the outdoor gazette - may -june 2013

May 2013 The Outdoor Gazette


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On The CoverErin Haley of Warren, New Hampshire.Turke she took on opening day. 19 lbs., 7/8inch spurs, 9 inch beard. (May 3rd, 2013)

Volume 7 Issue 5

Publisher/Editor: Fred AllardGraphic Design: Dan Millet

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ssuubbSSCCRRIIBBEE nnooww!!ssuubbSSCCRRIIBBEE nnooww!!

Identity Crisis - Turkey on the outside, duck on the inside. Via facebook from KentuckyOutdoors Magazine.


hello… Also I will be involvedwith the Montshire TraditionalBowhunter’s seminar at theshow. If you always wanted totry traditional archery pleasecome to this seminar we wouldlove to help get you started.Once to trad, you won’t go back!

>>>--------------------->

There have been some ques-tions about when The OutdoorGazette’s new issues come out.Answer; the new issue isuploaded monthly on the 15th ofthe month. Why do we do that?Well it sounds logical in mybrain but I will try to explain.

Most if not all other magzinescome out on the first of the

month. So we thought we wouldgive the all the outdoor readersout there something to look for-ward to mid month.

My firends say I am a little dif-ferent so The Outdoor Gazetteshould be too....wait a minute,do you think that they are givingme a compliment.....ya, I’ll gowith that!

By Fred Allard

Editor’s Back

Porch

Fred Allard lives in Haverhill, NH withhis family. He is a Bowhunter EducationInstructor, a scorer for the Northeast BigBuck Club, the New Hampshire Antler andSkull Trophy Club and the Vermont BigGame Trophy Club. He is the President ofthe Montshire Traditional Bowhunters.Fred can be reached by emailing [email protected].

There is a lot’s going on in theOutdoors these days. TheOutdoor Gazette will be at theNew Hampshire Sportsmen’sOutdoor Expo at Gunstock skiarea this Labor Day weekend.This should be a great eventwith lots of room both insideand out for vendors to demon-strate their products and for out-door activities. Activities to par-ticipate in, and the ability to tryoutdoor gear before you buy.

The Outdoor Gazette will bethere participating and tryingstuff too…. AND spreading theword about our growing maga-zine. Growing is an under state-ment, our readership is sky-rock-eting, and that early on, “whathave I done” feeling in my gut, isall but a memory. WHEW!

Ok back to the show on LaborDay weekend (forgive mymoment of gloating).

The NH Sportsmen’s OutdoorExpo will celebrate and show-case all things outdoors and willquickly establish itself as New

England’s premier OutdoorShow & Sale. The 2013 expooffers Exhibitors and Sponsors aone-time opportunity to get inon the ground floor, and helpshape the direction of the expofor years to come.

The NH Sportsmen’s OutdoorExpo represents the next genera-tion of successful outdoor sports& recreation shows. Rather thanbeing held indoors, in the mid-dle of winter, The NHSportsmen’s Outdoor Expo isheld outside, at GunstockMountain Resort, over LaborDay Weekend a great time toshop for outdoor gear for allfour-seasons. The expo will offerthousands of outdoor enthusi-asts an opportunity to find allthe gear they need in one con-venient location and to enjoy aweekend packed with outdoorseminars, activities and enter-tainment. Discover Your NextAdventure at The NHSportsmen’s Outdoor Expo!

I/we hope you will come tothis great new event and whenyou do, please stop by and say

Little different


Trophy SpotlightTrophy Spotlight

Vermont fishing strikes again! Taylor Crawford of Jacksonville, Vermont caught this beau-tiful brown trout while fishing Sherman Reservoir over the weekend with his father andbrother. The big brown measured 32.5-inches in length and weighed 18-lbs 7-oz!

Richard Levesque with the 14.55 lb. Vermont State Record walleye he caught in LakeChamplain in 2010. Walleye fishing begins in early May , in most of Vermont. Checkregulations for exceptions. VT Fish & Wildlife photo.


have in store I rolled out of bed andstarted getting dressed. We had a 30minute drive and an hour and a halfhike in the dark to get to our vantagepoint so there wasn’t much time to

mess around. We threw all the gearin Dustin’s Dodge and hit the road.The mountains got about 6” ofsnow that night so the hike in took alittle longer than expected, regard-less, we were where we needed to be

with about 15 minutes to spare. Asdaylight broke, so did the shooting.We had heard about 3 shots in thefirst 30 minutes and then it calmeddown. I was glassing a meadowabout ? of a mile away when Icaught movement. 4 cows walkedacross the wide open followed byabout 30 more. Dustin and I looked

at each other, grabbed our packs andstarted heading back down fromwhere we originally came from. Webeat feet as fast as we could down themountains, but the elk were faster. Ipicked up a 5 point shed on the waydown, strapped it to my pack, andkept moving.

There were so many elk tracks thatwe didn’t know which way to go.Some were heading West and someEast; we picked east and started dog-ging the heard. About 15 minuteslater we heard a shot ring out infront of us, knowing what had justhappened we decided to back outand let the other hunters take it fromthere. We put on somewherebetween 8 and 10 miles that daywith nothing but wet clothes and ashed to show for it.

Day two came even earlier thanday one, but it was the last day I wasgoing to get to chase elk for anotheryear. Dustin and I decided that wewould split up and sit in the morningand if we didn’t have any luck wewould meet up around mid-day andtry out a new spot. I was perched infront of a blow down about 30 min-utes before first light and had a goodfeeling about this spot. I was sittingon my pack when I started to feel bybackside getting wet, I stood up and

realized I had been sitting on the bitevalve to my camelback for about 15minutes, soaking both by butt andthe waste belt on my pack. After afew choice words I sat back downand started glassing. One mule deerdoe came out about 200 yards away,fed for a bit and went back into the

With a busy work schedule and anout of state work assignment I knewI had my work cut out for me in the2012 elk season. I took a one weekvacation in archery season in anattempt to fill my bull tag, a couplegames of cat and mouse and a fewclose encounters later, I came homeempty handed. A buddy and I put infor cow rifle tags and both success-fully drew, knowing this was going tobe the next chance I had at huntingelk I was already scheming on wherewe were going to hunt.

The day before the rifle opener Ifound myself working a 10 hour shiftin Missouri. I grabbed the earliestflight to Colorado my schedulewould allow, rented a car, stopped atthe house to grab my gear and head-ed for the mountains. I had beentalking with my buddy Dustin mostof the day, as he had the day off andheaded to the mountains at firstlight. With a full day of glassing hemanaged to put a herd to bed, rightat last light. I arrived at the hotel,our “hunting camp” for the week-end, around 10:00PM. I brought all

my gear in to the room, drank a coldone, and hit the sheets. It’s amazinghow a day of work and travel can

really suck the energy out of you.Morning came earlier than I want-

ed but knowing what the day might

The shed I picked up as we scurried down the mountain

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By Cody CoveyBy Cody Covey

Life at HighAltitudeLife at HighAltitude

Weekend Warriors

The “hero shot”, with the rifle my parents bought me for my 8th grade graduation.

Continued next page

timber. About 10 minutes later Iheard a cow mew and that’s whenthe woods came alive. A group of 15cows and one heard bull came outabout 140 yards in front of me. Thecows were all talking but the bullstayed quiet as he pushed his cowsaround in an attempt to keep themin sight. A bachelor group of 4 raghorns came over the rise and the big5x5 ran them off in a matter of aminutes. As the bull stood 100 yardsaway broadside, I could only sit and

drool, wishing I had a bull tag in mypocket. Most of the cows wereshielded by a small patch of Aspen’s,but 4 or 5 were on a side bank withnothing but air between us. I put thecross hairs of my 30-06 behind thebiggest ones shoulder, let out half abreath and squeezed the trigger. Atthe sound of the shot the elk ran, butstopped after 30 yards to see whathad happened. I watched as my cowtipped over and the rest of the herdtook off, back into the dark timber.

I sat and admired my prize, andthough it wasn’t a bull, to me it wasstill a trophy. A short while laterDustin came over the hill and I start-ed telling him the story. We snappedsome photos and went to work onmy cow. We had her deboned andhung in a nearby tree in about an

hour and a half. It was cold andsnowy out so we left the meat andheaded after the group of elk to seeif Dustin could get lucky as well. Wehunted hard for a few more hoursand decided to head back to retrievethe meat. We each took a load andmade it to the truck in one trip. Idrove home, dropped off the meatand my gear, drove to airport andflew back to Missouri for work thefollowing morning. Looking back atwhat it took to fill my freezer with

the beef of the woods I realized;even at odds, sometimes the week-end warriors can prevail!


from previous page

Cody grew up in Corinth, Vermont andwent to Vermont Techincal college where hegraduated with a bachelors degree in con-struction management. He was born into afamily of avid hunters and a love for theoutdoors was instilled in him at a youngage. After college he moved to Lakewood,Colorado to pursue a job as a FieldEngineer in commercial construction andhas lived there ever since. The rocky moun-tains are where Cody learned a love for elkhunting and the challenges of a westernmountain hunt. He can be found huntingdeer, elk and various other game in the falland skiing the fresh powder in the winter.You can reach Cody at [email protected]

A sweet shot from our vantage point on the first morning. Picture taken by Dustin Masters.

facts. We then learn how to store thesefacts temporarily so that we can applythem to a written test. After this test,we promptly forget all material. Why?Because rarely do we feel it practical ornecessary to remember this informa-tion. I am not suggesting we throw outall the classes and replace them withsomething else. I am instead suggest-ing that we take education to the nextlevel. I remember in Spanish class thisyear, watching a video of a man talk-ing about cultural “Ethnicide,” as hecalled it. He described some of themost fascinating cultures in the world,and then he bluntly informed us oftheir constant destruction due to“modern” society. Truths like these arerarely taught, as the spreading of thissort of knowledge would surely hurtour culture ( for better or worse).Rarely are we taught about ways toconserve energy or aid the environ-ment. Rarely are we taught abouthunting and its benefits on communi-ties of life. Rarely are we asked todirect our attention to nature andasked to appreciate it. Pollution, ener-gy conservation, water scarcity, water

acidity, deforestation, are all environ-mental issues growing rapidly in dan-ger. According to the very purpose ofeducation, it should be preparing stu-dents to face the issues that will comeduring our lifetime. Why then, are wenot learning how to be outdoorsmen?Why are we not learning how our wayof life affects the environment inwhich we live and completely dependupon? Social issues are important, butthey are not everything. In school, youCAN choose this type of education,but it is at the expense of a full schol-arly education. There is a degree ofintegration between learning practicalskills and taking classic courses, but it isnot full integration, and practical skillsare only learned by choice. Schoolsneed to create conservation and greenliving classes, and if they have them,they need to put more importance andemphasis on them. Students mustlearn to be outdoorsmen, for it will notonly allow them to develop a deeperappreciation of nature, but it will givethem a deep understanding of the trueimportance of our actions, and shedsome light on how we can change ouractions for the betterment of MotherEarth.

What is the purpose of education? Itcannot simply be to become smarteror more knowledgeable; to what enddoes this knowledge or intelligencecontribute? Education is about thebetterment of both oneself and ofsociety. It is arming all citizens withtools that will improve the wellbeing ofthe individual and the masses. Publiceducation is becoming off-track. As astudent, I see it. The practical is beingreplaced with the theoretical, whenthere should be a balance of the two.It is necessary for students to acquire abasis in most fields of study and

schools do a nice job of providing this.However, schools are doing too little tocontribute to the wellbeing of a veryimportant factor: our environment.School structure informs and edu-cates, but at the expense of practicali-ty. School structure is aiding in the sep-aration of human and nature, of ani-mal and habitat. The way children areeducated focuses too little on whatreally matters: Practicality, nature andenvironment, conservation, green liv-ing, etc.

In the classes that both I and my fel-low students take, we learn a lot of

Education goes green (or at least it should)

Nature’s WayNature’s WayBy Tannr AllardBy Tannr Allard

Having the right gear is extremelyimportant and is one of the bestparts of being a waterfowl hunter.Who doesn’t love all the guns, calls,

decoys, and the clothing? Take thetime to research the latest gear. Youabsolutely have to get a pair of qual-ity boots and a pair of qualitywaders. Nothing ruins a hunt fasterthan being cold and wet. You can’tspell waterfowl without the wordWET. That $1500 shotgun won’tkeep you warm but some qualityhunting clothing & boots will.

Now that you can shoot straightand stay all day in the blind becauseyou are warm and cozy you need toknow what you’re shooting at. Thereare many laws governing waterfowlhunting. This is a huge part of beinga successful waterfowl hunter. If youexceed your limit of a species orshoot one that isn’t allowed you willnever be successful. Passing on a birdis always better than taking an

unknown shot. Prior to your huntknow the limits and the species thatare allowed to be harvested. Aftereach pass regroup and take a count

of the birds to ensure you are ok.Make sure the others in your groupdo the same. Don’t let one huntershoot into another hunters limit.

Although it’s not always needed,but certainly makes the hunt a wholelot more fun, calling can be a verycool part of the hunt. To be consid-ered a truly successful waterfowlhunter you will need to know how towork a duck call and a goose call.You don’t need to have trophieslined up along the mantle to be con-sidered a good caller. All you need isto know the different style of callslike the Hail, Comeback, Greeting,and Feeder call for ducks. For Geeseit’s pretty much the same thing. Youjust need to know these few styles ofcalling for geese as well. Don’t call somuch that you get light headed.Simply watch the birds as they comein and try to sound like them. If youare hunting with other guys who

call, let them start it up and mix it upa bit to have it sound like what thebirds are seeing in your spread.

So you have the calling mastered,you can shoot straight, and can han-dle whatever mother nature tosses atyou. But to actually shoot a duck orgoose you need to have them comewithin range. This won’t happen ifthe ducks and geese see your prettyface peering out from the boat orblind, or if they see your nice brightpink thermos that your daughter letyou use. Be sure to get to your spotearly enough to be able to properlyset up your blind and get the cover inplace. Make sure to look aroundyour set up to see if you look like alawn sale that just opened for busi-ness or if you look like another partof the field you’re in. If huntingfrom a boat you have to look like abunch of shrubs growing out of thewater, not like a bright aluminum


Continued next page

To be considered a successfulwaterfowl hunter you don’t need toget your limit each time out. Whatyou do need is to master a few skillsthat all truly successful waterfowlhunters possess. I have hunted withguys that have been hunting ducks &geese longer than I have been aliveand I have hunted with guys thataren’t sure what end of the call toblow into. I don’t mind hunting witheither of these guys. The ones thathave hunted for years have probablyforgotten more about waterfowl thanmost guys know. The ones that arenew to waterfowl hunting need tolearn the lessons that need to betaught by the former. Over my yearsof hunting experience I have deter-mined these are a few must haveskills that all waterfowl hunters need.

The ability to shoot straight andsafely with your shotgun is a skill allwaterfowl hunters need and withoutthis nothing else matters. This willonly come from knowing how all theparts of your gun operate. To be agreat shot you need to know whereyour gun shoots. My advice is to pat-

tern your gun before each season.You need to know how to take itapart and what to do if it jams up sothat your hunt doesn’t end after the

first trigger pull. Practice with yourgun year round, read all you canabout shooting skills, be sure to trulymaster the art of hitting the movingtarget.

The Must Have Skills of a Successful Waterfowl Hunter

A Waterfowler's PerspectiveA Waterfowler's PerspectiveBy Brian BouchardBy Brian Bouchard

Brian doing some preseason shooting practice with sporting clays.

Phil DeLaricheliere on Sea Duck hunt inMaine

Jenni DeLaricheliere with Dad showing offher hunting gear.


from previous page

HOLDERNESS, N.H. — Enjoy aday of family fun with hands-onactivities related to the shootingsports, hunting and trapping at anOpen House at Owl Brook HunterEducation Center in Holderness onSaturday, June 1, 2013, from 10 a.m.to 2 p.m. Admission is free. Thecenter is located at 387 Perch PondRoad in Holderness, N.H.

