I did a radio interview recently and was asked about women's hunting apparel and if it is getting better. I ecstatically answered Yes! Thanks to my involvement with EvoOutdoors, I have been fortunate enough to learn what you really need to be wearing when you are in the woods during bear season, deer season, coyote etc. With the holidays coming up, here are my MUST HAVEs for any outdoorwoman or man.First Lite: I sit while I hunt and I was always getting sweaty on my way in or out of the woods. I layer so that I can stay warmer longer but it would also take me a while to regulate my body temperature after I got warm walking into my stand. I can only imagine how much more comfortable my hunts would have been had I learned about...
When I woke up, I had gotten two and a half hours of sleep in the past 24 hours. With the time change, I knew that I had to trick my mind into thinking that it was like any other morning and that with copious amounts of coffee, I would be able to function. I had to; I was going fishing! It was just me and the guys, heading to the Russian river to try our hand at salmon fishing. Some had fished before and knew the Alaskan river well. Some of us planned to just do what we were told. We loaded up the waders, some lunch and fishing poles and drove two hours south. It was a beautiful day! Warm but not too hot and no bugs. We were using regular fishing poles with a hook but instead of a fancy lure or a...
One of the strangest things to get use to while fishing the Russian river was the fact that there are seagulls and eagles constantly watching you, flying overhead and swooping down into the water. They sit in the trees and just watch. I have never experienced anything like this in Maine. It was a little unnerving to be surrounded by birds while you are trying to fish. At one point, I counted four mature eagles in one tree with this immature sitting nearby in the next...
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 collar as many females as possible while also getting the stats (weight, length, canine tooth size etc)...
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 there were birds around. It was quiet as we walked but that didn't stop us from jumping at least three...
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...
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 year. It was also 30 degrees warmer that it had been so the extra layers were not needed. We had an...
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 headed for the camera and SD card. I went through roughly 75 pictures of the trees before I came to the...