost every year, especially at night, a snowmobiler perishes or gets in serious trouble trying to cross thin ice or inadvertently driving a snow …