Open House visitors will have achance to hone their shotgun skillswith Ruger pro staff – and try theirnew guns. LHR Sporting Arms prostaff will be on hand and visitors willhave an opportunity to give theirnew Redemption Muzzleloader atry! Other hands-on activitiesinclude a BB gun range and a video-based interactive shooting simulator.Youth and adults can try out thearchery range, or bring your ownequipment to try out the center’s 3-D woodland archery course.

Demos during the day will includea tree stand safety seminar, hunting

dogs will do retrieving and pointingdemonstrations, and the NewHampshire Trappers Associationwill demonstrate trapping tech-niques. You can also test your hunt-ing knowledge on the Hunter

Education Field Exam Trail, getbasic map and compass instruction,and learn about safe firearms han-dling.

To top off the fun, enjoy a free raf-fle for a Ruger firearm, certificatesfor 50% off your choice of a newSavage firearm, 50% off a newLHR redemption muzzleloader, andgift certificates to local sportinggoods stores. Also enjoy deliciousfree ice cream donated by GraniteState Dairy Promotion.

Owl Brook Hunter EducationCenter is located on 500 forestedacres in Holderness. Facilitiesinclude an office/classroom build-

ing, a four-target practice archeryarea, a 25-yard covered firing rangefor small-bore and muzzleloadertraining, a shotgun training area, ahunter skills trail, an orienteeringcourse and a 14-target wooded fieldarchery course. While you’re check-ing out the trails, stop by the recreat-ed old-time trapper’s cabin. Be sureto stroll through the classroom build-ing, which features historical exhibitsexploring the principles of huntereducation.

Workshops, group programs andspecial events at Owl Brook helppeople start the lifelong journey ofbecoming safe and responsiblehunters and trappers. The centeroffers classes and group activities foryouth and adults related to theshooting sports, hunter educationand orienteering. Activities and facil-ities at Owl Brook are made possibleby the federal Wildlife RestorationProgram and private donations.Learn more at huntnh.com/Hunting/hunter_ed_center.htm.

Directions to Owl Brook: Take I-93 to Exit 24 (Ashland). Turn rightonto Route 3/Route 25. In Ashland,bear left at the Y, continuing southon 3/25. Turn left onto Route 175and go 1.7 miles. Turn right ontoHardhack Road. Go about 75 yardsand take a right onto Perch PondRoad. Go 1.8 miles; the entrance tothe center is on the left.

row boat that was set adrift fromhigh winds.

Once you have your blind set upand you have gathered and placedplenty of cover you can now set outyour decoys. Be sure to bring enoughdecoys to allow them to do their jobdecoying in the birds. This part ofthe hunt is the fun part. I have neverhunted with a guy that hasn’t resettheir decoys a dozen times before orduring a hunt. There is somethingabout decoys that cause a waterfowlhunter to go goofy. I have had moreconversations about the decoys are

to close or too far or there are toomany or too few. We use a Mojoduck that creates motion with spin-ning wings and we argue about turn-ing it on or off or not to use it forgeese. The key to decoys is to haveones that will float and are easy to setup and take down. Give the birds aplace to land within range and youare good to go.

To make all of this come togetherand to truly be successful, you needto be where the birds are. You needto do your homework and find thebirds prior to going hunting. This is

accomplished by scouting and talk-ing to fellow hunters, local farmersand talking with the Fish & Gamefolks. The hardest part of waterfowlhunting is getting to where the birdsare. These birds fly thousands ofmiles a year during their migrationand they see 100’s of decoy set upsand get shot at all the way north tosouth. Those that survive getsmarter with each trip.

To be considered a successfulwaterfowl hunter is easy if you put inthe time to master these skills. Thisdoesn’t happen overnight but that’s

what makes it so fun. To truly enjoythe pursuit of waterfowl and to beable to consider yourself successful,you simply need to get up and getafter them.

On the shotgun range at Owl Brook.

I have been hunting deer and predators forover 30 years. Turkey for 15 years.Waterfowl for the past 10 years. Owner ofFields Bay Outfitters. I Live in St AlbansVT with my wife Michele and our 2 sonsDillon & Kyle and our 2 labs Tyson &Remi.

Preseason scouting with my wife Michele & our Labs Tyson & Remi.

Public Invited to Open House at Owl Brook Hunter Education Center

boys STOP THAT RIGHT NOWand GO WASH!” They frequent-ly protested with “We didn’t touchit with our hands.” I still insisted

that they wash no matter howfoolish it seemed to them.

Lesson Two: The best way todispose of a squirrel that has ‘mys-teriously’ met an untimely end inyour yard is to use a snow shovelas a catapult and fling it into theneighbor’s yard. In that instance,I observed the spectacle from thekitchen window and at the timethought they were just involved ina game of their own invention. Ihad no idea there would be asquirrel flinging until I saw some-thing grey and furry flying off thesnow shovel. I demanded thatthey come in the house and wash.I proceeded to serve the boys somefreshly baked chocolate chip cook-ies while giggling hysterically, asthere is no love lost between thatneighbor and myself.

Lesson 3: Round Styrofoam

containers found in the refrigera-tor during fishing season do notnecessarily contain take out. Myadvice to any mother (or father)reading this is: Unless you put itthere yourself, don’t even open it.Get your juvenile fishermen toremove it from your refrigeratorthen go wash your hands, whetheryou have opened the container ornot. Your young fishermen shouldwash their hands as well.

Lesson Four: A fishing lurelodged in the scalp of youryoungest son will be removed atthe emergency room by cuttingthe barb with a pair of pliersobtained from the maintenancesupervisor. They did use disinfec-tant and antibiotics so it is best togo to the hospital no matter whatyour husband tells you. Later, youwill need to assure your oldest sonthat you are not upset with him forsnagging his brother and that youknow him better than that. Afterall, why would he waste a goodfishing lure by embedding it in hisbrother’s head?

Lesson Five: It does not matterwhat outdoor pursuit they areengaging in, it will need to startbefore dawn and there will be agreat deal of boot clomping anddoor banging. The dog will getupset and start running up anddown the stairs whining. I willhave to get out of bed to calm thedog, so I might as well be sure theboys and their companions havesnacks and drinks to bring withthem. It is also important tobehave as though I was ready tostart my day anyway, ‘No worriesboys. You all be careful, be good,good luck and I love you.’ Totheir credit my sons and theircompanions would typically


Continued next page

Mother’s Day is quicklyapproaching and I look forward toit with mixed emotions as I searchfor the perfect gifts for the impor-tant women who have influencedmy life; my mother, my grand-mothers and my Aunts. All won-derful ladies and they will likely befeatured in other articles. Rightnow I would like to address thewhole idea of being a mother.You are probably wondering whatany of that has to do with the out-doors and who is this flakeywoman writing about motherhoodin an outdoor magazine? Hasn’tshe heard of women’s magazines?What’s next, needlepoint?

I beg your indulgence, andhopefully you are still reading thisarticle because you will soonunderstand. I promise.

My boys are 18 and 22 years old.I have spent many a Mother’s Daywearing a macaroni necklacewhile enjoying brunch at our localpub, and while macaroni neck-laces do not really stand the test oftime, the lessons I learned raising

two active outdoorsmen will onlyincrease in value.

Lesson One: Dead things shouldbe poked with a stick. I have

never questioned this method. Ihave however grimaced and saidthings like “EEEWWW would you

by Tina Corronby Tina CorronEmbrace Your Redneck TendenciesEmbrace Your Redneck Tendencies

Important and Necessary Lessons I Learned From My Boys

promise that they would be goodand be careful. They all usuallyhug me on the way out the door.

Lesson Six: When your son isfifteen years old and decides thatfor Mother’s day that year, he feels

it is imperative for you to learn toshoot a .22 Reuger pistol; you doit. The lesson here is that hewants to spend time with you buton his terms, and you will enjoy it.I was really glad for this time with

my son, his patience and knowl-edge led me to want to participatein target shooting with him. Myhusband purchased a BrowningBuckmark .22 pistol for me thatyear for Christmas and we have all

been target shooting. Whichleads me to Lesson Six Part 2: Itwas really fun to watch my sonshoot exploding targets and blowup an old metal cooler. I trulyembraced my Redneck tendenciesthat day.

Over the years, I have discoveredthat being a mother is not justabout caregiving or teaching, it isabout learning and growing aswell. My sons Zachary and Jacobregularly pushed me out of mycomfort zone to attempt activitiesthat challenged me physically andmentally. At their urging, Ilearned to kayak, I have hikedmountains, I attempted moun-taineering, I learned archery, andwas taught how to shoot a handgun.

I feel truly blessed to have theseboys, now men, in my life encour-aging me to embrace each newexperience and having thepatience to instruct me in the skillsI need to know to participate withthem.


from previous page

A South Burlington, Vermont resident, for-merly a “flatlander” and married to aVermonter. She and her “Vermnter” hus-band have 2 sons aged 17 and 22, as wellas a Brittany spaniel who behaves betterthan all of them. Tina was raised countryand it is in her blood. Tina can be reachedvia email at [email protected].


Massachusetts is the only state inthe entire northeast that has a yearround season for trout. Even thoughthe weather may not be conducive tofishing, there are still plenty ofopportunities for all kinds of anglersto catch trout throughout theCommonwealth.

According to Andrew Madden,MassWildlife fisheries biologist forthe Western District, Massachusettsstocks over 10,000 trout in the fallmonths to accomodate these lateseason fishermen. Most of thesetrout are stocked in lakes and pondsin September but a majority of themajor rivers get a good dosage offish as well.

"Most of these fish holdover verynicely, especially in the lakes andpond, says Madden. In the rivers,holdover is a little more weatherdependent. If we have an Octoberlike we did in 2005, with a lot ofhigh water, then some of those fishwill drift downstream to slower,deeper water". But they are stillthere.

Some rivers, like the Deerfield in

Charlemont can holdover troutextremely well because there aremany large pools and slower movingwater. The Deerfield River is themost stocked river in the state and iseasily accessible from route 2. It

flows through the towns ofCharlemont, Florida, and ShelburneFalls.

Other rivers such as the Westfieldand Swift Rivers have a higher gra-dient and flow, causing more trout tomove downstream when necessary,especially newly stocked fish thatdon't know the river. These fish

aren't accustomed to fast water andcan't find the nooks and crannieswhere slower water flows. The SwiftRiver is located near Route 9 andthe East Branch of the Westfield islocated near Route 112 and the West

Branch runs near Route 20. TheWestfield and the Deerfield Riverboth have generous "catch andrelease" sections.

In Berkshire County, both northand south branches of the HoosacRiver get a small portion of trout.The North Branch flows alongRoute 8 in Clarksburg, while theSouth Branch follows Route 8 in thetowns of Chesire and Adams. TheHoosic is a smaller river than theDeerfield and Westfield, and is easilyfishable with just hip boots.

The last river to get stocked is theEast Branch of the HousatonicRiver in Dalton. This river runsalong Route 8, where it flowsthrough Pittsfield. In downtown Leeon Route 20 there is a 5- mile stretchof "catch and release" only. This sec-tion is always full of all kinds of fish.

The bulk of the fall stockings areplaced in lakes and ponds through-out western Massachusetts. Startingfrom the northern most body ofwater, Windsor Lake, known locallyas Fish Pond in North Adams is agood bet to catch trout. This lakegets stocked throughout the yeareven though it is technically a cityowned property.

North Pond in Florida wasreclaimed by the state many yearsago as trout water. This is a small butdeep body of water that holds somebig brook trout. It is part of theSavoy Mountain State Forest systemand can be accessed off CentralShaft Road.

Windsor Pond located just offRoute 116 in the town of Windsoralso gets stocked with large brood-stock salmon as well as trout. Thisbody of water is also known asDukes Pond. Every year a monstersalmon gets caught through the ice.

Traveling south to Pittsfield, thecounty seat, there are several optionsavailable to the late winter angler. Inthe city itself, Lake Onota andPontoosuc Lake both got a fall stock-ing. Pontoosuc Lake is located onRoute 7 and Onota is just west ofthere. Onota also holds the staterecord for Tiger Muskies.

Within ten miles of Pittsfield liesRichmond Pond located on thePittsfield/Richmond line on SwampRoad. This pond is also home tomany bass tournaments throughoutthe summer. While travelling onRoute 20 in Lenox you'll pass LaurelLake. The boat launch is right there,and there are many places to fishfrom shore if the ice has melted.

If you bear left on Route 183, youcan't miss the huge StockbridgeBowl, located in downtownStockbridge. Goose Pond, found onthe south side of the Mass Turnpike,(Route 90), in the town of Lee, is afavorite among south county anglers.

In the very southern section of thewestern district is Lake Buel inMonterey. This lake is located justoff Route 57. Another big body ofwater located in the Tolland StateForest is Otis Reservior. This is anirregular shaped lake that is foundbetween Routes 23 and 8. Otherlakes down this way are LittlevilleLake and Norwich Pond situated inChester and Huntington respective-ly. Both can found near Routes 112and 66.

June can be a slow time on therivers as trout get more finicky as thewater temperature rises, but this alsomeans that there will be fewer fisher-men wetting a line. There are stillplenty of fish available,Massachusetts does a great job keep-ing trout in the water. For moreinformation, go to the MassWildlifewebsite.

Trout are Waiting Throughout the Year

David Willette is a free-lance outdoorwriter who lives in Western Massachusetts.He can be contacted through www.coyote-wars.com

Mass MeanderingsMass MeanderingsBy David WilletteBy David Willette

Official MeasurerBoone & Crockett Club

Pope & Young ClubNH Antler & Skull Trophy Club

Maine Antler & Skull Trophy Club

22 Scribner Road, Raymond, NH [email protected] 603-895-9947

ROSCOE BLAISDELL


Exploring and searching out newtrout water is always a fun thing todo and can lead to some interestingadventures. With that in mind, lastsummer, Bill Franke and I headedout for a day of discovery. Bill hadwanted to fish a section of theAmmonoosuc for a long time andso it was decided that it would bethe target destination. Other thanthat we had no definite plan inmind.

Fishing with Bill usually requiresan early morning start, but this daywe were in no rush and left Conwaymuch latter than normal. We head-ed over the Kancamagus Highway,stopping in North Woodstock for aleisurely breakfast before continu-ing on to Woodsville.

The first piece of river we fishedprovided a few fish, but was nowhere near as productive as we hadanticipated. The water may havebeen a little on the high side, but itwas to good a stretch river not tohave good fishing. Bill did manage afew small brook trout and I caughtone as well. The surprising thingwas we saw no evidence that this

portion of the river was heavilyfished. There were not a lot oftracks or the tell tail signs of empty

worm containers; true the waterprobably had been slightly higher afew days previous to our being thereand any signs may have washedaway.

We did a little more exploring andsoon came to another fishy looking

section. We turned on to a dirt roadthat followed along the river. Thisroad followed along some of thenicest looking trout water I haveever seen in New Hampshire. Most

of the homes along the road werefarms or had at one time beenfarms. Some of the river access wasmarked “no trespassing”, howeverwe found a couple of places thatwere not posted, although gettingonto the river required sliding downa rather steep bank.

This portion proved to be some-what more productive than the first.We both landed some nice rainbowsand a couple of brook trout thrownin for good measure. Like the firstarea that we had previously fishedwe saw no signs of over-fishing. Theentire time that we fished the riverwe never encountered anotherangler.

As the day wore on we steadilyheaded north. In Bath we stoppedto look at the covered bridge. Laterwe stopped at an interestingly look-ing antique shop and browsed for afew moments; you never knowwhere you might find an old bam-boo rod or an old Pflueger reel. Onthe outskirts of Littleton we stoppedfor a late afternoon lunch at a hot-dog cart. The hotdog vendor wasfrom Boston’s North End. How heended up in Littleton, NH wasprobably an interesting story, butwe did not linger long enough tofind out.

Late in the afternoon we foundourselves following along theConnecticut River. For awhile we

drove on the Vermont side andevery so often we would be back onthe New Hampshire side. Bill had inmind to fish a certain section thathe had fished the year before withhis son in-law. We had stopped onthe Vermont side to check it out andimmediately spotted trout risingclose to the bank. Due to a verysteep bank it was impossible to getto the fish. It was decided to driveback to the New Hampshire sideand walk in. It started to rain a littleand for whatever reason the fishstopped rising.

