march 2012 - the outdoor gazette

March 2012 Page 3The Outdoor Gazette

SubmissionsDo you have an interesting story to tell? It could be about a fishing trip with Dad or

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On The CoverWilderness day in Colebrook, NH - Three Generation Ice Fishermen at theLake Bomoseen ice Fishing Derby, pictured left to right-Norman Flanders(Grandfather), Nick Flanders (Father), Preston Flanders (Son), and IanFlanders (Son) – NH’s Madbury Buck” this 2011 NH muzzle loaderbuck, Gross scored 160 4/4, w/a net score of 156 2/8.

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Outdoor GazetteNew Hampshire & VermontThe

ARTICLESEight Years in the WildernessTraveling OutdoorsmanTaxidermy TrailsMass Meanderings Riverbank Tales Lock, Stock & Smoking BarrelWaterfowlers perspectiveFamily TracksBone Collections Lessons form the OutdoorsThe Trap Line Kens Choosing a trail cameraNH’s 2011 200 lb clubTails from the TrailSouthern Side UpFrom the Back of the CanoeBirding with BriereCoastal ZoneTrail Camera contest Behind the SightsThoughts on the Out of Doors Searching for Nature’s TreasuresGuided by the Light, or.... Image Wild Gazette’s Book Review

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Table of Contents

Volume 6 Issue 3

Looks like a 2012 Lake Winni Ice Fisherman. Dangerous ice conditions are the norm during this years abnormal winter. This fellow is not discouraged. He has a flagand his beer is on ice. Good day on the ice? or water? ice water!

March 2012 The Outdoor Gazette

owns, what I believe to be, theonly trapping supply company inVermont, Arrowhead TrappingSupply. Randy is not only knowl-edgeable, but he is easy to talk toand the passion for trappingcomes out in his voice when hetalks about it.

Brian Bouchard owner of FieldBay Outfitters of Vermont joinsus as well. Brian is the Gazette’snew waterfowl guy. I was luckyenough to have booth space nextto Brian at the Yankee SportsmanClassic this past January. Like therest of the Gazette’s writers, hetoo is passionate about his out-door niche. That his passion willtranslate in to success for his newventure I am sure.

Capt John Curry, from CapeCod, MA. I love to fish salt waterbut never get much of a chancethese days. As I get older I realizeI can’t possibly do everythingmyself. The cost of equipment,the time spent to learn all there isto know about every outdoorsport…just does not happen. So I

have been hunting and fishingsmarter in my old age, by takingadvantage of experts like CaptJohn. He has the equipment, theknowledge and years of experi-ence that I will never have. Timeis precious and Capt. John canmake things happen for you/me.I can’t wait to hit the ocean withhim this spring and summer,maybe fall too! Check out CaptJohn’s website, it is obvious heknows what he is doing.

David Whittmer of WesternMass…an accomplished writer,lover of the outdoors and of hishome state of Massachusetts.David’s love and pride of the BayState comes out in his writing andI look forward reading aboutwhat is going on outdoors “downunder!”

Lastly Ken Monte, we havebeen friends for many years.Some of Ken’s stories may over-lap with mine, but like they saythere’s 2 (or more) sides to everystory. His first article “Being

Continued next page

By Fred Allard

Editor’s Back

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Perspective, sometimes thingshappen that “correct” this foryou/me /us. Working in a hospi-tal, my perspective is constantlybeing corrected. Just when I thinkthat I am having a bad day, I justhave to look around at thepatients coming to the hospital torealize just how lucky I am.Sometimes these “corrections”are a little too close to home.

Alan Briere, long time writer forthe gazette and award winningphotographer and more impor-tantly, a good man and husband,is in the ICU at DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center. Icould not believe my ears as Iheard the message from Alan’swife Cheryl. Alan and Cheryl arevery close and the pain on herface as she told me the storyabout Alan’s illness and eventualadmission, brought tears to myeyes.

At this time Alan is still asleep,having gone through emergency

surgery. He is receiving the best ofcare and if anyone can comethrough this, I know that Alancan do it. I know he is thinking “I have too much left to do to letthis bump in the road slow medown.”

I am not a religious man, but Ido pray occasionally and Alanhas been the topic of many of myprayers lately. Please add him toyours. With us praying for him,the love and support of his familyand the care from the staff in theICU, hopefully we will be luckyenough to enjoy Alan’s exception-al work in the pages of theOutdoor Gazette once again.

