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...
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 fish as well. I wasn't the least bit concerned because I had just had a great experience inGLS...
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 sign when you see a rub almost immediately. We have seen the sheds that have been found nearby so...
** The following article was written for The Liberty Project and posted on their website on October 30, 2015. You can see it here. I was never paid for this article so The Liberty Project never bought the copyright. Women’s interest in hunting is growing fast, despite online harassment I never questioned the size of my gun. If Dad could shoot it, why couldn’t I? My mom said that the kick alone would send me backwards out of the treestand. I shot the 30-06 twice to get comfortable and on the third shot three weeks later, I killed a small buck that filled the freezer. I never questioned my abilities again until I started writing about and posting photos of my hunting adventures. I was then forced to prove my...
With the Maine legislature beginning and as always there will be hunting and fishing issues that come up, I wrote this article for The Liberty Project about a bill in Wisconsin that would prevent anti-hunters from documenting hunters when they are in the woods. The article was originally posted on October 28, 2015 here. Why Wisconsin's right to hunt bill is necessary I can count on one hand the number of photos of my son on social media. You will never read the full name of the friends that I hunt with and I am more likely to take a photo of the trees than photos of an outing with my Dad. I am overly cautious for my safety and theirs. Last year, I volunteered with Maine’s fight against an out-of-state anti-hunting group as we...
Everything was going just fine until I realized that I had the wrong gun. I had packed everything that I would need and was getting comfortable with the idea of sitting by myself in the tree blind. It was 90 degrees. The odds of a bear coming in were really not good. Plus, when Steve dropped me off and checked the cameras, there were no pictures and the bait had not been touched. I was a little more relaxed about it but I was still weirded out about having the wrong gun. Me, my awesome Kryptek Helios top and the wrong 30-06 I'm couldn't believe that it happened. I had assumed that my gun was in my gun bag and switched it with the gun sitting right next to it. The different strap never registered when I grabbed the guns. I...
My friend Staci is a fisherwoman. She had the gear, knows her stuff and has years of experience. Somehow, someway, I convinced her to take me fishing. We were watching the water height and strength online and it looked promising so that is where we headed. An hour later we arrived to this: the water had been released from the dam above and was raging. I snapped a couple of pictures and we headed to a different spot to try out luck. Staci said this was a little high compared to what it was a few days before when she was there with her husband but it seemed doable and we wanted to be able to cast a few times just to say that we did it. I had received two pairs of waders from a retiring coworker so I...
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 time or two before I am totally confident in my...
As I was looking through photos of 2014 and printing some out, I couldnt help but get nostalgic. I had no intention of bear hunting a year ago. I had actually told my Dad (a few times) that I had no desire to shoot a bear, didn't think I could like the meat and that it was just not in my wheel house. Skip ahead a few months and with the invitation of Steve and Lorri, I learned how to prepare and set bait and went hunting. Then, given the opportunity to hunt with hounds, I took a chance to learn more about it and came home with an incredible story and some delicious meat. I may look calm but I was freaking out Grateful Look at those scars! I told the taxidermist that I want each one of them to be seen when...