Around five in the afternoon wefound ourselves in Pittsburg. Westopped for a moment to watch aBabe Ruth baseball game and raninto an old friend and fellow guide,Ken Hastings. Ken thought that thefishing might be pretty good thatevening, but had a son playing inthe game so he would probably notbe fishing. He hurried away as hisson was next up to bat. Bill and Igeared up and headed down to theriver.

It was a beautiful evening. Thefishing was slow at first, but soonpicked up as the sun began to godown. Bill was fishing a new fiber-glass rod that he had just finishedmaking the day before. I was upstream from Bill when I looked upfrom releasing a nice little brooktrout. Bill’s new rod was bent rightover double and he was gesturing tome to come quick. I quickly reeledin and ran down stream. I arrivedjust in time to witness Bill land anenormous rainbow. I got my cam-era out of my pocket and managedto get a couple of hero shots of Billand his trout before he released it.

A few moments latter Bill and Iwere standing on the bank stillbreathing hard from all the excite-ment. Bill and I both yelled at thesame time as another large troutrose in front of us. Bill insisted thatI try for him; naturally I acceptedthe offer. I worked my wayupstream a little in order to get abetter drift. I made a couple ofquick casts that fell short. A fewsteps up stream I cast again. On thethird try the fish struck. I was soamazed that the fish took the fly Iam positive that I never set thehook; no problem the trout did it allbe himself. There was a struggle, to

Riverbank TalesRiverbank Talesby Bill Thompsonby Bill Thompson

In Search of New Water

2888 White Mountain HighwayNorth Conway, New Hampshirewww.northcountryangler.comPhone: 603-356-6000

The North Country Angler has been in the “Valley”for over thirty years. We are a full service fly shopoffering quality fly fishing gear and guiding.

Bill andJanet’s10 Year

Anniversaryas owners

Bill andJanet’s10 Year

Anniversaryas owners


from previous pagebe sure, but after several agonizingminutes the big fish was in hand.Bill repaid the favor and took myhero shot.

After two fish like these you knowit is time to call it a day. As we head-

ed back to the car the skies openedup on us. The rain came down insheets; soaking us to the bone. Atthe car we quickly got out of ourwaders and threw our rods into theback of the car, not bothering to putthem back in their cases.

We stopped in Lancaster at a fastfood place and grabbed a couple ofburgers for the ride home. Weagreed that it was against “roadtrip” rules to eat at a fast food joint,but do the lateness of the hour

nothing else was open. We calledour wives to let them know that wewould be home late, but theyalready knew that and expressed lit-tle or no concern.

It continued to rain hard until wereached Twin Mountain. Just before

the AMC Highland Center anerrant moose crossed the road infront of us. Other than the moosethe rest of the ride home wasuneventful. I arrived back inFreedom just about midnight. That

night I dreamed of beautifulstreams and big trout.

As it turned out this was to be thelast time that Bill and I would fishtogether. Just before Christmas, lastyear, he passed away. Readers ofthis column may remember the

piece I wrote on Bill several yearsago. Bill was well known in NewHampshire and in the fly fishingindustry. Bill was the inventor of areplacement foot for the PfluegerMedalist fly reel. The company wasknown as One Pfoot and manufac-tured many other parts for theMedalist. Bill was also the formerowner of Timberline Rods in NorthConway, New Hampshire. Thecompany made pack rods for L. L.Bean and Eastern Mountain Sports.Bill also owned a small custom rodshop that produced high qualitybamboo and graphite fly rods.

Bill and I fished a lot togetherover the last few years, traveling toPennsylvania, New York andCanada. We caught a lot of troutand salmon together, but the fishwere just a small part of the equa-tion. Our love of the adventure ofthe road and rivers made us thefriends we were.

Originally from Maine, Bill Thompson,with his wife Janet, lives in Freedom andowns North Country Angler fly shop inNorth Conway. He has been fly fishing formore than 30 years and is a licensed NHFishing Guide. He has fished all over NewEngland, in Canada and out West, butclaims the Saco as his “home river.” Healso writes a column for a local paper aswell as articles in national fly fishing mag-azines. Bill’s email is [email protected].

The best hunting purchase I mayhave ever made is the Guide to theWildlife Management Areas ofVermont; this handy book provides acrude map, detailed description andgives directions to all of the state’sWMAs, I would be at a loss without

it. Choose an area that is out of theway, a place no other hunter wouldlook. Try to find somewhere that isnot easy to get to. Trust me if youplan it right, there will still be birdsthere. Go North is my best advice,the “turkey flu” has hit less hard upthere, places such as Wenlock WMAand the Nulhegan Basin are tworarely hunted areas, which I know tohold trophy gobblers.

After either choosing a WMA outof the book or finding another pub-licly accessible area, I view both top-ographical maps and use GoogleEarth to key in on specific areas thatmay hold good wild turkey habitat. Ihave used topo maps for most of mylife and a wealth of knowledge canbe gained from them alone, but ifyou have the technological accessGoogle Earth is an amazing tool forscouting. Use a topo map for justthat, topography, and getting a senseof the lay of the land, then look atGoogle Earth to hone your scouting

efforts.When using Google Earth or other

online mapping site to scout locales,the first thing I look for is sand pits,they will stand out on your browseras bright white spots and you canzoom right in to ensure what you areseeing. Backwoods gobblers lovesandy stretches of land to dust in andin dense forests they provide an openplace for them to strut. I proved thisto my Ol’ Man a while back, whenwe were scouting near UmpireMountain. He thought I was crazymaking him drive out to an old sandpit, but as we rounded a bend in thetrail, there was a Jake displaying for afew hens. I was able to hang out thepick-up window and haphazardlyfilm the bird as he strutted aroundfor the better part of an hour andthen hopped up the steep embank-ment walls of the pit, finally roostingin a tree overlooking it. We didn’tcome back until a year later, allowingthe bird to mature. Without anyprior scouting, the season followingthe filming, we snuck in early onemorning and setup up quietly in thewoods near the pit. I hit the callonce; he immediately and fiercelygobbled from his roost. The rest ishistory. Once you find these placeswith your online mapping site besure to add them to your paper map.

Other features to key in on arepower lines, trails and clear cuts.These are not only essential struttingzones for Toms but also tend to pro-vide nourishing short growing vege-tation for the insects and other crit-ters that hens feed on. Find the hensand you’ll find the gobblers. As longas it is up to date, your topo map willmost likely show all power lines cut-ting through your area, but GoogleEarth will allow you to hone in onthe smaller paths, and newer clear-ings from year to year. Keep yourmaps up to date by marking recentchanges.


Continued next page

There’s this farm down the roadfrom my childhood home that is kindof famous in the area for its stutters.When I was a kid, you never saw wildturkeys in the Kingdom and whenthey started showing up on the scene,it was a spectacle for the locals.People would park along the road-side on their way home from workand watch the birds as they fannedout and displayed for hens. As timewent on the flocks, both turkey andobservers grew larger until thehumans became accustomed to thedaily sight and lost interest. Mostfolks began just driving by, too busyto stop. I was not too busy, but I didnot view them from the road either. Iwould try to get as close as possible tothe birds and learn as much as Icould about these newcomers to mykingdom. The turkey’s populationcontinued growing and before Iknew it the state had opened a seasonfor spring gobblers in our WMU. Icut my turkey hunting teeth in thosefields and woods, enjoying great suc-cess for quite a few years, even intro-ducing my Ol’ Man to the sport andputting him on some good birds.

I thought those were the glorydays, early mornings full of thunder-ous gobbling, running into birdsaround every corner, being in themiddle of entire flocks and listeningto them communicate, there is nobetter educator than unpressuredgame. All good things come to end,and eventually the crowds started lin-ing the roads again. This time thevehicles had camo accents and so didtheir occupants. I had a few closecalls with some uneducated turkeystalkers and it was not long before Inearly wrote the area off as too dan-gerous. Now, I only hunt there whenI am sure no one else is around or itis very late in the season, even thenthere is still a chance of that bluejean, blue shirt wearing guy, walkingthrough the open field toward a birdyou’ve been calling to all morning.The “loss” of this territory was ablessing in disguise. As I widened mysearch for unpressured birds, itbecame clear that roadside farmswere not the place to hunt. I learnedto get back in the woods where thosestill wily gobblers had probably neverseen a car or human.

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Public Access to the KingdomPublic Access to the KingdomBy Dylan R. AinsworthBy Dylan R. Ainsworth


from previous page

Once you’ve narrowed your targetarea to more specific sections of yourchosen battle grounds, and you havecompiled enough data about thearea, it is time for some groundrecon. Take to the woods with yourmap and Smartphone if you haveone. Find the places you havemarked and determine if they actu-ally hold gobblers. Smartphone userscan benefit here, you can open yourapp and watch the little blue dot(you) as you move through the woods.This can help you find areas youhave targeted faster. Once you findthe places you have marked, treat itas you would any scouting mission.Be there before daybreak and listenfor gobbling, fly-down clucking andwing beating. Look for dustingmarks, scratching tracks, scat, andloose feathers that are surefire signsof turkeys in your hunting spot. Youcan use your topo map to get to thehighest point around and try locatorcalls such as owl hoots, and crow callsthat can shock a lock-jawed bird intogobbling. I rarely imitate turkeyvocalizations as this only educatesthem, but occasionally the only thingthat will get a response from a deepwoods bird is an intruding male whomay invade his harem. If all else failsand you are alone in the forest, use agobble to get one.

Finding the birds is a huge step, butnext you must observe their habits.

While hunting birds that frequentforested land as opposed to fields it iscrucial that you know their daily rou-

tines and the specific routes they liketo travel. Setting up even a few yardsoff point could put you beyond some

obstruction that a bird won’t cross.Again don’t forget to make note ofthese travel corridors and roost treeson your map. When you are at homeyou can use all the info you havegathered to formulate a plan ofattack. Find the quickest quietest wayin by comparing topography, onlineimages and knowledge gained afield.Use what you have learned by obser-vation to setup a successful ambush.Execute it in privacy, while otherhunters are all chasing the same oldeducated birds at the locally infa-mous farm.

If hoards of turkey hunters areconsuming the privately owned hunt-ing grounds you frequent, then do asI did, find some vacant state or feder-al land and strut your stuff in public.Gain a vast amount of knowledgefrom maps and apps, put in somegood old recon on foot, create a planand you will be well on your way to atrophy you can brag about.

Dylan R. Ainsworth is a native Vermonter.He is a member of the Mossy OakProstaff, a seminar speaker, and outdoorvideographer as well as a guide. He and hiswife Dawn own and operate NostalgicImages with a mission to bring the outdoorsinto focus and express their passion for thenatural world through photos and video.Dylan is also a home brewer and self pro-claimed connoisseur of Vermont craft beers.

law, and we really need to write theirnames on them, as we have a had afew arguments over whose is whose.Megan also has a little pink Barbiebox that was her first tackle box, andnow also has a new big one that she

won at a kids fishing derby. Benseems to have a slightly obsessivecondition where he has to have eachlure in its own compartment, andhe’s running out of space. I’m work-ing with him on how to pick somelures to share a spot. I carry a boxwith the practical utility items andhardware; hooks, sinkers and bob-bers that are essential, plus a fewstandard lures to cover the water col-umn myself if I get the chance for afew casts of my own. I have had thisbox, a green and tan 2 drawer Plano,since I was a kid, when Dad broughtus to the store for a little fishing shop-ping spree where we loaded up onnew stuff to go with our new boat.

Of course, every trip we go on thekids want to bring all of their boxes,and unless we are going out on myin-laws giant pontoon boat where wecan pile them all up in the corner, itis impractical to lug all the boxesalong. Alas, although I beg consoli-dation, we inevitably carry alongmultiple boxes wherever we go. Theyare getting better at casting now,though, so when the mood strikesthem, I tie on their favorite lookingoffering and they sling it into thewater or let it hang over the side ofthe boat for a while.

The first signs of spring ease slow-ly into existence. It begins with themere hope of spring, when the fore-cast calls for temperatures into theupper forties. The crusty remnants ofsnow melt away showing the grassbelow, and the ankle deep mud in thedriveway tracks through the house soquickly, it’s as though someone threwit through the front door with a shov-el. However, two kids, a dog and I,admittedly, are to blame.

On a recent beautiful weekend, thewarm sun, singing birds and quag-mire of mud in the road smelling

uncannily like a cow pasture had mythoughts turning to fishing. The reg-ular season not being open yet, Ifound one of the few waterways nearme that were open year round andmade plans to try a few casts. Thetrip was planned as a family hikealong a recreational trail, but I knewa parking area to stop at with a damthat has a nice pool below where Ithought a trout or two could possiblyhave spent the winter. Everyoneexcept Mom picked a rod from thehibernating stash of equipment atthe back of the garage with the lawn-mower, and I convinced the kids tojust share the lures from my littlepocket pack of tackle since bait wasstill illegal to use, and we were on ourway.

The bright sun shimmering on theopen water below the dam was verymood lifting after a long winter. Ieven saw an insect hatch and flutteroff the surface and through the air. Ihad outfitted all of us with jigs, thekids had a little pink and white plas-tic grub, and I used a hand tied buck-tail jig that drifted through the cur-rent beautifully, just like a Clouserminnow. I imagined they would castthem out and bring them back inerratically, by default, and prettymuch be on the bottom. It worked,because they immediately got stuck.I freed them, and in a few moments,they were stuck in a tree. I got themfree again, and cast their lines wayout into the pool for them to workback in. The water was a little high-er and faster than I had seen itrecently, but still fishable. I workedmy way to the edge of some rocksand cast into the deep, slower cur-rent out in front of me. I drifted myjig repeatedly, feeling it tick on therocks below, and giving an occasion-al jump off the bottom, but with noresults. It felt good to have a rod inmy hand though.

After a few minutes, Benannounced he didn’t feel good, andwanted to go back to the car. He puthis rod down and left. Meg and Ifished peacefully a few more min-utes, and then Ben marched backand said “my belly really hurts, weneed to go.”

“Alright, we’ll leave in a minute”, Ireplied, and he left again for the car,where Mom sat waiting, crochetinghappily by herself in the front seat.

While I gathered all our rods andsupplies, Meg was moving carefullyalong the rocks near the edge of thewater, when she slipped and her footwent in to the water, just far enoughso the icy liquid spilled over the topof her pink rubber boot. We pulledoff her boot and dumped the water,but by the wailing and flailing that


We look forward to it every year.Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny; theseannual visitors to our home nevercease to amaze us with their intuitiveability to bring us special treasures.Somehow they always seem to knowjust what we want. Stockings andEaster baskets in our house usuallytend to have at least a couple of newlures or tackle items.

Shiny metal spinners, with beadsand sparkles and multi colored hairtails, and eerily life -like minnow imi-tations complete with scales, fins,gills and eyes are always items of fas-cination. They look so real it seemsthat they might just flip flop off thetable or swim away if they escapedinto some water before being affixedto a fishing line. At times, all theselures are brought out onto the diningroom table and are laid out carefullyto be sorted and admired, as onemight do with a collection of oldspoons. We all admire them, andMeg and Ben sometimes trade themand swap them with each other forothers that they think are more“alluring”, either to the fish, or just

themselves.All these lures have a home. We

have multiple “family” tackle boxes.The kids each have their own, where

they keep their favorites; Cool colors,realistic minnows, and rubber baitswith silly legs that just beg to betouched and squeezed and used totickle your sibling’s ear. These boxesare matching, as they were giftsbought together by my mother- in-

Family TracksBy Brian Lang

Continued next page

Megan sorting through her favorite lures for the upcoming fishing season.

Take Me to the River

By Brian Lang

Family Tracks


from previous page

followed, you would think she hadbeen attacked by an alligator. While Itried to convince her she was OK,and had the capability to climb backup to the car under her own power,Mom walked with Ben up to theedge of the embankment above usand called down over the roar of therushing water “We have to go NOW,your son has an emergency!” As shegripped his hand he did an anxiouslittle dance next to her. I acknowl-edged the fact, and she retreated

back to the car, seeing I had a littlecrisis of my own.