>>>------------------------------>This month we add 5 new writ-

ers. Randy Barrows of Milton,

Vermont joins us with a monthly“Trapping” column. Finally wefound some one knowledgeableabout this sport and willing towrite about it as well. Randy

Putting things in to perspective


from previous page

to run. Just not too fast. She is a con-sistent team or wheel dog. AndKaleb is a big teddy bear of a dog,and sister to Kadee, and at only ayear old, is still young in terms ofwhat to expect or how far to pushhim. He runs well in wheel or team,is strong, always eager to run, butdoesn’t quite have the drive his sis-ter does.

About 7 miles into the run,Anthem does not want to be in lead– tug line is slack and Expresso isneck lining him down the trail. Idecide to place him in point, andgive Kadee a go at lead. Less than amile later, she too is telling me shedoesn’t want to be in lead with aslack tug. The next dog I have inline for drive is Tarot – and he prob-ably is physically the strongest, andhas incredible drive, but no training.What the heck – we’ll give him a go.What a surprise! He did great andactually showed some signs of lis-tening to commands, though veryfar from a polished lead dog.Surprisingly, Anthem ran with tighttugs in point, and showed GREATGee-over support from the pointposition.

Just as we as mushers seem to upthe ante logistically and strategical-ly, I too sensed a heightened per-formance from the dogs. Anxietyabout staying to the right, passingand being around other dogs, andsnowmobile traffic all proved to beunnecessary. The dogs’ gee’ed over

like never before, did some (mostlyallowed some) great passing ofother teams on the trail withoutincident, and passed snowmobilesperfectly while in motion. After our18 mile water and snack break,Nina showed signs of being tired –her tug was slack, and she was get-ting neck lined on some of the fasterdownhill runs. Thoughts of bag-ging her ran through my mind, butshe did fine as long as we set a slow-er pace. She was our first Siberian,and I really wanted her to completeour first “race”. Around mile 22,Kadee, one of our yearlings,showed signs of tiring – her tug wasslack, her drive evaporating, herneckline tight from the front. I setthe hook, and gave her some atten-tion. A little break from runningand a lot of positive reassurance forall the team worked wonders.Again, setting a slower pace was inboth Nina’s and Kadee’s comfortzone. Only a few miles to go, and Ididn’t want it to end.

We started as a team, and we fin-ished as a team. Our team came indead last, a whopping ? hourbehind my front competitor(decades in race terms), and 1-?hours after the first place finisher. Iam not in this to be competitive –remember, dog sledding is toomuch fun to add the stress of hav-ing to compete. Competition canbe, however, a very useful tool. Ilearned about my dogs, we bondedon the trail amidst new scenery anda different venue, and hopefullybuilt more trust and mutual respect.We met our goal of improving ouroverall average and moving average(7.0 mph overall, 8.4 moving aver-age), and couldn’t have asked for abetter experience. Coming in deadlast was a huge success in this mush-ers mind, and “racing” doesn’t haveto be competitive. It just may proveto be one of the best tools you havethough, to bring out the best in youas a musher, and the best in yourteam.

when a fellow mushing friendinformed me there was a resched-uled race in Northern NewHampshire. I needed to get week-end coverage at work to participate.If I didn’t go, he probably wouldn’teither. It would mean, logistically,getting to Northern NewHampshire by the mandatory 8:00am Mushers meeting. MapQuestindicated it was a 3-? hour drive,backing the departure time to 4:30am. Need to load dogs, load thetruck – switch all the dogs and gearfrom one truck to another inRockingham – better add a ? hour– now looking at 4:00 am depar-ture? Probably should arrive just atad early to the Mushers meeting,say to drop dogs and sleds, and atleast look like we’re in the hunt; soadd another ? hour – departure at3:30 am? And that’s a tight timelineand doesn’t allow for any unfore-seen circumstances.

I agreed to go, and we contem-plated the best way to manage ourtightly laid out time line. As fatewould have it, neither one of usslept, I tossed and turned from10:30 to 12:00 and tried to fakesleep like a child waiting for Santa.I think I may have gotten an hourand a half of sleep – wide-awake at2:00 am, well in advance of my2:30 am setting for the alarm. Icalled my comrade at 3:00 am, ahalf hour before my “leaving thehouse” call scheduled for 3:30. Heanswered promptly and alert with“couldn’t sleep either”? Something interesting happenswhen you change the format from afun run to a “race”. For two days Iwas plotting and planning what Iwould need to bring. Not like allthat stuff isn’t in my truck anyway,but this was different. It was a race,and I wasn’t going to be in MYtruck. Had to have all the stuff Ineeded, but not too much, as spaceis a premium when car-poolingwith a fellow musher and his dogs. Ire-evaluated and re-analyzed what Ineeded, being certain not to bewithout. The mental mindset hadchanged. This was a race.The race was the end of the seasonfinale for the club, and thought it anice chance to explore this venue. Ihad absolutely no expectationsother than to compare our per-formances as a team in a “race” set-ting to what we had been doing inrecreational runs this season. In thefew longer runs (15+ miles) we havedone this year, we had an overallrun average of 5.7 mph, and amoving average of 8.1 mph. Myteam is a hodge-podge of Siberians,the first initially purchased as a pet,a couple retired race dogs, and

