Maine Hunting Articles and Blog • Page 11 of 48 • And A Strong Cup of Coffee

Doe sighting

By Erin M | Jun 15, 2015 | 1 Comment | 1 min read

There are three does around my parent's house. One of them looks as though she doesnt have a tail OR that she has a solid white tail. Over the past few weeks, she has disappeared, presumably to have a fawn. I couldn't zoom in as much as I needed to, but I think this could be here. I spotted her after I had put O to bed after his day long birthday party. Also, there were not a lot of deer pictures on the trail camera when I checked it the day before. A couple does, a racoon and some caterpillars crawling over the lens. We need to mow the grass down and hopefully we can get some bucks walking...

My kind of company

By Erin M | Jun 10, 2015 | 0 Comments | 3 min read

I have written a few times (here and here) about the lack of women's clothing in the outdoor industry that fit and do their job. I have pieced together my hunting wardrobe with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Then, a friend of mine on Facebook posted something about EvoOutdoors and I checked them out. It was like finding apot of gold. Not just two pairs of pants that would not fit right or a jacket too big, but actual women's hunting clothes with options! I wanted in. This is my Classic Mainer look: WOOL! This is how the website describes this awesome group that I am now a part of: EvoOutdoors...

I am learning!

By Erin M | Jun 4, 2015 | 1 Comment | 1 min read

Slowly but surely, I am going to learn how to fly fish! There is a blog coming (along with a couple turkey blogs) but until I can sit down and publish them... enjoy the view from the river. We arrived about an hour after they released the water. A little...

What season is this again?

By Erin M | Jun 1, 2015 | 1 Comment | 4 min read

The night before we were going to be heading into the woods, I looked around for my home made box call and slate call and could not find them. I only had a store bought box call, push call and electronic call. I have tried and can not use the mouth calls, so those are pointless. I gathered up my camo and got ready for the 4am excursion. I can't help but wonder exactly why I want to go turkey hunting; it's a season of ridiculously early starts, ticks and warm weather. And ticks! There is really not much that is appealing about it. But, Dad and I were going to try to find a turkey. We started off at the...

Adventures in the Woods

Sunrise on the Big Lake

By Erin M | May 24, 2015 | 2 Comments | 1 min read

I woke up very early on our first full day in Grand Lakes Stream ( I think it was because I knew that we were going to spend the day with Robin) but I snuck out of the cabin and onto the dock to take photos of the sunrise. I have not doctored any of these photographs and they are in chronological order... it is just that...

Adventures in the Woods

Birds on the Big Lake

By Erin M | May 22, 2015 | 0 Comments | 1 min read

From the dock and our porch window, we could see all kinds of great bird sightings. I wrote about the osprey here but wanted to share a few more pictures: Loon Loon A pair of loons hanging out near the dock Anyone know what kind of bird this is? The nesting pair of osprey at...

Adventures in the Woods

Osprey’s dinner

By Erin M | May 19, 2015 | 1 Comment | 1 min read

We were hanging out at the dock at Chet's Camps when we heard squawking and saw this osprey flying and swooping and seeming to taunting the two loons that were in front of us. The osprey has what looked like bass in its talons. Osprey landing with a fish in its talons Looks like the osprey caught a...

There is nothing wrong with more bucks

By Erin M | May 15, 2015 | 0 Comments | 1 min read

I am now going to be stalking the trail camera pictures and probably trying to put out more as the summer goes on. This is a new buck - a little smaller than the earlier one that I posted which means that at least a couple of them made it through the winter and with the amount of does that are around, I would say that we have a pretty healthy deer herd hanging around! Look at those...

Adventures in the Woods Scat and Tracks

Mud season tracks

By Erin M | May 11, 2015 | 0 Comments | 1 min read

I would love to find the owner of this track! Deer hair in their travel paths As much of a pain as mud season it, it is a great way to see where the deer are and how big some of them are getting. It is almost like snow because it gives you a great idea of what is traveling through. I was very happy to see all of the deer tracks but then I saw this one. It wasn't as fresh as some of the deer tracks but it wasn't too old either. Looks like I am hunting something besides deer and turkey this year. Good size coyote...

Adventures in the Woods

I spy (answered)

By Erin M | May 9, 2015 | 0 Comments | 1 min read

Did you see the camo's critter? Here are some better photos of him. He still has white on his back feet and belly but the majority of him is brown now. I hope he sticks around for a while - without eating all of the plants.

Adventures in the Woods

I spy…

By Erin M | May 8, 2015 | 3 Comments | 1 min read

I spy with my little eye... I snapped a few pictures of this critter as it scurried across the lawn. It was hard to see when he was in the brush but I got a few good ones when he came back out onto the lawn and again the next morning.

Welcome back friends

By Erin M | May 4, 2015 | 2 Comments | 1 min read

I convinced Dad to put the trail camera back out at the Sky Condo to see what deer are around and made it through the winter... and it was like seeing old friends. Five healthy looking deer! Last year's fawns look good as yearlings If you zoom in, you can see antlers beginning. This is one of those 8-pointers! It is always great to see the healthy does and in some shots, one looks like she could be pregnant but what I loved was the picture above that shows antlers beginning. Looking at his body size and shape, I do believe that this is the smaller of the two 8-pointers. We are keeping these cameras rolling, but in the...

