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 to keep the line tight and the tip up. The water was cold but I was surprised by the lack of...
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 year. It was also 30 degrees warmer that it had been so the extra layers were not needed. We had an...
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...
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 waiting for them to come back. But, if my pattern holds, my turkey tag will remain unfilled and I...
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. I looked up my name. I looked up my guide's name. I looked up the tagging station and the...
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.