Though still sobbing, Meg and Imade it successfully back up theembankment, hand in hand. The gasstation just down the road was con-venient to relieve Ben’s “condition”and we were able to stock up thepack with snacks for our trek alongthe bike path. A plastic grocery bagwrapped around Meg’s foot createdenough of an illusion of a dry bootthat she was able to walk along will-

fully. We had a great walk on the trailalong the river, and I spied a fewother spots that looked like theywould be worth a couple casts in thefuture.

Megan recently lost a front tooth,and the other one is now loose. Iwonder, does the tooth fairy fish?Perhaps a shiny new lure under thepillow is in the future, and since wewill be well into fishing season whenthe next tooth comes out, it can betried out right away. We just need to

be sure and bring some spare socks.

Brian Lang lives with his wife, Michelleand two children Megan and Ben inReading, VT. Brian grew up in VT andstarted enjoying his outdoor pursuits at avery young age. He is an avid hunter, fish-erman, camper, and hiker and hopes to givehis kids the same wholesome upbringing heenjoyed in the New England outdoors.When he's not outside, he works as anMRI Technologist. He can be reached [email protected].

The Gazette’s Hunting and Fishing Solunar Tables


and continue on their way. I’ve had a lot of luck around sign-

post rubs I’ve found in the spring.Once I find a few of these rubs, Imake it my goal to find out wherethe deer are coming from and goingto once they’re done rubbing.

I usually start by looking for a risein the nearby terrain. If I can find ahill that looks down onto the edge ofthe swamp I then determine if it’sout of the way enough to keep mypresence unknown. The last thing Iwant to do is alert a big buck of mypresence.

If I can’t find a hill I look for a spotjust inside the thick cover of theswamp where I can look back outinto the open. Since these signpostrubs are usually on well-defined run-ways it gives me the ability to watchthe runway leading to the tree.

Once I’ve located a big signposttree I try to find a dominant scrapesomewhere close by. If I locate agood scrape I can usually assume Iwill have action in that place inNovember.

In the spring it’s hard to tell wherethe deer fed during hunting season,but I still do my best to find littlehoney holes where I might be able tointercept a mature buck. I try tolocate these spots by looking for a lotof deer droppings and nipped buds.Although it’s hard to see turned overleaves, I still look for any indicationthat might tell me deer fed there atone time in the fall.

As I go from place to place I try toput on as many miles as I can. Youcould stumble across an awesomeplace a few ridges from the truck orit might take you more than half aday of walking to find that magicalplace you’ve always searched for.

Deer hunting in big woods is a yearround job if you want to be success-ful. Success doesn’t come easy unlessyou’re plain lucky. Hunters who puttheir time in are usually rewarded inmany ways. Their reward could beas simple as finding a nice shedantler or harvesting a mature buck.

If you’re looking for something todo before everything starts gettinggreen, I encourage you to go for a lit-tle walk. Check out your regularhunting grounds or venture into afew new ones. You never know whatyou might find! Good luck next fall.

For many of us it has been a longwinter. Some of us have probablystayed active by ice fishing, skiingand indoor target shooting. I’m alsopretty sure that a few people enjoyedthe slow time of year to catch up onsome reading.

Now that spring is here there areall sorts of things to grab our atten-tion. While autumn is my favoritetime of year for obvious reasons,spring comes in a close second.When the snow begins to fade I startdreaming about big bucks andfalling leaves.

That’s when I get my maps outand begin marking different areaswith a hi-liter. Every year I try tocheck out new hunting areas to see ifthey’re worth hunting in the fall.After I narrow down my choices andexamine the hi-lited areas, I markthe dates on my calendar for eachexcursion. Although the planningstages are exciting, I also know Ican’t waste any time. I need to get inthe woods before the leaves startturning green and the woodsbecome a jungle of sorts.

Since most of my hunting is donein the High Peaks region of theAdirondack Mountains, I get a littlelonger to scout than people who livefurther south at lower elevations.The chilly temperatures give thesnow the ability to hang on for abouta month longer than most places.

Once I get in the woods I head todifferent areas I’ve selected on mytypographical maps. I have a ten-dency to scout places with a lot ofrolling hills between big mountains. Ilike to have swamps and streamsthroughout the landscape. Thesefeatures in terrain usually funneldeer into certain areas, which makesit easier to set up a stand or blind.

In the Adirondacks there areswamps in almost every piece ofland. Some swamps can extend for

miles, while others might be only acouple hundred yards long. I’vealways found the most impressivesign on the edge of swamps. The bigbucks seem to like the areas to mark

their territory. This is often recogniz-able when you come across signposttrees. These are trees that get rubbedyear after year and generation aftergeneration by many of the bucks inthe area. Small bucks and big bucksboth hit these trees. They leave theirscent on the tree when they rub it

Anchor PointsBy Todd Mead

Spring Scouting

By Todd Mead

Anchor Points

I killed a couple of nice bucks next to this signpost rub after finding it in the spring.

Todd is the author of Backcountry Bucksand A Lifetime of Big Woods HuntingMemories. You can catch up with him onhis website: www.toddmead.comHe resides in Queensbury, NY.


Shed hunting expert or just lucky enugh to live where there are tons of deer? This gentle-man lives in Nebraska. It’s obvious that he takes shed hunting seriously.


depart toward Canadian water.How could wind possibly be dan-gerous a few miles away? Wetravel north up the river on a twohour ride, pass through customsand arrive at Oak Island.

Lake of the Woods is a big bodyof water characterized by over 65

thousand miles of shoreline. Onewould have to travel the circum-ference of the globe three times toequal the number of miles thatmake up the shoreline of the lake.It covers almost one million acresand is in both the United States as

well as the Canadian provinces ofOntario and Manitoba. This willbe the first time I will fish in theUSA and Canada on the sameday. JP tells us about the islands,and I see them everywhere now aswe enter Canadian water. Thisbig body of water boasts 14,562islands. I can see clearly why atrust-worthy fishing guide is a

necessity. Rocks jut from thewater. They are beautiful,although dangerous for a boatprop. Our guide safely navigatesus through a canal to a spot wherewalleyes show up on the fishlocater.

JP lowers the trolling motor andtakes out a plastic bag of frozenshiners. He explains to me that

the shiners do not stay alive formore than half a day so freezingthe bait works effectively. His fin-gers quickly pierce the hookthrough the eyes and also throughthe back of the shiner. I open thebail and let the orange jig head

drop twenty-five feet to the bot-tom of the lake. I feel a bump sig-naling the shiner is on the bottom,and close the bail. I feel a tug onthe end of my line and watch therod tip bend down to the water. Ijerk it toward the sky, set the hook,and start reeling in the fish. Myheart quickens as I rotate the han-

The stunning internationalwaters of Lake of the Woods MNprovide some of the best walleyefishing in the world. The watersnear the Northwest Angle arehome to a large volume and vari-ety of fish. Walleye are king here,but do not be fooled. Musky,

perch and crappie are also plenti-ful. My cell phone rang. It wasKurt Walbeck. He asked if Iwould like to join him and DuaneWalker for a weekend of fishing.We would travel up north to thebig body of water. Kurt is thehost of Outdoor Bound TV. Heexplained that we would also befilming a segment for his outdoorshow. Jean-Paul and Jody Tessierwill be meeting us in Baudette asour hosts and Jean-Paul will guideus fishing. We worked out thedetails. Kurt and Duane will pickme up on Thursday at 1:00.

Thursday comes quickly, and amaroon- colored pickup pulls intomy driveway. The emblems onthe doors state “Outdoor BoundTV”. I answer the knock at thefront door. After a quick greetingKurt takes my bag and packs italong with the other gear. He

starts the engine and we headtoward the northwest angle. The3 hour drive passes quickly.Walbeck is a former professionalracecar driver. We arrive inBaudette to meet JP and his wife.The boys take our things out ofthe truck and load into the boat.JP straightens his fishing hat as hetell us the morning wind produced8 foot high waves and we are luckythe lake is calmer now. “Stormsmay blow in quick and fierce”, JPexplains. I pull my cap down onmy head and take my seat. Thesun glistens on the lake as we

Fishing the Walleye Capital of the World

Outdoors with AnitaBy Anita WilliamsBy Anita Williams

Outdoors with Anita

Continued next page


from previous page

maple syrup are washed downwith milk. The wind has pickedup today, and with full bellies weset out to fish the big lake. 27miles north of the cabin, we findour lucky spot. We pull inwalleyes, sauger and perch as thewind whips around us. It is nowearly afternoon and the fish arebiting like crazy. My orange river-dancer is now losing its paint andrevealing gold as I catch one fishafter another. My guide smiles ashe explains, “Gold is my favoritecolor to fish with….but only afteryou get tired of catching them onorange.” My rod bends towardthe water. This is one of thosedays I want to stay and catch fishall day, or until I run out of bait.Kurt gazes to the west and noticesa big cloud forming quickly andheading toward us.

“JP, how long till that stormcatches up to us?” he quizzed. JPlifts his head toward the sky andgives a call to action. He instructsus to reel in our lines. We need tomove quickly, as the rain and windare coming. The clouds nowappear ominous and the sheets ofrain hit the lake ahead of theboat. I zip my camouflaged rainsuit and tuck my head between myknees. I grab my hood and coatwith one hand while the other onesearches for a hold on the boat. Igrip the handle while the boat

rocks. JP has to drive straight intothe storm against thirty-five milean hour winds. White caps splashthe boat, as six foot waves sur-round us. I say a prayer. The boatbucks like a wild bronco, we getwet. My stomach churns.Storms can gather quickly on thisbig body of water. The rain doesnot last long, although the windcontinues to lift the boat and tossit back down. I raise my head,and see the shoreline. My faithand trust in Jean-Paul is welldeserved. He navigates us safelythrough the storm and back toOak Island. I lean toward JP,stretch my arms and give him ahug. Duane reaches down, takeshis hat and gives it a shake andsettles it on his head as Kurtsmiles. We made it! What a greatweekend of fishing. I appreciatethe opportunity to make newfriends and fish the big body ofwater: Lake of the Woods.

dle. The walleye is a welcomesight. The green tinged bodyturns yellow and white toward thebelly. The pointed dorsal fin hasjust a spot of black toward thetail. This fin provides balance andleads to the tell-tale bulging eyes.The hours pass quickly and tendozen frozen shiners produce onewalleye after another. Kurt,Duane, JP and I catch a hundredfish; we keep our limits, and thenswitch to night-crawlers.

Perch love crawlers andWisconsin boys love perch. We

pull in several jumbo sized perch.The gold bellied fish have verticalstripes that sparkle in the sunlight.I knew that Wisconsin fishermenwill fish all day for perch. Plop,plop: the boys catch a double! 2more perch into the live-well. Weboat back to camp. The perch arecleaned along with walleyes fordinner as the sun slips into theeast shore of the lake signaling theend of the day.

The smell and sizzle of baconfrying on the griddle wakes me.Banana-pecan pancakes with

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Anita lives in Grand Rapids, MN and isthe mother of two adult children. She hasbeen a hairstylist for thirty years. Her emptynest allows time to pursue interests of pho-tography, bowhunting, fishing, travel andfood. Follow her on facebook and watch hervideos @ "http://www.huntervids.com/?videos=northern-pike-spearfishing-anita-williams-pokegama" http://hunter-vids.com/?videos=northern-pike-spearfish-ing-anita-williams-pokegama-


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MOUNTAIN DEER TAXIDERMY

at 802-485-7184at 802-485-71841308 Loop Road - Northfield, VT 05663

Call Rodney or Theresa Elmer

WWW.MOUNTAINDEERTAXIDERMY.COM

I know some of you have heard mesay “ Don’t miss hunting theevenings next week. The moon is ritefor good bucks to be on the moveearly”. I get a lot a weird looks,some disbelievers and even a fewthink I’m plain stupid. But the onesthat (even though they didn’t get itbut said ok, I’ll give it a shot) havetried and applied what I told them?They became quick believers andstarted to ask me a lot more ques-tions to better understand themethod.

So, if ya give me a chance and youapply a100% honest effort, I thinkyou each will find this concept worksvery well and is as important if notmore important than your scent locksuit. Remember this concept is SIM-PLE, and works on ALL big gameanimals.

Now just to get ya to easily under-stand how to use this method. Forthose that take evening drives or forthose that have driven around in thelate afternoons looking to catch aglimpse of whitetails. Have you evernoticed (say over a couple week peri-

od) that you can be driving aroundeach night and not see really any-thing. But then one night you startseeing a few doe. Then the nextnight a few more does. The nextnight does again but as well you startseeing some small bucks. Then thenext night a few more small bucksand the next night “WHAM” ya seesome slammers, the next night a fewmore slammers and then the nextnight NOTHING??

It is simple! When you see the BIGBOYS on their feet.....LOOK UPAND SEE WHERE THE MOONIS IN THE SKY!! I know a lot ofguys are hooked on the moon phaseand not that the phases of the moondon’t dictate a few things when itcomes to big game animals. But theposition the moon in the sky will dic-tate when Big Game animals aremost active. Thus, you now know themost important times to “not” missbeing out hunting. I use this methodmainly on trophy whitetail bucks.But I have used this method success-fully on black bears as well. BecauseI use this method for whitetails, I will

Big Game Activity and The Moon explain how to simply use this con-cept to increase your success.

After years of using this method,I know when to start driving aroundlooking for high levels of deer activi-

ty. When to start is simple. First: Ifyou use/look at the photo I sent youand then spend some time outsideevery evening and pay attention towhere the moon is. You will knowthat the moon is in a different placein the sky each night. Now, there is atime from when the moon rises, tobeing directly overhead that deeractivity is at its highest. Then again itwill repeat itself 12 1/2 hrs laterwhen the moon is in the oppositeposition. Why? Gravitational pull isat its highest twice within the moonsrevolutionary cycle. Understand thisand you will soon know when tospend specific nights glassing.

Because evening hunts are mostconvenient and favorable for mosthunters, we will us it as the primeexample. Our season in Illinois startsin October and sunset is usuallyaround 6:30 and it is dark by 7:00.So when we put out our trail cams inJuly, and start getting pics of certainbig bucks each month, we start topay attention at around 4pm towhere (what position) the moon is in.In reference to the photo I sent you,the moon rises in the 9 o’clock posi-tion and sets in the 3 o’clock. WhenI see the moon in the 1 o’clock posi-tion at about 4pm in the afternoon?That is when I start scouting/glass-ing every night for about a week ortwo.

SO, when the moon first reaches

the 1 o’clock position (around 4pmin the afternoon) start glassingEACH NIGHT until at dark themoon is in the 9 o’clock position (orthe moon hasn’t yet risen). In that

period of time, you will see big gameactivity increase each night and 2 ofthose nights you should see someearly movement from big bucks. Notonly do you want to look up and seewhere the moon is AT in the sky. Butyou want to mark that day down onthe calendar.

Why? Because the moon will makeone revolution around the earth in29 1/2 days and returns to its origi-nal position opposite the earth with-in only 27 days later. Thus, WHENTHE MOON IS BACK IN THESAME POSITION THE NEXTMONTH, THE BUCKS WILLAGAIN BE ON THEIR FEETEARLY! This allows you to countmonths ahead to know when to def-initely be there to hunt him while heis on his feet during daylight hours.

So when you catch on to thismethod, you will know when to startstaying later in the morning, gettingto the stand a lot earlier in theevening or just simply hunt mid day.For those skeptical or too arrogant totry this, You’re missing out!!! Forthose that want to know more, JeffMurray wrote a book about thismethod back in 1995. I got the book,read it, applied it and have beenusing this method ever since.

Since 1995 Jeff has made 3 DVD’son this method for those that hate toread. Unfortunately Jeff passedaway last year. But you can still order

By Bret HomerBy Bret Homer

Anything WhitetailAnything Whitetail

his book and his DVD’s from his sitehttp://www.moonguide.com/. Thisinformation is some of the most use-ful information I have ever cameacross while hunting. Again, I havebeen using this method since thebook came out in 95.