some acquired at various stages ofpuppyhood and trained to pull byignorant, but eager owners whoembraced the breed and wanted toexercise them properly, and most ofall, have fun. They vary in age fromone year to almost 9.Just as I was more discerning aboutmy packing for this venture, onceon the trail, I found myself moreanalytical of the dog’s behavior andactions in harness. The “race”brought into focus nuances I had toact strategically upon, which, on arecreational fun run may have beenleft unnoticed. The race was 25miles – the longest run upon whichwe would embark last season.

Anthem & Expresso started out inlead, Lyra & Kadee in point, Tarot& Strider in team, and Nina &Kaleb in wheel. Anthem is atrained lead dog; Expresso has nocommand training, but has the bestforward drive on the team. Lyra is avery smart girl and knows her com-mands, but is sometimes moreinterested in smells on the trail thanher forward orientation; Kadee hasthe drive of Expresso, but very littlelead or command training and at

just one year, is young for the role oflead, but has potential. Tarot is apowerhouse and rock solid muscle –a solid team dog with lots of drive.He is the most vocal of any of ourdogs, and if he were a child, surelyhe would be classified as A.D.D.with separation anxiety. He is verybashful around strangers, and has avery loud annoying squeaky bark(his nick name is squeaky boy) if heisn’t getting the attention hedeserves. Strider is a big ‘ol sweet-heart, lanky in the leg and very per-sonable. He is a talker, eager to runand a solid team dog. Nina was ourfirst Siberian, and the kennelprincess (though she has self pro-moted herself to Queen). She has astrong attitude, and is always eager

A Musher’s view... by Allan Tschorn

Race day rest. By Allan Tschorn


being a day or two for residentsonly. In the early 80’s deer har-vests state wide hit the lowestpoint in history. In 1983, theTOTAL DEER HARVESTWAS 3,280 animals! It wasn’tuntil then that people started to

listen to the recommendationsof the states deer biologists. Aplan had been created but was-n’t exactly put into action.That plan is what we now real-ize, limited antlerless days permanagement zone. A lot ofplanning and solid data wentinto this plan and it was a planthat those behind the scenesknew would work. Some dyedin the wool “Old timers” didn’tfeel so confident that these“young biologists” even had aclue.

At this time in my life, I did-n’t have any children, and hadsome free time. So it was easyfor me to get in the trenchesand lobby for what I felt wasright. I sided with this newwave of deer management andlobbied profusely for its bless-

ing starting with the fish andgame commission. I recall oneparticular meeting where I wasso fed up with the old mind setof several of the board mem-bers, I stood up after being rec-ognized and screamed at sever-al of them, telling them that ifthey wouldn’t listen to the pro-fessional biologist we were pay-ing for, then at least listen tothe sportsmen of the state.

They were old and had theirdays, not just do what we wereasking of them, totally approvethe management plan and letus have ours! Things didn’thappen overnight but the com-mission soon realized that Iwasn’t the only one with thesethoughts and the state widemanagement plan was put intoplace. The reason I saystatewide is because up to thispoint the plan was being car-ried only partially. The doeharvest was really only beingrestricted in the western part ofthe state.

Well, most plans don’t seeresults overnight, this was nodifferent. There was a pointthat fear of fish and gamebeing under pressure, may givein and modify the plan but,they held their ground andstood by the management plan.Slowly but steadily, the deerheard began to rebound. Evenafter some severe winters dur-ing the mid 90’s, we had a rea-sonably healthy deer heard.Slight modifications were madeby adjusting the number ofeither sex days in each manage-ment unit.

As I sit here gazing out thewindow at the river below myhouse, I can’t help but wanderback to the days of my youthand the memories of my earlyyears in the great outdoors. Ihad the world in my pocket inthose days. Who would haveever thought back then thatthings would look the way thatit does now.

