I found this turtle trying to cross the road on my way home after work. I was the obnoxious person who put their car's hazard lights on and stood in the middle of the road until the turtle was safely on the other side. Once I walked up close to him, he took off and was not wasting any time. It's that time of year! Watch out for them in the roads.
In Maine, it is easy to brag about our bear biologists. I did some quick math and with conservative estimates, Maine's bear biologist Randy Cross has spent more than 72,000 hours studying and working with our black bears. That blows Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule out of the water. I was lucky enough to tag along with Randy and his bear crew, including Lisa Bates, as they started running their trap lines to check the health of our bears. I met Randy and two of his team mates, Preacher and Roach, as they headed out on day 3 of the 2016 trapping season. Their goal during the six week season is to...
This mourning dove would not move from my flower bed. I flushed her mate but she refused to budge.
I think overall, I was excited for turkey season. I really was. Then May came and we went fishing, celebrated Mother's Day and found ourselves busy. Dad and I had one morning to head into the woods to hunt. We had moved the blind closer into the woods and the path that I had seen the turkeys on when I was deer hunting. We set up the decoys and waited for it to get lighter before I started calling. I had a box call, slate call, electronic call and a couple of apps on my phone. We called and listened. Called and listened. Called and listened. After a few hours, we made our way to the fields to see if...
My friend Staci and I went fishing recently. The water was down, the air wasn't too hot and the fish were jumping! It was the third time we had attempted to fish this spot and we arrived early enough to be the first in. We had the luxury of being able to enjoy the nature around us and try out a few different flies to see what the fish were biting. A pair of Mergansers flew overhead and then swam past us while we stood waist-deep in the current. We would cast, change flies and then change spots on the stream. It was great. Eventually, a man parked on the edge of the road and started walking down to the stream to...
We need choppy water Steve told me when we had first started fishing together last year. The breeze off of the lake wasnt as bad as we had thought but it was enough to get a little chop going and keep the temperatures cool. We were the only ones at the boat landing that morning. I was ready to redeem myself after last year's trip resulted in a salmon throwing the hook and swimming away. We set up the three streamer lines and headed to the honeyhole to see if we could get a bite. We didn't spend too much time trolling before Steve yelled, "fish on!' and I jumped up to grab the rod and started reeling the line in, making sure...
There is something so wonderful about not living in a city; wildlife! The deer are looking fantastic this spring since we had such a mild winter. They are in the process of shedding but if all goes well, they will be big, fat and healthy once fall comes. Yearling deer steps into the driveway Doe eating grass on the edge of the...
After a good rain in the early spring months, you can usually find some great animal tracks. Here, a yearling and cow moose ran down the edge of the road. This is the yearlings track, its the same size as my hand!
The above average temps and lack of snow this winter had resulted in the fishing season kicking off two weeks ahead of schedule so Robinand I scoped out the stream the day before we were set to go fishing to see how high the water was and how many fellow fishermen were there. We went back to her house where Taylor joined us and got our fly rods ready with leaders and new flies. The next morning, the three of us ate a delicious breakfast (duck eggs and bear sausage!) and headed to the stream. Our second year being in the stream on April 1. I looked like I knew what I was doing which was a vast improvement from last...
You can learn a lot by what animals leave behind. In this case, a bear was able to get a nice chunk of venison. The size and the amount of hair (you can see the white and tan hairs closest to my foot) tells you that this bear took more than just a nibble at the deer. Bear are one of the biggest predators of deer; especially deer fawns in the spring. Clearly there is one less deer in this area then there was before winter started!
Each year, a pair of Mallard ducks land in the pond. Most of the time, they leave after a week or so but this year, they seem to be staying around. We are hoping for some ducklings later on this spring. Female Mallard sits on a potential nest while the male looks on Male and female Mallard Male Mallard...
I just have a feeling that this year will be my year and I will be bagging one of these birds. We moved our blind to a new spot this year and I am hopeful that it will put us closer to the birds than we have seen. Dad, Hubby and I set it up and put a trail camera out to see if there are any birds around since last spring we saw everything but a turkey. A week later, we went back to tweak a few things and check the camera. On our drive in, two hens ran away from us and into the woods. That was a good sign! We parked and pulled everything out of the car and over to the blind and some newly transplanted trees. I...
You can find some pretty cool things while walking in the woods and along back roads. I am going to try to share more of these finds with you, more often. First up, these awesome antlers! They were on the side of a hunting cabin at the very end of a dirt road.
As I was frantically trying to get myself and O ready for the day and out the door, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of these birds at my feeder, just 10 yards away (I know this because of my set up shooting my bow.) There was 12 of them, just picking at the bird seed that was on the ground. A few times, my movement would spook one of them and they could take a step or two back and then go back to pecking. I didn't see any beards and I have not seen this flock since, but I spent an extra 15 minutes taking photos and watching them. In my dream world, I could get up, make coffee, grab my bow and go sit on the porch...
When you kill a bear in Maine, you are legally required to submit a tooth to IF&W so that the bear can be aged and logged into the records. Each tooth is cut, like a tree, and the rings are counted. Biologists can learn about the health of the bear and it's age. Assuming that the tooth gets to where it needs to be. Typically, it takes a year for the data to be published. The link to the information is usually posted all over social media and eager hunters share how old their bear was. I couldn't wait to find out how old this guy was. The popular vote was about 8 years old. When the data was posted, I searched....
That is our mentality as we drag that target outside each weekend and measure out distance in the snow. For three years, I have been after this huge buckand he has stayed nocturnal. After this past rifle season ended and Dad stayed in the woods with his muzzle loader, he saw the deer pattern back to their pre-rifle ways. They were back to traveling the paths that we assumed they used and they were coming out earlier and earlier. Dad didn't shoot a deer but he saw the small buck that we had around and a few does. For the first time, it was blatantly obvious that rifle hunters were moving these deer around. While we had been...
This is what the owner of the property found the day before we arrived to shed hunt. He wasn't out looking for sheds, just walking around the property. As bummed as we were to see this, the fact that they now had two years worth of matching sheds for the same deer is pretty awesome. The set on the bottom is from 2015 and the set on top is from 2016.
Staci and I found a great place to shed hunt. We knew that there were deer all around and that we would be in the right spot to find something. It had started to snow when we got there but the forecast called for heavier snow in the late afternoon. As outdoors women, we figured that we would be fine. We just started following tracks to figure out where the deer were traveling from. We headed through a field and towards the woods, looking for beds, feeding areas or yards where the antlers may have fallen off. Our plan was to walk the perimeter of the property to see what we could find. It is always a good...
Remember this guy? I was fortunate enough to meet him last March when he was a brand new black bear. I knew that our awesome bear biologist were out checking dens and sent a message to one of them asking if they had gone to King's den yet and if the cubs were there with her. My timing could not have been more perfect; they were heading to her den the next day! Using the same technology as they did the year before, they found King under a network of cedar blowdowns. She weighed in at 156lbs - four pounds heavier than she was the year before, and looked totally healthy. Last year, King had given birth to a male and female...
Dan Johnson from The Nine Finger Chronicles started doing listener reviews of bows. It was an unbiased way to hear from everyday people about what was working for them and what bows they liked or didnt like and why. As a beginner and newbie to the world of archery, I offered to review a couple of bows. It also helped that I was in the market to buy one. Dan posted what he was hoping to get for information on each bow and left it up to us. I was the first woman on the podcast and the first woman to review bows. You can listen to the podcast of Dan and me talking about the PSE Stringer and the Mission: Craze...