Jeff offers a moon dial that will cutout a lot of work for you or for thosethat simply want to take the easyway out. Personally, I have no needto use the dial. Once you spendsome time afield figuring out thismethod. You wont find a need to buyone. So best of luck to everyone this

fall


food is usually nearby but just out ofsight to a person happening upon it.

Animals that act sick can carryrabies, parasites or other harmful dis-eases. Do not handle them. Eventhough they do not show symptoms,healthy-looking raccoons, foxes,skunks, and bats also may also be car-riers of the deadly rabies virus.

Many wildlife species will not feed orcare for their young when people areclose by. Obey signs that restrict accessto wildlife nesting areas, including hik-ing trails that may be temporarilyclosed. Keep domestic pets indoors,leashed or fenced in. Dogs and cats killmany baby animals each year. Avoidprojects that remove trees, shrubs and

dead snags that contain bird and othernests during the spring and summer.

For information about rabies andnuisance wildlife, call the VermontRabies Hotline at 1-800-4RABIES (1-800-472-2437). If bitten or in directcontact with a raccoon, fox, skunk, orbat, or a domestic animal that hasbeen in contact with one of thesespecies, call the Vermont Departmentof Health at 1-800-640-4374.

For the safety of all wildlife taking awild animal into captivity is illegal. Ifyou find an orphaned animal, howev-er, you can contact the Contact theVermont Fish & Wildlife Departmentat 1-802-241-3700 if you any ques-tions.

MONTPELIER, VT –Watchingwildlife is enjoyable, especially whenyoung animals appear in the spring.But it’s best to keep your distance.Picking up young wildlife can do moreharm than good, according to theVermont Fish & Wildlife Department.It’s also against the law

When people see young animalsalone, they often mistakenly assumethese animals are helpless or lost, introuble or needing to be rescued.Bringing young wildlife into a humanenvironment often results in perma-nent separation from their mothersand a sad ending for the animal.

Handling wildlife could also pose athreat to the people involved. Wildanimals can transmit disease and

angry wildlife mothers can pose signif-icant dangers.

Department scientists encouragewildlife watchers to respect the behav-ior of animals in the spring and earlysummer, and to resist the urge to assistwildlife in ways that may be harmful.Some helpful tips:

Deer and moose nurse their young atdifferent times during the day, andoften leave young alone for long peri-ods of time. These animals are notlost. Their mother knows where theyare and will return. Young birds on theground may have left their nest, buttheir parents will still feed them. Younganimals such as fox and raccoon willoften follow their parents. The familyof a “wandering” animal searching for

from previous page

Young wildlife need to be left in the wild, according to the Vermont Fish & WildlifeDepartment. Deer fawns may seem abandoned, but their mothers typically are nearby andwill return when people are not in the area.

Young Wildlife Belong in the Wild

Brett is the owner and head guide forBackwoods Whitetails Outfitters. Bornand raised in West Central Illinois, Bretthas well over 25 years of experience inhunting all types of big and small game inthe backwoods of Illinois. Born the son ofa gunsmith, Brett was introduced intosmall game hunting as a young boy.Through his fathers love of guns, huntingsmall game and upland birds. Brett quick-ly developed a passionate hobby that wouldtake him to a career in the guiding huntersin the backwoods if West Central Illinois.


This time of year I always like tosit down and think about last year’strapping season. I go over notes,think about the right things I didand even about the wrong things Idid. I figure it will help me getthrough this season this comingfall. I will get back to the how to’snext month.

This past fall was a good one forme. Plenty of time off to trap andhunt and just plain be outdoors. Ihad my pre-scouting all done. Iknew where I was going to trap,had the supplies all set to go andpermission on all the properties. Iknew where I was going to squirrelhunt, duck hunt and deer hunt,hell I even had that old fat tom fig-ured out. Life was good.

The first day of trapping seasoncame and I was up and at them. Ieven managed to string more thanI had in years. Then the dilemmacame. A nice day outside, do I trap,fish, duck hunt or try the tom.Every day this happened. Whydoes all the things I like to do comeall at once.

So I figured it out, check traps inthe early morning, duck hunt dur-ing the day, or squirrel, or that tomand then at dark it was off to thefur shed to deal with that. Well a

few days into it and I crashed. Thisold trapper met his match, age.Can’t do what I used to do 40 yearsago.

So I did what I had to do which

was check the traps daily, hunt ifthe weather was nice and then didthe fur at night all at a slower pace.I would be lying if I said I did notsneak a nap or two in also.

The results were a very goodtrapping year, a dismal duck year,very little fishing, very little squir-rel hunting, one day of p’tridgehunting and then deer hunting.The deer lords smiled on me thesecond day of the season whichwas nice. And the tom, well he hadanother slip plan for me. I think hewent south for the winter as I didnot see him again all fall.

The rumor was that rat priceswere going to be through the roofso I concentrated on them. I hadheard all of this chatter before butthe talk was eight dollars plus apiece. That’s a far cry from the twoto three dollars they usually fetch.As the season progressed the talkwas that all fur was going to behigh so out went a few more traps.Then the rumor was going aroundthat rats went for a high of neartwenty dollars apiece in an auc-tion. I figured somebody was sniff-ing too much castor or hitting thehome brew to hard but it was true.Out went some more traps.

Well before you knew it I hadnearly every trap I own out andset. I was doing well and then camethe curve ball. Mother Nature, inher infinite wisdom decided it washigh time to dump a Nor’easter onus. I watched and waited as youknow sometimes the weather guyis, well you know, wrong. Well twodays before it hit I pulled every-thing and I am glad I did. Eighteenin the first dump and a day later sixmore inches of snow.

The rest of the winter was mild,most small streams remained icefree and the ponds had very littleice. So out went some more traps.

But now it’s over except for the

nuisance stuff. It’s time to checkthe gear and reorder what youneed. To me it’s easier to do it inthe spring than in the fall witheverything going on.

So my next year’s agenda lookssomething like this. Get propertypermission by September first,recheck all supplies by September15th. Get a little early bear hunt-ing in by the end of the month?Around duck season hunt the goodduck hunting weather days or a lit-tle partridge for the freezer. Bag abunch of squirrels for those mid-winter cravings. Hang the standsearly and get the bow practicedone. Sight in the rifles for openingday.

Come the first day of trappingseason fling the steel with realisticgoals. Work smarter not harder.Keep in mind that what you har-vest has to be processed.

Prices were higher this year forfur than anytime this old geezercan remember so that will be amotivation factor come next year.Do not let prices steer your linetho, remember to make it fun andnot a job.

And that tom turkey, I almost for-got about him. He made it finethrough the winter. Saw him yes-terday and he is looking fine. If allgoes well I will be on turkey knobopening morning at 04:00 am andhe will fly down to me and that willbe one less chore I have this com-ing fall.

For the list of things I will not dogoes as follows. I will not jump intothe stream with waders on withoutchecking its depth, I will not dumpa bottle of skunk essence on mycoat, I will not load the beagles inthe truck and load the gun in andleave the shells home, I will notpuncture a mink gland when theshop is full of customers ( real trap-pers do not mind), and I will notthink I am 16 years old anymore.Hell I will not even crawl under thechicken coop again to drag out a37 pound p’eed off coon.

This all makes me tired, time fora nap. Keep your waders patchedyour lures in the shed and be sureto bring a kid with you.

By Randy BarrowsBy Randy Barrows

The Trap LineThe Trap Line

This Past Season - A look back at 2012-2013

Randy lives in Milton, Vermont, hastrapped in Vermont for 43 years, is a hunterEd Instructor and an Advanced TrapperInstructor for the Vermont Fish & WildlifeDepartment. Randy and wife, Diane &their family, own and operate ArrowheadTrapping Supply. Randy is also a VermontState Licensed Fur Dealer. They can bereached at [email protected] or 802-355-7496, on facebook or at www.arrow-headtrappingsupply.com.


By Charlie ChalkBy Charlie Chalk

Behind the SightsBehind the Sights

Fire starting is basic and without it;survival and even rescue, may not bepossible. If you go into the woods youshould always carry a way to start afire, and an emergency backup. Mostpeople carry disposable butanelighters and never give it a furtherthought. Realize that at 32 F. butanewill not ignite. Matches are anotherchoice, but they are too easy to getwet. These methods are also limitedto having a finite source of products.That leaves us with friction firestarters. This method was commonuntil the match was invented in themid 1800’s. Modern friction devices,such as the magnesium match or thespark wheel are nothing more thanimprovements on the basic flint andsteel. Friction shaves small pieces ofsteel which turn white hot and thesepieces are caught in some type ofignitable material.

So, let’s get back to basics. There issomething comforting about the oldways.

Flint and steel are available in mostmuzzleloading stores and catalogs.They are made of high carbon steel

and come in various shapes; mostbeing "U” or coffin shaped. Withpractice and good tinder, you shouldbe able to get a flame in about 5 sec-

onds; but more than that, you havedeveloped a skill that could be usefulas well as fun. When you first pick upa flint and steel you may not be suc-cessful in getting a spark. Two thingsoften cause this. First, your flint must

have a sharp edge; always use a thin,sharp edge area to produce the bestsparks. The other problem with nosparking may be the way the flintstrikes the steel. Think of the flint slic-ing off tiny slivers of steel and strike

at an angle with the flint to make thishappen. Soon you will be showeringsparks like a pro.

These sparks need a medium tohold them and build up enough heatto light small tinder. A way to catchthe sparks is the use of charred linenor cotton cloth. Historically, thismethod was probably not as com-mon, due to the high cost of cloth;but in today's world this is the way toget 5 seconds fires.

To char the cloth you will need a tincan with a tight lid and a fire. Takeyou pure cotton or linen and cut itinto 2 inch squares. Fill the tin withpieces (my tin is an old shoe polishcan) and punch a small hole with anail, in the lid. Seal up the tin and setit in the fire. Soon smoke will begin tojet out of the hole. What is happeninginside is that the cloth is turning tocharcoal and giving off unburnedgases. This process will take about fif-teen minutes. You will know theprocess is complete when the smokestops. Slide the tin out of the fire, plugthe hole with a wood sliver and let thetin cool to the touch. After it hascooled you will find that the cloth hasturned black yet it still retains some ofits strength. If your cloth is brown;you did not cook it long enough. Putit back on the fire a while longer.

Much research has been done bothhistorically and contemporary, to findif any substance in nature without

being charred, would catch and holda spark. Unfortunately, nothing hasever been found. There are historicalreferences to a substance they calledpunk wood, but this appears to beold, dry rotted wood from a hard-wood tree that is burned to a coal in acampfire and then buried in the ashesto extinguish. This then becomes acoal that will catch and develop avery hot ember that will ignite tinder.Having tried these coals, I find themhard to ignite, but not impossible.When ignited, they are almost impos-sible to put out.

For tinder gather what you can findin the woods. Common tinderinclude dry grass and leaves, dry pineneedles or, mice and bird nests.Gather two good handfuls and form afluffy ball. Lay your char cloth intothe ball. Take the flint and steel andthrow a few sparks on the cloth. Tinyorange spots will develop. Blow slight-ly and these will grow. These emberswill be hot enough to ignite the tinder.Pick up the ball over your head andbegin to blow gently. As more smokedevelops, blow harder until you haveignition. Add tinder and you have afire, from the small spark, you creat-ed.

In a survival situation, keeping asmall shoe polish tin that holds flintand steel and a few pieces of charredcloth along with some tinder, such ascedar bark could mean a fire insteadof a cold night in the woods. You alsocarry the means to make morecharred cloth using the tin and anycotton cloth you have with you suchas a handkerchief or shirt tail. Suchrenewable resources make more sensethan lighters that run out of fuel ormatches that limit you as to howmany you carry.

These primitive skills, like allwoodsman skills, improve with prac-tice. Snow covered ground makes thebasic tinder difficult to find, but notimpossible. Look in and under downand hollow trees. Small animal tracksin snow lead you to nests of dry tin-der. Someone one said “Always prac-tice survival before you need it.”

Light It Up Charlie Chalk

Quality Eyewear


660033--775522--33338822



Charlie Chalk is an outdoor writer and hasa background as a professional Firefighterand is a member of the AmericanMountain Men, an organization that emu-lates the life of the fur trappers of the1800's and their survival on the land.

continued after his death.Contributions can be made in Paul'smemory to Cast Away Cancer, P.O.Box 10, Antrim, NH 03440.

There was a good book on pondspublished in the early 80’s The Atlasof New Hampshire Trout Ponds butthere was never a comprehensive

book for rivers and streams. Thereare several regional books that con-tained a limited number of NewHampshire rivers but nothing thatcompares to Paul’s Field Guide toTrout Streams of New Hampshire.The book is comprised of pictures,descriptions, topographical maps,river features and access includingGPS coordinates. We recommendthe book to clients and students ofthe Northeast Fly Fishing School.Probably the most frequent ques-tions I get at shows and presenta-tions are about rivers, access andwhere to fish. The information is inthe book. Someone once asked ifthe book had every river in the state.My answer was no but if they fishedall the rivers in the book I could rec-ommend a few others. I’ll never

open the book without thinkingabout Paul.

The Boston Marathon tragedyis a reminder that there are no guar-anties; terrorism, health issues oraccidents can instantaneouslychange or end lives. As I’ve writtenpreviously; you can’t put time in thebank to be used later.

A couple of weeks ago a few of usfrom the Manchester Fly Fishingassociation volunteered to help aBoy Scout troop with the FlyFishing merit badge program at oneof our tying meetings. It’s not aneasy badge to acquire. There areknots, fly tying and questions. Thelighting where we meet is poor andthe scouts were kind of packedaround the tables but they all com-pleted the flies. None of them hadever tied before. Kids can really getenthused about fishing and tyingflies. I would have liked to have got-ten started tying at that age; maybeit’s just as well. I started tying in my30’s and have accumulated morestuff than I’ll ever use or need.Tying was going really well, the bestwinter ever until April rolled aroundand somehow I got out of sync.When the weather is good I don’tlike to be inside tying; fishing hasstarted which is another distraction.

We spend as much time scoutingas fishing. My partner Gerry, anoth-er friend Dick and I were hitting afew rivers last week looking forplaces to take our first beginner classof the year. On one of the riversthere was an angler in the primepool. We spread out and fished dif-ferent pools and as I was walkingpast the angler he called out myname. It turns out he was in one ofour beginner classes a few years agoand they joined us on theAndroscoggin trip. He said we wereto blame for turning him into a fish-ing fanatic. He works all over thenortheast and never goes anywherewithout his gear. He’s fished a lot ofwater and took a trip to Montanalast summer and is going back againthis year. He’s already got hiscamper up north and spends week-ends fishing remote brooks. It wasaround 11 when we ran into himand he told us the fishing was prettyactive around 6am, he was there at5:30.


Continued next page

At the Fly Fish New Hampshireshow the first week of March wehad three noted authors, includingPaul VanderWende. Paul plannedon being at the show for the week-end with his wife Sarah. After theshow Saturday night Paul said hedidn’t feel well and probably would

not be back on Sunday. Paul died onMarch 22, 2013; he was 57. Paulwas diagnosed with cancer in Mayof 2012 and was receiving treat-ment. He had a reaction to thetreatment and died.

Paul was the author of two books:“The Field Guide to NewHampshire Trout Ponds", and "TheField Guide to New HampshireTrout Streams." His wife and step-

son, David, assisted Paul in the col-lection of information for eachbook. He was working on his secondedition of "The Field Guide to NewHampshire Trout Ponds". Paul wasa licensed New Hampshire fishingguide and a member of the NewHampshire Guides Association and

webmaster for the association. Paulfounded the Washington Lure &Bait lure company.