Adventures in the Woods Scat and Tracks

A little spring walk

By Erin M | Apr 23, 2015 | 0 Comments | 4 min read

Dad, Hubby and I headed into the woods last weekend to look for some turkey sign as well as see if we could find some sheds. It was a beautiful afternoon and we took our time enjoying the run and the start of some green grass. As soon as we got out of the car, we saw deer tracks - and some pretty nice looking ones. We headed up to the Sky Condo and down through the woods to T3. We were maybe 10 steps into the woods when Dad stopped and pointed - four, maybe five flags bounced through the trees and away from us. We were glad to see that they were starting to spread out again and break away from their yarding areas and...

Hunting in Maine Scat and Tracks

Name that scat

By Erin M | Apr 21, 2015 | 1 Comment | 1 min read

We spent a few hours in the woods last weekend and I came across this pile of scat on the side of an old log. It almost looked like the mystery critter could sit on the log and use it as a toilet seat. Who left this behind? It looks like turkey poop but there is a pile of it and usually when have seen signs of turkey, they are more scattered and a little bit larger. These were the size of Cheetos puffs. So - what does it belong...

Adventures in the Woods

In search of chaga

By Erin M | Apr 17, 2015 | 4 Comments | 1 min read

If you were out in the woods and saw this, would you be able to know it was chaga right away? I was lucky that I had Robin with me and she was able to point it out with 100% certainty of what it was. She was also on top of things and brought a saw to get it off the tree. It was a beautiful, somewhat windy day and we got out in snowshoes before it got too sloppy and slushy. It was almost hot when the wind died down. Chaga We took two pieces off of the tree and went in search of more, which we did not find. I am hoping to keep working on my ability to identify this in the woods when I am out now but it may take a...

Adventures in the Woods

Grand Lake Stream on Opening Day 2015

By Erin M | Apr 3, 2015 | 2 Comments | 2 min read

When some blogs just talked about opening day of fishing season, Robin Follette and I LIVED it! I drove four hours north the day before to hang out with Robin and go on a few adventures (those posts are coming, but here is a sneak peek). The biggest was to stand in the Stream in Grand Lake Stream on opening day and try our hand at fly fishing. We didn't really care about catching a fish but we were excited to see the groups of people that would be there and the excitement surrounding the beginning of fishing season. We met up with Brian Donaghy of Epic Adventures to help us with gear and guidance. When we pulled into...

Maine Fishing Turkey Hunting

Turkey, fish and bone

By Erin M | Mar 27, 2015 | 0 Comments | 3 min read

Finally, after the cold winter it is time to be back in the woods. I am eager to shake off the winter and get back into the sunshine, nicer temperatures and even play in the mud a little bit. This year spring means turkey hunting, fishing and looking for some sheds on the hunting property. This will be my third turkey hunting season and I am hoping that the third time is the charm. The first year, we called one tom and three jakes in but didn’t bring any meat home. Last year, I went out with a guide and blew my shot by sitting in a spot that prevented me from shooting to my right. I did get to see the...

T3 is standing!

By Erin M | Mar 24, 2015 | 0 Comments | 2 min read

No matter what animal I hunt, I always come back to deer. Hunting predators like bear and coyote are great and I'm eager to check off turkey and moose but I plan my vacations around deer season. After getting yelled at last season, we decided to build a permanent structure a little further into woods and close to the same property line. It was hard to visualize what it would look like and Dad had great plans for our third permanent deer stand. He built it in the barn and we tested out sizes, wall height and visibility. We were going to put it up in late January but time got away from us and February hit...

Maine Black Bear

Part 2: Gimmie the bears!

By Erin M | Mar 20, 2015 | 1 Comment | 4 min read

So we made it to King's den. Now the fun starts. Once King was sedated and out, Jake and Mitch got ready to pull the cubs out. We stood closer to where they were in a semi-circle and watched. Lisa explained what was happening and the fact that this was more than likely, the first time the cubs had ever seen day light. Mitch taking the first cub out of the den. Mitch put the first cub against his chest and let go. The cub stuck to the wool jacket with it's claws, like Velcro. Jake handed him the second cub and Lisa stepped in to help. As Jake got King ready to come out of the den, Mitch tagged the...

Maine Black Bear

Part 1: Getting to the Bear’s Den

By Erin M | Mar 16, 2015 | 2 Comments | 3 min read

Mount Katahdin from Route 11 in Maine. I had been awake for five hours when we pulled into the IFW office in Ashland at 8am. It was deceivingly beautiful out with the bright sun and deep blue sky but the wind kept the temperatures close to single digits. Still, we knew once we were in the woods, we wouldn't be thinking about the temps. Our group was fortunate enough to be going out with bear biologists Mitch Jackman, Jake Feener and one of the most well known biologists, Lisa Bates. It was a 17 mile truck ride into the woods from the office followed by a two mile bushwacking snowmobile ride to the den. This...

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