Paul conceived of a program tobring survivors together for one-on-one experiences fishing in the greatoutdoors as a way to alleviate thestress of living with cancer; similarexperiences were planned for care-givers. He called the program CastAway Cancer and asked that it be

The best books for trout fishing in New Hampshire

By Jim Norton By Jim Norton

From the back of a canoe

From the back of a canoe


from previous pageage seat cover would not open with-out pulling out the back castingbrace. Over the winter I calledHyde; they said to reverse the seat soit opens forward. Logical answersalways seem too simple.

At the Manchester Fly Fishing

Association annual dinner the draw-ing for the first pick of around 90raffle items is drawn from ticketsaccumulated by members earnedby: participating in the meeting raf-

fles; participating on fly tying nights;and for making presentations atmeetings. This year my name wasdrawn for the first pick. There wereoutfits, reels, rods, waders and abouteverything imaginable. I had a whileto think about the pick. My firstthought was I have more gear thenI’ll ever need and when the guidingdays are over it will be time to getrid of a lot of stuff. The decisionwas a new boat net; six incheslonger than my current one whichhas a crack and held together withduct tape. It will probably lastlonger than I do but if I didn’t getthe net it would have cracked thefirst time out.

This afternoon my wife saw amayfly on the window. We’re a cou-ple hundred yards from a brook. Igave her the Hatch Guide for NewEngland Streams by Thomas Ames.Anyone who fly fishes for troutshould have this book. She deter-mined it was a Hendrickson. Agreat sign that hatch activity isabout to get into high gear in thesouthern part of the state.

There’s a lot of prep work to getready for the season; one was clean-ing out our storage shed. Last fall Ihung up about twenty pair ofwaders and over the winter piled uphunting equipment, dog crates toanything that needed to be out of

the weather in the shed. Whenever Ineed to get anything for a show itrequired climbing over all sorts ofjunk to get the booth, chairs andtable. Along with yard work was thejob of cleaning out the shed. A jobwell dreaded is half done; actually it

didn’t take that much time. All thedrift boat equipment is accessiblewhich is good; if the flows keepdropping I’ll have a trip on thePemi/Merrimack this weekend.Next is hauling the boat out which Imay do after the column is com-

plete. Before putting the boat awaylast fall I put a new back seat andrower’s seat. It has a high back andhad a drain hole in the back; newboats still have the seat without thedrain. That was pretty good butwith the high back the bench stor-

Jim Norton is a native of NewHampshire and author of the bookGranite Lines. He enjoys fly-fishing& tying, bird hunting and a varietyof other outdoor activities and isalso a registered NH fishing Guide.Visit his website at www.nhrivers-guide.com

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By Mary KayBy Mary Kay

Reflections of the Outdoor AngelReflections of the Outdoor Angel

What could be better than anunplanned ice fishing experience;how about an unplanned pheas-ant hunt? I have had quite a bit ofsuccess fishing over the last yearor so, but the whole gun thingleaves me a little squeamish.That’s probably because I’m notout shooting routinely and I don’town the proper equipment. Well,that has all changed after myrecent pheasant hunt! More onthat later though.

I was under the impression thatI would be doing a little ice fish-ing in the LaCrosse WI area. I’venever been ice fishing and waslooking forward to sitting in awarm shelter catching my fairshare. How this turned into apheasant hunt still baffles me, butI’m game! Being that I hadn’tplanned on fishing or hunting Ionly had fashionable, nonsensicalclothing and shoes along. What asurprise there! I do not like to becold and was willing to wearwhatever was given to me. It was-n’t until I was walking around

Cabela’s in my not so carefullychosen outfit that I realized whata mess I had to look like. Funnything is I didn’t seem to care.

What’s happening to me in myever advancing age?!?

It was decided at Cabela’s that Ineed my own gun. I have usedother peoples’ guns in the pastand am not sure what to look for.

Fortunately I had an expert withme. He is quite the hunter andknows the finer things in life.That’s obviously why he washunting with me! I wandered offto check out the bargain cave and

look for some gloves. I left the gundetails to the expert. When Ifinally came back, I was informedI was now the owner of a BenelliLegacy 28 gauge auto load shotgun. It was as if a foreign lan-guage was being spoken to me. Iunderstood gun and that’s aboutit. This is not just a shot gun, thisis THE shot gun. I guess I betterlearn to shoot!

Being that we were in Wisconsinand were from Illinois there is arequired 24 hour waiting period.Well, I’d have to borrow a gunagain for the day. Now it was offto Badgerland Pheasant Farm inWestby WI. Our hunting partyconsisted of 4 men, 2 women and3 dogs. My eye was immediatelydrawn to the more stylish outfit ofthe woman and I started to feelfrumpy. I was not there for abeauty contest though; I wasthere to shoot some dinner!

After watching a safety video itwas out to the field. The dogswere ready to go and so was I.Nala, a Weimaraner, was the leaddog with Bodie, a cute cockerspaniel and Lucy, a gorgeouschocolate lab, close behind. I felta bond with Lucy, because shehadn’t had much experience withthis. I would stick close to her andmaybe look like I knew what I wasdoing! The first bird was in theair and I heard shots all around. Iwas asked if I had taken a shotand somewhat admonished whenI said no. I had just watched asafety video, remember? The shotwas not in my arc! I was payingattention in class; would I get agold star or maybe a pheasanttrophy?

We methodically worked ourway through the fields and anoth-er bird took majestic flight. Iheard a shot but the bird keptgoing. I took a shot and what doyou know. The pheasant came toa rest. This happened in a matterof seconds and I thought I hadgotten it, which was confirmed by2 others. My first shot of the day(and year) and I was 1 for 1! Notbad for someone who’s shot a gunonly 4 or 5 other times over 2years.

I did take more shots that daybut don’t think I added to the din-ner pile. Maybe I did though andthe experienced hunters wereembarrassed to admit that a frailwoman outdid them! I am notfrail and I don’t think I outdidthem; although I did keep upwhile traversing the heavilywooded terrain. The weathercouldn’t have been more ideal –at least to me. A sunny winter dayin Wisconsin spent in the greatoutdoors. What could be better?

While cleaning the birds (I man-aged to watch this part) it wasdecided we would return the nextday so I could try out my newgun! I did not want to waltzaround Cabela’s in the samemoronic outfit I’d worn a day ear-lier, so I put on my nice clothesand figured I’d change when wereached Badgerland PheasantFarm. Now I felt a bit out ofplace at Cabela’s because I waswearing high heels. Don’t theyrealize people own more thanhunting attire? With my new gunin tow it was time to put it to thetest.

Arriving in Westby we wereinformed that the dog of the daywas sore from the prior day. She’snot used to hunting but neitheram I and I was willing to give itanother try! In all fairnessthough, she did a lot work, while Ijust walked around watching forthe birds. Granted we were in themountains of Wisconsin and I gotquite a work out! My favorite dogMax was eagerly waiting in thetruck and I suggested we use him.Now I know he has NEVER donea pheasant hunt and probablywouldn’t be able to retrieve thedowned birds. Max is aChihuahua, not a hunting dog,yet!

Mary is the host of “The OutdoorAngel”. This is an Outdoors show thatfeatures a novice woman out hunting andfishing with the industries top pros.. MaryKay will inspire the uninspired to enjoy thegreat outdoors

The Unplanned


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way. Every wood road that Iwent down was covered withturkey tracks. I saw tom turkeysusing wood roads as open areaswhere they displayed to hens.

They did not seem to be overlyfamiliar with humans as I wasable to walk within 20 yardswhile taking pictures. I got theimpression that there was greatturkey hunting to be had.

Maine’s spring season has a twobird limit.

Make sure you take plenty oftime to read the hunting regula-tions before you set out to huntin any of the three states.

Maine estimates it wild turkeypopulation at about 60,000birds. New Hampshire andVermont each estimate theirpopulation to be in the vicinityof 40,000 to 50,000 birds. Eachstate sells roughly the same num-ber of turkey permits each year,16,500-19,000 permits, and har-vest comparable numbers ofturkeys, 5,000-7,000 wild turkeysharvested in each state.

New Hampshire conducted awild turkey winter flock surveyin 2012 which provides amongother data some interesting foodhabits information. Bird seed,

corn, grasses and other greenermade up more than 50% of thefood found in stomachs

www.wildlife.state.nh.us/turkeysurvey/reports_pdfs/Winter_2012_Turkey_Survey_Report.pdf"http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/turkeysurvey/reports_pdfs/Winter_2012_Turkey_Survey_Report.pdf). Although online Augustbrood surveys have been con-ducted for a number of yearsnow, winter flock surveys havenot. Brood surveys indicate that2012 was an excellent year forturkey reproduction across thenortheast. It appears that themild winter provided for excel-lent winter survival.

In my opinion, winter flocksurveys are likely to provide a farbetter assessment of springturkey hunting conditions thando brood surveys. Althoughboth kinds of surveys have value,winter surveys may be expectedto provide information that isparticularly valuable in deter-mining the winter survival ofturkeys immediately prior to the

spring turkey season. Perhaps, Vermont should also

put some effort into conductingwinter surveys. Some way mightbe devised to provide greaterturkey harvest opportunity whenturkeys are abundant and reduceharvest opportunities when pop-ulations are devastated by harshwinters?

Another mild winter acrossthe northeast will make for someexcellent turkey hunting oppor-tunities this spring. I have spenta good bit of time travelingacross Maine, New Hampshireand Vermont this winter andspring. I have seen turkeys, pret-ty much, everywhere that I havetraveled.

It still amazes me to see turkeysin Vermont’s NortheastKingdom and remote mountainsof New Hampshire and Maine.I find this particularly remark-able given that when turkeyswere reintroduced that biologistsfelt that these areas were proba-bly too far north to support sus-tainable turkey populations.

The fact that turkeys have eventaken to the northern forests andmountains provides some inter-esting and unique turkey huntingopportunities. It is probably safeto say that the stereotypicalturkey hunt in most parts of thecountry occurs on or aroundagricultural lands. This often

means that it may take someeffort to find places and get per-mission to hunt. Access is notmuch of a problem in the northwoods and mountains of Maine,

New Hampshire and Vermont.I went to western Maine a few

days ago, just before youthturkey season, to check a deeryard for winter deer mortality. Isaw plenty of turkeys along the

By Wayne A. LarocheBy Wayne A. Laroche

Fish & Wildlife ManagementFish & Wildlife Management

Great Turkey Hunting in the Northeast

Wayne Laroche directed Vermont’sDepartment of Fish and Wildlife from2003 until 2011 serving as theCommissioner. He holds degrees in bothfisheries and wildlife management from theUniv. of Maine and California StateUniv. Wayne is a native Vermonter andcurrently resides in Franklin, VT. Heenjoys tracking whitetails in the big woodsof Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.Wayne can be reached by emailing [email protected].

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appealing things in every envi-ronment to take pictures of is justthe first step in being able to seewith a photographer’s eye.

Nothing is as disheartening ashanding someone a stack of pho-tos, or an album to peruse andwatching in horror as they simplyflip through it as though lookingat a waiting room magazine.When it comes to photography,the best way to get people’s atten-tion is just that, with photo-graphs, not snap shots. The dif-ference involves planning. The

photograph is a planned expres-sion of how you see your subject,whereas the latter is just pointingand clicking at something youthink is interesting. To create aquality photograph you mustdetermine how to best portray

your subject so the main emotionor theme you would like to exem-plify immediately jumps out uponviewing.

What is photography, if not thedepicting of light as it falls on ascene. A blazing sunset casts avery different light from that ofthe sun at noon directly over-head. Most of us don’t reallylook at the light, it is either brightor dim and that is about theextent of what we notice. If youtake the time to really study light,you can see that it comes in many

colors, and can influence ouremotions as easily as red paintedwalls can. Our eyes can certainlysee much more detail and huesthan what any lens is able toencapsulate, whether digital or

It was just a solitary bubblefloating skyward into a classicbright blue cloudless sky, yet thatsimple round bit of soap andwater, started me on a journey. Itwas the first picture I can remem-

ber taking and realizing that Icould stop time, a big deal to tenyear old me. I could capture afeeling on film and be able to notjust hold onto it, but share it withothers. Years later when the doorto photography opened up to me,I ran through it without hesita-tion as a result of that picture.Now I get to spend most of mydays outside, getting paid to dowhat I love, being surrounded bynature, immersed in her beautyand recording what I see to sharewith others.

Living in rural Vermont, thereare so many subjects to photo-graph, just by stepping outside.In fact, some of my favorite shotshave come from my own back-yard. One winter it was “Apple”the spike horn whitetail deer my

daughter named, he came bydaily to eat the frozen apples stillclinging to the lowest branches.Our trees produced an abundantcrop that year, which were cov-ered by snow before I could prop-

erly deal with all of them and theyoung buck couldn’t resist thetasty treat. Over the course of afew weeks we watched Appledrop his antlers, get chased off bydoes, and dig in the snow as hepresented many opportunities toobserve and photograph quietly.The following spring brought ababy skunk that wanderedaround during the day. I crept upto within three feet of the littlestinker to get a good shot. That isone occasion in which I can guar-antee I was more frightened ofan animal than it was of me.Wildlife tends to be my ideal sub-ject, but the chance to photo-graph a wild creature is notsomething I have complete con-trol over and therefore do notlimit myself to. Learning to find

A Photographer’s Instinct

By Dawn AnsworthDepicting the OutdoorsDepicting the Outdoors

By Dawn Answorth

Continued on page 41

Duck at Crystal Lake in Barton, VT ©Nostalgic Images

Apple blossoms after a spring rain. ©Nostalgic Images


water as early as possible so that wecould make the most of the day.After grabbing a coffee and freshlymade donut, we dumped the trailerand were on the water. As we droveto our destination, we tried to staypositive but talked about the reality

that the fish might have not movedin yet and what our back up plansshould be. Either way, it was calmover night and we were hoping thatthe water temperature held steady sothe fish could move in comfortably.

As we putted into their staging

area, the surface water was flat andno fish were breaking. The tempera-ture had held but there were still nofish. We fished in as far as we couldwithout getting a bite. The watertemperature had rose to 54 as weinched into the shallows where theyusually spawn. Not wanting to wastetime, we started back towards themain lake and that is when it startedto happen.

Looking out towards our exit, wecould see a pod of fish working theirway in through the channel, bustingthe surface. Quietly, with the trollingmotor, we got within casting rangeand simultaneously we both hookedup with our first slabs of the day.After a high five and a quick gameplan, we let the wind drift us into anearby weed mat well with in castingrange of the channel the fish wereusing as a corridor.

Because we could see that thecrappie were chasing baitfish, the goto bait was a "Live" Baby Shad byLake Fork Trophy Lures. Not know-ing what bait their search image was,I went with the "white is right" slo-gan we go by on Lake Champlain.To be honest, I don't think it wouldhave mattered what color was belowthe bobber!

Over the next hour, we caught fishpretty much consistently. The watertemperature had risen to over 54degrees throughout the large cut-

Everyone has hit the water andreturned home with memories thatare unforgettable. Throughout theyears, many trips have provided mewith both valuable knowledge andtreasured memories. My first outingon Lake Champlain this spring withgood friend and owner of FishHounds Outdoors (www.fish-hounds.net), James Vladyka is onethat I will never forget.

The bite on the big lake this yearhas been tough. Although the icewent out early, without an extendedperiod of warm air temperatures,the water temperature has remainedrelatively cool. So cool actually, thatthe fish have not really begun tostage up for the spawn which is usu-ally occurring around this time. Ifnothing else they should be staging!

Despite the cooler temperatures,Jamie found a pocket of warmerwater the day before. The tempera-ture was pushing 52 which is whenfish should really be stacking uparound here. Oddly enough, the flat-fish had not ventured in yet. On thesurface, he reported that a few pikewere busting baitfish but overall, the

baitfish numbers were small as well.With the warmer water and baitfish,it was only a matter of time until the

crappie moved in.I was in my car and making the

almost two hour trek just after 4 am.Jamie and I wanted to be on the

Hard Water FishingHard Water FishingBy D & B Ice AdventuresBy D & B Ice Adventures

Chasing the warm water


back and the fish were feeling it. Themore fish that we caught, the morepinpointed our casts could be placedbecause we knew what route theywere running. After a cast or twowithout a fish, we would both startworking the channel up and downtrying to hit the next pod workingthrough.

Just as we were getting comfortableand thinking that we were in theclear for the day, the wind started toblow unfavorably. In a matter of 20minutes, we saw the water tempera-ture go from 54.5 to 47.5 degrees.Another thing that we noticed wasthat the fish were no longer going into stage up. Our casts were actuallyfollowing them back out towards the

main lake.After an hour without as much as a

bite, we made a move. We checked afew likely spots for warm water withno success. Running out of ideas, wesettled on all or nothing. We wouldtry the productive morning spot,with hopes that the water warmedback up, and if nothing was happen-ing there, we would head home.

It looked bleak after we made ourfirst pass. Not a fish was to be had.The water was pushing 50 and fromthe initial looks, it was still warming.We were pretty much runningaground when we saw a welcomedsight. An osprey flew overhead andstarted zooming in on something bythe looks of its flight pattern. On its

decent, the anticipation built andwhen the bird emerged with a slab inits grip the pressure was off ! The fishwere on their way and the watertemp was still climbing!

We both sat there going back andforth between the graph (to watchthe temperature) and the crappiepopping the surface moving our way.The remainder of the trip was purecatching. The crappie were piledfrom shore to shore top to bottom. Itwas one of those afternoons whereyou could do no wrong. Even whenother boats moved in to inspect usand we took our baits off so theywouldn't see us catch fish, we would.It was truly a mad house. By the endof our marathon, the water temper-ature had topped out at 57.5degrees!

The moral of the story... Neveroverlook the temperature when fish-ing. It sounds basic but even a degreeof change can put the fish into amass migration.

from previous page

D & B Ice Adventures is based out ofBarre, Vermont and composed of two fish-ing fanatics: Dylan Smith and RobertBooth. With an equal drive time to theConnecticut River and Lake Champlain,the hardest decision is whether they want tocatch giant bluegill on the river or hugepumpkinseed on the lake with crappie in themix at both. These decisions have beenlogged through their blog www.dbiceadven-tures.wordpress.com which gives details onwhat they have to endure to be successful.You can checck them on facebook too atwww.facebook.com/DBIceAdventures.


The state has attempted to grow alarger deer herd in the North EastKingdom (E-zone) for an extendedperiod of time, by reducing doe per-mits and archery opportunities onantlerless deer, to zero. (An appropri-ate first move) Yet , the zone has notresponded to changes in regulations.This simple fact should rule outman's behaviors and abilities, as acause or more importantly, a solu-tion, to the this "Human" problem ofdeer "Under" population. The realproblem may lie with the biologicalrealities currently existing in thearea.

No doubt, a complex set of naturalparameters. If we realize "our"inabilities to "control", perhaps wecan look at this situation with neweyes to the land and the current con-ditions. If mother nature is whisper-ing..." no deer." Why? Should wescream "MORE DEER!"? Does itmake sense to "buck" her naturalsystem and extend... the times of nodeer by attempting to grow moreand possibly further hurting thehabitat? It is our greed that will

starve us. How do you go aboutmaking man think about nature in aless selfish way?

This has been a long asked person-al question that's been on my mindfor some time. The only motive to

even get people to think about thefuture seems to be that you mustsome how have a vested interest in it,like your kids! For the state fish &wildlife board or the department tofight against mother nature wouldseem completely crazy, right? Yet,sometimes this can actually be thecase. If scientifically arrived at per-mit numbers are "adjusted" to thepeople , or the board and altered asmuch as 70% from original numbersto please them, what does this say forthe science or it's quality?

Who is it that will speak realities tothe people? It may not be good poli-tics or a good way to keep your greatstate job ,but someone should tell thetruth. To stop hunter opportunities

when there is no real ill affects,would also seem equally impotent.Man being the problem for low pop-ulations has been rather effectivelyruled out in this case. If anything,perhaps we should be helping moth-er nature, by reducing numbers fur-ther.

When we realize our lack of con-trol over nature, the needs forpatience, understanding and espe-cially self control become quiet clearwith slow and careful drivingrequired. No sudden moves. Wethink we know mother nature betterthen ever, it seems it's time for someto listen a little more to her and lessto what man wants. Are you on herside? Voting to increase deer num-bers in areas that does not supportthem and not knowing why is foolhardy at best and shows a lack ofpatience and understanding.Wisdom seems lost and the futureever more unpredictable, when thisfarmer mentality of controlling nat-ural systems is applied to our out-looks.

We should listen to the land andunderstand with new eyes. At thispoint, stopping antlerless archeryhunting opportunities for does is acompletely feeble attempt at increas-ing short or long term, future popu-lations, when even the science does-n't know what's up. We must thinkabout these things carefully when...we are... controlling the deer herd.As you attend the up coming meet-ings and democratically give yourtwo cents about Vermont's deerfuture, let common sense, reality,and forethought help out a littlemore.

I never met a bad deer! We allwant our cake and eat it too.... P.S. itain't happening!

By Rodney ElmerBy Rodney Elmer

Taxidermy TrailsTaxidermy Trails

Rodney Elmer and his wife Theresa ownand operate Mountain deer taxidermy inNorthfield,Vermont.

What's up with does in the North East Kingdom?

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under our hull was only 2’ we land-ed 18 stripers and two decent sizedbluefish.

From there we followed the drop-ping tide to the next flat and repeat-ed the same action only this time weswitched to fly gear, set down the

Power Pole® anchor system and hada blast casting streamers to cruisingfish in gin clear water. We took abreak and I was asked “what werethose other boats going after”? Myanswer was “the same fish we just

caught”! You see, having a light tack-le strategy pays off in many situa-tions. The other boats were trollinglead core and steel lined set upsalong a break line as is so often usedin New England waters for stripersand bluefish. Don’t get me wrong,that approach can work very welland is the preferred method for mostcharter captains on Cape Cod. Theysimply have no other choice, but tofish in this manner. Larger boatsdon’t offer the convenience of fish-ing from all sides and ends of theboat and they certainly have draftrestrictions so fishing up on the flatsin a dropping tide is a recipe for agood day stranded waiting for thetide to turn again.

My custom made AndrosBoatworks®, Cuda 23 is set up forany type of conditions here on theCape. The flexibility to raise thejack-plate and motor in 12” of wateris a pure joy when the fish are on theflats. Setting the Power Pole®anchor in a perfect rip line gives my

anglers a decided advantage overtraditional trolling techniques. I amoften told by prospective anglers thatthey want to try some “deep sea fish-ing”. As I have mentioned before, Iask them to take the words deep andsea out of the mental picture as wemost likely will be fishing over veryshallow bars and channels that pro-duce current breaks where the largergame fish are waiting to ambush baitas it’s swept through the movingwater. Another question I am askedoften is what is your favorite set upfor stripers and bluefish? Thisbrought up a question in my mindone day, if I could only bring tworods and a handful of lures whatwould I use for a day on the water?For rods I would have to go with aspinning outfit and a fly set up.

My personal favorite spinning out-fit consists of Quantum Boca 60®spooled with 30lb Spectra® braid inred. A bottom shot of 20 lb mono isused for backing. In all I have rough-ly 300 yards of line on the spool. Myrod of choice is a 7’ fast action medi-um/heavy blank that can handle 15-30lb line and 1-2.5ounce lures. Myfavorite rod manufacturer is maderight here on Cape Cod by Localhooker Rods®, but I am told theymay be going out of business so anydecent rod in this category will workwell.

I have used this set up from shoreand boat and have caught fish in the40 lb range without any concernsabout being “under-gunned” so tospeak. My favorite lures are a 6”floating stick bait in either a herringor mackerel pattern, the YozuriCrystal Minnow® is a great choicein this category and a 6” white

Slugo® on a plain ? ounce Kalif® jighead. Also a 5” green / silver DeadlyDick® and Storm® swim baitsround out the arsenal. For Fly gear Iwould have to stick with an 8 weightcombo with a fast tapered floating


By Captian John CurryBy Captain John Curry

The Coastal ZoneThe Coastal Zone

As we turned the corner from theOnset channel I noticed 6 or 7 boatsworking the edge of the canal with asomewhat organized trolling pat-tern. It was late May and the striperswere still feeding on herring as theyleft their spawning ponds and wereheaded back to sea. I decided to idledown and spend a few minutesobserving the fleet as they trolledumbrella rigs and large swim baits inthe current. After waiting for around20 minutes the only action I noticedwas the constant clearing of weed offof their rigs. My clients were givingme that look of “well aren’t we goingto join them”? I mentioned to holdtight for a minute of two longer.

The tide was dropping fast and ifwe didn’t see any sizable stripers orblues come over the gunnels we wereheaded elsewhere. Observing thebirds I noticed a steady stream ofterns headed out to points unknown.That was all the signal I needed andwe fired up the Evinrude and fol-lowed the last bird that went by us. Itdidn’t take long to see them workingthe top on a flat that was quickly los-ing water. I set up a drift on the top

of the flat and we quickly tied onsmaller storm swim baits and begancasting. While we didn’t see bustingfish yet, I had a feeling things wereabout to light up.

The angler on the bow was tightfirst. A nice 25” striper came overthe gunnels and the angler on thestern yelled “fish on”! That fish wasmuch bigger and our first keeperbass hit the ice chest. After workingthe same drift line until the water

The authors choice / Quantum Boca 60spooled with 30 spectra braid ready forstriper action

The Author’s choice for Fly Fishing / #8Echo ION 4 Rod and Orvis Encounter IVreel with fast tapered floating line.

The author’s Andros Cuda 23 in 2’ of water with the Power Pole down.

Light Tackle Advantage

Continued next page

line. You might think this is too smallfor these powerful fish, but I wouldrather be on the lighter side thanstruggle with a heavier set up. Thefloating line allows me to sight fishand we all know a fish busting astreamer dancing across the surfaceis a blast. My favorite combo for thisis the Orvis® Large ArborEncounter IV spooled with scientificangler fast tip floating line with plen-ty of dacron backing.

My rod of choice is an Echo Ion®890-4 9’ four-piece in #8 line. I alsoown #9 & #10 weight rods and usethose often as well, but I like the ver-satility of the lighter set up has tooffer. Again, if I had to choosebetween the 3 I would go with the#8. For flies you simply need tomatch the hatch just like trout fish-ing. An assortment of minnow and

squid patterns work all year long.The exception being the wormhatch, were you need to have thespecific size and color when thestripers are slurping down worms in

June. By combining the boat, gear and

conditions in streamlined light tacklesystem, you can constantly catchquality fish while enjoying the natu-ral beauty that Cape Cod offers.


Scott Smith of VT tight on a Fly Rodcaught Buzzards Bay striper.

Kevin Beane of VT with a nice light tack-le striper.

Depicting - Continued from page 35

from previous page

film, so observing light can helpyou learn the best times to takemuch more than a snapshot. Youmay have heard of the “goldenhours”, around daybreak anddusk when the light is often justright to pull out the camera andtake a couple of pictures. Thesun is low in the sky and the tonesare beautiful. No matter the timeof day, one of the most oftenoverlooked, yet easiest ways tomake an outdoor photo moreappealing is by turning your cam-eras flash on. Many photos couldhave been saved from the trashbin by using this one simple func-tion. Fill light has the ability tohelp balance the often-harsh con-trasting shadows and highlightsfound in an outdoor setting.

Having as few distractions aspossible in the frame will makefor a much more polished lookingimage as well. This may meanmoving around to get an anglethat doesn’t have a telephonepole in the picture, or turningsomeone so they are not squint-ing directly into the sun. It is alsoaccomplished by filling the framewith your subject matter. There isno point in taking a photographof something to have it appear tobe the size of a pencil eraser andeveryone saying “Oh I see it now,it’s the dot right there, right?”Make sure that you don’t remove

something that may help empha-size your theme; the classic mis-takes are decapitating someone,

or cutting them off at the knees.You cannot Photoshop their headin as easily as making sure it wasthere in the first place.

A good rule of thumb is toalways check all four corners ofyour viewfinder before pressingthe shutter button, making cer-tain there is nothing to draw theeye away from your subject mat-ter and everything is included

that should be. However youdecide to do it, drawing attentionto your subject will only help

underscore the feelings you aretrying to convey.

Don’t forget to slow down andcompose the shot. Once you canlook through the viewfinder andknow that you are seeing whatyou imagined, then it is time topress the shutter. Unless you areusing focus to emphasize yourtheme, if a picture is not sharp itis not a good photograph. The

easiest way to obtain this is byusing a tripod or even a mono-pod, camera shake especially inlow light settings can cause veryblurry pictures.

The great thing about photog-raphy is that the more you do itthe better you will get. So when-ever you are afield remember tobring your camera. Adding thesesimple thought processes beforeyou snap the shutter, can greatlyincrease your quality of pictures.Pick your theme, focus attentionto your subject, and simplify.Whether you take photos as ahobby or even just to scout forgame, a great photograph canbring back a moment in time foryou to enjoy over and over. AsHenri Cartier-Bresson said,“Your first 10,000 photographsare your worst.”

Capt. John Curry grew up in Rehobeth, MAand summered on the Cape mainly in theBass River area. He has over 30 years offishing and boating on Cape Cod and RhodeIsland waters. Currently living in W.Yarmouth and summers in Bourne. He runsa sportfishing business on tha Cape, visit hiswebsite www.capefishing.net.

Little Stinker ©Nostalgic Images.Dawn Ainsworth lives in the beautifulNortheast Kingdom of Vermont with herhusband, two daughters and numerous pets.She is an award winning professional pho-tographer with a diploma from the NewYork Institute of Photography. She enjoysbeing a volunteer photographer for theVermont State Parks, and is also a certifiedLet’s Go Fishing Instructor. She owns andoperates Nostalgic Images, which special-izes in guided photo excursions. OnFacebook at WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/NOSTALGICIMAGES


Trail Camera Photo Contest

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22001133 TTrraaiill CCaammeerraa PPhhoottoo CCoonntteesstt

SSppoonnssoorreedd bbyy CChhaaddwwiicckkssTTrraaiillccaammss..ccoommSSppoonnssoorreedd bbyy CChhaaddwwiicckkssTTrraaiillccaammss..ccoomm

22001122 TTrraaiill CCaammeerraa PPhhoottoo CCoonntteesstt WWiinnnneerrss ;;

Two (2) Winners will be drawn randomly andannounced in the January 2014 issue. PlusOne (1) Winner/Owner of “The Trail CameraPicture of the Year”, will be chosen by theOutdoor Gazette staff and folks on ourFacebook page. The “Pic of the Year” will beon the cover of the Jan. 2014 issue!

Send photos to: [email protected] with the subject line “TC Photo Contest 2012”

Send in your trail camera pics, and for every picturethat is published in The Outdoor Gazette you will get

one chance to win one of three Trail Cameras.

AArree yyoouu wwoorrrriieedd tthhaatt bbyy sseennddiinngg iinn yyoouurr ppiicc ooff tthhaatt ttrroopphhyy bbuucckk oorr hhuuggee bbuullll mmoooossee,, wwiillll ggiivvee aawwaayy

yyoouurr sseeccrreett llooccaattiioonn?? NNoo nneeeedd ttoo wwoorrrryy!! WWee wwiillll ppoosstt yyoouurr ppiiccss aannoonnyymmoouussllyy,, wwiitthh aass lliittttllee

iinnffoo aass yyoouu lliikkee.. YYoouurr sseeccrreett iiss ssaaffee wwiitthh uuss!!

AArree yyoouu wwoorrrriieedd tthhaatt bbyy sseennddiinngg iinn yyoouurr ppiicc ooff tthhaatt ttrroopphhyy bbuucckk oorr hhuuggee bbuullll mmoooossee,, wwiillll ggiivvee aawwaayy

yyoouurr sseeccrreett llooccaattiioonn?? NNoo nneeeedd ttoo wwoorrrryy!! WWee wwiillll ppoosstt yyoouurr ppiiccss aannoonnyymmoouussllyy,, wwiitthh aass lliittttllee

iinnffoo aass yyoouu lliikkee.. YYoouurr sseeccrreett iiss ssaaffee wwiitthh uuss!!

Trail Camera Picture of the Year - Marty Wall - Randolph, VTRandom Winners - Donald Cooke- Columbia, NH

and Robert Drouin, N. Anadover, MA

Sponsored by Chadwick’s Trail-Cams

Roscoe Blaisdell - Raymond, New Hampshire- Good start on the antlers

Don’t do it! Ken Monte - Arlington, VT

Does of all sizes - Devin Allard - West Newbury, VT

Sleeping on the Job - Devin Allard - W. Newbury, VT

Curious doe- TOG - Haverhill, NH

Told u not to do it!- Ken Monte - Arlington , VT


By Michael DouglasBy Michael Douglas

Primitive Skills

can’t fit inside. Spending a night in a debris hut

teaches you to build it better witheach attempt. By learning throughtrial and error you learn the value of

reading the landscape to determineif there is enough material, enoughprotection from the elements, andenough sunlight. You may also learn

the misery that comes with buildingone on a game trail, over a chip-munk hole, hornets nest, or on arock. As you repeat your attempts atthis shelter you develop an eye fornot the right location. You developan intuitive sense to how muchdebris you need beneath you andhow long your shelter will take. Youwill also trim the time and effort it

takes to build one from eight hoursto three. Because these things taketime to learn, many folks believethey “know it” by watching a how-tovideo or reading about debris huts.

The only way to learn ANY out-door skill is to attempt each repeat-edly in varying conditions. Thedebris hut is no exception. The

effort you invest in mastering thisshelter is well worth the return.Knowing that wherever there isenough debris, you can sleep warmand dry in temperatures well belowzero builds a sense of confidenceand freedom few other skills can.

The concepts are simple. Avoidconduction by creating a bed of

Aside from those involving plastics,metal, and modern fasteners, thereare two primary categories of shelteryou can build off the landscape.The first is a short term survival shel-ter that relies on precise dimensionsand a whole lot of practice. This isthe “no fire” or fire independentshelter. The second type is less effi-cient, but easier to learn in a shortperiod of time. These are the firedependent shelters. Both have theirpros and cons and we will exploreboth types through this series of arti-cles.

Here we’ll focus on the lesserknown, but more efficient “no-fire”or fire independent shelter. Thecommon name for this shelter is the“debris hut”. At first glance thisshelter looks like nothing more thana pile of leaves on top of a simple“A” frame of sticks. If you haven’tslept in one comfortably in belowfreezing temperatures, that is allyour mind would be trained to see.A debris hut is the perfect expressionof what I call, “profound simplicity”.It relies on subtle but importantmeasurements with little tolerance

for deviation. Too big an interior(one of the most common mistakesof the beginner) and you will be

cold. If the interior is too tight, atbest you can’t turn around comfort-ably. Worst-case scenario is that you

Shelter from the Landscape

Primitive Skills

Continued next page

This cross section shows the interior space and thickness of the floor and walls needed for an effective shelter that will keep you warmwithout a fire.

Most folks view the debris hut as a simple "A-frame shelter covered in leaves.

compressed debris six inches thick.Build your “A” frame so that, as youare laying on your bed, you have ahands width of space above yourtoes, your hips, and your shoulders.Getting in and out of your sheltershould feel like getting out of amummy sleeping bag with the zipperstuck at the chest. If you begin tofeel cold first coming over your face,your door is too big. If you feel coldbeginning at your hips and shoul-ders, you need to add more debris toyour bed. If your feet are the first toget cold, adding more debris to theinterior will help. Try this skill in theback yard. It’s good to have a warmbed to crawl in to if (and when) yourshelter falls short of your expecta-tions. Just remember to journalwhat went wrong before you sleep soyou can trouble shoot the issue thenext day (or available weekend).Most importantly, have fun with it.Nature teaches best through painand pleasure. We have a choice tolearn these skills one way or theother. Pain finds us enough.Through practicing these skills weminimize the concept of survival as“suffering” and begin to truly live.

The limitations of this shelter arethat they need a source of debris.They also take time to learn to build.In the process of learning debris hutit can take eight to twelve hours tobuild your first one. Last, folks withclaustrophobia get tweaked crawlingin to their debris huts. The remedyfor this, of course, is hypothermia.Many of our students who complain

of claustrophobia are encouraged tobuild a roomy extension to stretchout in. In every case the coldencourages them to nestle deepinside their original shelter.

The benefits of this shelter are thatit doesn’t require a knife, rope, or fireto keep you warm and dry. A fire isanother mouth to feed. It constant-ly demands attention. In the transi-tion between living like a domesti-cated human and returning to yourferal roots, the debris hut representsthe most efficient use of time andenergy to remain warm and providea place to live while you pursuewater, fire, and food. With practiceyou can wander the landscape in apair of shorts and return to yourdebris without worrying about theelements. I build one off of my firedependent shelters in case I come intoo late to light a fire, or if condi-tions make fire making improbableor impractical.

Whether it is a survival shelter or atransition from one way of life toanother, the debris hut is an excel-lent excuse to get outside and devel-op your comfort in the outdoors.


The best walleye fishing in NewEngland will begin soon in severalVermont rivers and lakes, accordingto the Vermont Fish & WildlifeDepartment. The department isreminding anglers that walleye fish-ing season starts in much of thestate on the first Saturday in Mayand that regulations vary, depend-ing on the water you are fishing.

In all waters of Vermont exceptLake Carmi, Chittenden Reservoirand the Connecticut River, walleyeand sauger have an 18” minimumlength requirement and three-fishdaily limit. The open season isfrom Saturday, May 4 to March 15,2014.

Lake Carmi has a slot limit forwalleye because of the lake’s highproductivity and high rate of wall-eye harvest. The minimum lengthis 15 inches, all walleye between 17and 19 inches must be released.The daily limit is five walleye, butonly one may be over 19 incheslong. The season is open May 4through March 15.

Chittenden Reservoir has specialwalleye regulations in order to pro-duce large walleye that can helpcontrol its over-abundant yellowperch population and provideanglers with an opportunity to har-

vest a trophy walleye. The mini-mum length is 22 inches, the dailylimit is two, and the season is openJune 1 through March 15.

Connecticut River walleye fishingrules are set by New Hampshire.

No walleye between 16 to 18 inchesmay be kept and the daily limit isfour fish, of which only one may belonger than 18 inches.

Excellent walleye fishing opportu-nities occur each spring in the lakesmentioned above as well as in LakeChamplain and its tributaries: theMissisquoi River, Lamoille River,

Winooski River, and Otter Creek.The Northeast Kingdom also offerswalleye fishing opportunities inSalem Lake, Island Pond, ClydePond, and the Clyde River.Vermont’s state record walleyeweighed 14.55 lbs. and was caughtin Lake Champlain by RichardLevesque of Swanton in 2010.

from previous page

Richard Levesque with the 14.55 lb. Vermont State Record walleye he caught in Lake Champlain in 2010. Walleye fishing begins May4, in most of Vermont. Check regulations for exceptions. VT Fish & Wildlife photo.

Michael Douglas has been sharingSurvival, Tracking, Awareness, WildForaging, and Primitive Technology at theMaine Primitive Skills School since 1989.He continues to be a student of the naturalworld and our abilities to interact with itthrough his school and full immersion tripsin the North Woods. He is eager to answerquestions and hear your comments and canbe reached at [email protected].

Vermont’s Walleye Fishing Starts May 4th


Vermont-New Hampshire OutdoorGazette, this 273-page epic is agreat read. Anyone interested inhunting, wilderness trekking, or theLast Frontier will find this story fas-cinating.

Fascinating, yes; easy, no. Writtenin the complex sentences and stilt-ed language of someone born inthe Victorian era, even the title iscumbersome. Young’s prose issometimes hard to follow, andgoing back to read a paragraph asecond time is often necessary. Nodoubt, he was a man and a writerof his times. But why he took 28years after the events to write thebook is never made clear.

Young was modern enough to bean enthusiastic photographer,choosing 72 mostly personal photosto illustrate the book. Thankfullyhe also included maps. By today’sstandards, the black-and-white pic-tures are grainy and difficult tomake out, but nevertheless are anasset to each chapter.

The 2011 re-issuing of“Trophies” did not follow exactlyStandard Publications’ 1947 edi-tion. Left out of the new versionare end sheets and a frontispiece,even though both remain listed asillustrations. Also missing is aPublisher’s Epilogue that remainslisted in the Table of Contents.While unfortunate, neither absencespoils the story.

Hunting expeditions of this sortdisappeared from North Americalong ago. Hunters no longer call inat the governor’s residence in

Juneau to collect their $50 non-res-ident hunting license good for mul-tiple moose, caribou, sheep, goatand bear. Hunters no longer ridehorses for hundreds of miles acrossthe territory or fell trees to buildboats to move meat and trophiesdownstream to civilization. Rare isthe hunter in this day who knowswhat a .30 Newton rifle might be.Still, reading about what once wasremains exciting and inspiring.

No one would advocate a returnto those sorts of bag limits forAlaska, the Yukon, or anywhereelse. But a sampling of the experi-ence remains an adventure of alifetime. The words of G.O. Youngcarry us back to a time of travel byrail and steamship, when mensmoked pipes around the campfireand risked death to save a founder-ing horse from some river’s flood.

Those days will never comeagain. In some respects, these arebetter days. Yet reading a tale froma bygone era does the soul somegood. Any New England outdoors-man or outdoorswoman just mayfind themselves inspired by Young’stelling of Alaskan-Yukon TrophiesWon and Lost. George O. Youngknew it. Robert W. Service knew it.New Englanders know it, too – theNorth casts a bewitching spell.

Alaskan-Yukon TrophiesWon and LostBy G.O. YoungStandard Publications, Inc., 1947Reprinted 2011, Wolfe Publishing Company273 pages, $29.16ISBN: 978-1-879356-67-2

In 2011 Wolfe PublishingCompany reprinted George OrvilleYoung’s 1947 Alaskan-YukonTrophies Won and Lost, a fastidi-ous recounting of his 1919 adven-ture among the Alaska-Yukon bor-derlands just north of the St. EliasRange. Young’s tale transcendsadventure and leaps directly togreat adventure, once-in-a-lifetimeadventure of a sort rarely if everexperienced anywhere on earthtoday.

With his two companions, severallocal guides, and an outfitter,Young hunted big game on animperial scale; wrangled somethree dozen pack horses; ranwilderness rivers in boats they fash-ioned for themselves; climbednumerous mountains; and tookthemselves and their horse trainacross some of the largest glaciers

in the world. At times, Young andhis team were forced to cut steps inthe glacial ice with picks and axesso that the horses might gain eventenuous footing.

Young and his partners Dr. A.H.Evans of Eagle Pass, TX and J.C.Snyder of Metamora, IL wentnorth 94 years ago, and what theyexperienced was nothing remotelyakin to contemporary adventuresin northern New England.However, for any reader of The

The Gazette’s Book ReviewBy Colonel J.C. Allard

Col. J.C. Allard lives in Pittsfield, NHabout 20 miles north by east of Concord.“We're in the shadow of the Belknapmountains here, but we can see Mt.Washington on a clear day”.

Quality Eyewear


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Pictures Gone WildPictures Gone WildOur reader submitted photosOur reader submitted photos

The Coolest Gift IdeaYour Picture on The Outdoor Gazette! No, not the real cover but an 8x10full color mock-up of our cover. You can put your favorite hunting, fish-ing, snowmobiling or anything you can think of, right on The NewHampshire and Vermont Outdoor Gazette cover and it will look like thereal thing. It’s the perfect gift for any outdoor enthusiast. Cover will befull color on heavy stock photo paper and will fit an 8x10 picture frame.

What do we need from you? A digital photo with at least200dpi resolution at 8x10 size or original photo mailed to

us for scanning. 4 headlines of 30 characters or lessand the month and year you would like on the cover

Want to buy one? send email to [email protected]

The Coolest Gift IdeaThe Coolest Gift Idea

Price is only $20.00 including postage

Price is only $20.00 including postage

Nick Dubuque form Post Mills, Vermont

Today I got my best turkey ever. It was a classic hunt. I heard the gobble near my foodplot, set up my decoy, and 20 minutes later it was all over. 22 lbs, 10” beard, 1” spurs.A great supper for tomorrow night! I’m not waiting for thanksgiving.

Tagged out! Tracie Longto of Bradford, Vermont. This was Tracie’s first “successful”hunt. A couple of Vermont toms. With one shot!


Well at this time of year I usu-ally have been out shed huntingat least two or three times aweek, but this winter having hipsurgery has limited me a little.The recovery is going fairly welland I have been out a few timesthis year with Matt and my sixyear old son Carter and our dogPete. Even though I have beenable to spend minimal time inthe woods, it has been a greatseason for finding horns inVermont.

About a month ago, my thera-pist and friend Ben McCormickcleared me so that I could ridemy sled; which allowed me to getin the woods to do some lookingaround some of my huntingspots. Usually I am hunting orwalking all day only stopping toeat, that was not the case thisyear; however, it has worked outreally well for my son who lovesto go but could not walk all day.Of course the added benefit ofhaving Carter setting the pace isthat it helps keep me in check!

A few weeks ago, Matt wasgoing up to his camp in NorthernVermont for the weekend. Theplan was to do some fishing onFriday with another friend, Kyleand on Saturday hunt for horns

with me and Pete. I had physicaltherapy Friday morning anddrove up to camp after that Iwent right to the lake to see Mattand Kyle just setting up. Theywanted me to hang out with

them, which I did for a littlewhile but I knew there was goingto be a dusting of snow comingthat night and the hunting wouldnot be as good so I left them andwent to camp and put Pete onthe sled and headed for themountains where I had seen a

real nice bull back in deer sea-son. It was three o’clock and fig-ured it would be a good scoutingfor tomorrows’ hunt. When Peteand I arrived at the cut where

the bull had been, there wassome rubs that where made inthe early winter. With aboutthree or four feet of snow upthere I strapped my snow showson and began to walk aroundmost of the rubs where on thelow side of the snow machine butwith that much snow I could onlyhope that the bulls did not dropthe horns early or it was going tobe mostly up to Pete to find ahorn. We looked around for ahour with no luck. The freshersigns were taking us to the southand up the mountain, as gainedaltitude the snow only got deep-er. Pete was hunting very hardcircling in front of me as wewalked on the crusty snow, just asI was losing all hope Pete startedto dig in a opening between somebig fir trees. I could tell he hadsomething so I began to help him

dig with my snowshoe. The dig-ging was hard, there were manylayers of crust. After about tenminutes into it I could tell that itwas not a horn but a leg bone ofa moose that had died this win-ter. I marked the spot on my GPSas a possible euro and figuredMatt would come back in thespring and look around. Pete andI started to move on and hadgone about two hundred yardswhen I thought we should give ita better look around. Maybe itwas because there were freshcoyote tracks around. We circledup and back in the direction ofthe leg bone, the coyote trackswere everywhere. I saw Pete upto his old tricks digging up some-thing but I could not believe myeyes about four yards in front ofhim was two point sticking aboutone inch out of the snow and Icould tell from the distance thepoints where apart that theywere still attached to the skull. AsI began to dig I was able to con-firm indeed that it was a euroand the coyote had cleaned up

the face to the bone and thehorns where dark brown. I usedsticks and my snow shoes to digup the head. It took about anhour and a half for me to breakit free from the ice and snow. Idon’t think I have ever been thatexcited about picking up hornsand the only thing that couldhave made it better is that Matthad been there with me. I don’tknow how many times Matt and Ihave talked about someday find-ing an euro. After getting back tothe sled I drove to camp andheaded for the lake. When I gotto the lake Matt asked how manyI found, I told him two and askhim if he wanted to see a picture.I handed him my phone and toldhim scroll through. To say theleast he was more excited thenme. That day, I’m glad I did notstay to fish!

By Trevor BunnellBy Trevor Bunnell

Bucks and BonesBucks and Bones

Better than fishing?

the outdoor gazette - may -june 2013

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