Never mind the rules andrestrictions put on everythingthat we do. The old timers allcry foul, new rules for this newrules for that. These new rulesand regulations are a directresult of the demands put onthe resource period. But let’sface it; the majority of peopledon’t like change. Some of usolder ones don’t like being toldthat we simply can’t do some-thing! Isn’t that the Yankeeway?

Where I‘m leading with this?Simply put is modern wildlifemanagement, namely deer.Learning to hunt in the 60’sunder the watchful eyes of myolder brother and my father,they claim that it took the bothof them to keep me in checkmost of the time, I was luckyenough to experience whatsome consider the states “HayDays” of deer hunting.

Back in 1967, the deer killwas slightly over 14,200 ani-mals. The years leading up tothat record harvest were alsorecords for the times. Even asfar back as then, there werechanges being discussed behindclosed doors. Vermont already

had antlerless restrictions butnothing doing here in NewHampshire. Folks just didn’twant to hear it. I think the win-ter of 70-71 was one of the

worst that I had seen even tothis day. I went rabbit huntingwith Dad and his buds and wefound dead and dying deereverywhere. It left me numb fora long time seeing the results ofthe severe winter. The deerheard was decimated in theblink of an eye.

I don’t recall if the state hadhearings back then or not butthe states answer was to stopthe split season; we had anorthern hunt and a southernhunt, both lasting nearly 30days and reduced the numberof day’s state wide in the hunt-ing season. First, we had fivedays of hunting. This was thestart of opening day being on aWednesday. Then we went toseven. For a number of yearswe went to 11 with there even

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Dean Vanier • PO Box 1327 • Lebanon, NH 03766 • 603 523-9206 Continued next page

Deer management is an obligation

Continued next page

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Southern Side UpBy Alex Cote

Southern Side UpBy Alex Cote


from previous page

As we entered into the 21stcentury, a distinct trend hadalready begun but for the mostpart ignored but some andswept under the carpet by oth-ers. In fact, 2007 saw the sec-ond highest deer harvest onrecord! The plan was obviouslyworking. But the number oftrophy deer taken was on thedown swing and had been forsome time, statewide. By tro-phy deer, I am referring to thestate’s program as defining atrophy deer being one thatweighs over 200 pounds fielddressed. There were still deerbeing taken over 200 pounds,but the overall weights weredown and the numbers of deerentered into the programannually were down consider-ably.

Once again, there were planmodifications being discussedthat weren’t so popular. Antlerrestrictions were being dis-cussed to protect the youngerbucks allowing them to reachanother year or to in maturitybefore being harvested. The

plan was working in somestates, with excellent resultsand it was felt that it certainlywould work here. However, likewith the original plan, it metwith resistance.

I can’t be sure where theresistance comes from, I havemy own suspicion but this isn’tthe forum to air that in! Likethe movie “Field Of Dreams”,the line that Kevin Costner washearing,” Build it and they willcome”. I’m personally con-vinced that if we build a quali-ty deer heard they, (hunters)will come!

With this being said, I amunder the opinion that there isa fair number of people thatare resisting the states (trainedprofessional biologists) propos-al for antler restrictions, somefor probable monetary gainand, others out of pure stub-bornness. It is a proven factthat antler restrictions work,even in New Hampshire.

I know of several propertiesthat are privately owned, opento hunting but have antler

restrictions put on them by theproperty owners. The longerthe restrictions are in place, thebetter the bucks that are taken.Like anything else, it takes timefor results to be realized, itdoesn’t happen overnight.

So with this being said, Iwould urge the support of anyand all antler restrictions beingbrought forth by fish and game.There will be hearings inConcord on April 7th and inPittsburg on April 8th, bothstarting at 6:30. If you can’tattend, drop a line off to fishand game and voice your sup-port. From the mid 80’s to theliberal seasons that we nowenjoy, I would have to say thatputting our resource and trustin the hands of the statestrained professionals has beenextremely rewarding for sports-men and nature watchers alike.

We have all reaped the bene-fits of seeing more wildlife,namely the majestic whitetail.It has once again become thesource of income for some andthe source of food for others.

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The bottom line is withoutproper management practicesfunded by sportsmen, therewould be nothing.

I would urge the support ofany reasonable plan to furtherdevelop the quality of thestates heard being broughtforth by the professional staffat fish and game. As huntersand fisherman alike, we havean obligation to not only ourfuture generations but to thefuture Granite States Wildlifeitself.

Alex Cote resides in Deerfield NewHampshire. He is on the Pro Staff forNorthwood's Common Scents! He isalso a scorer for the NHASTC. Alexand his son spend as much time out-doors as possible and he only workswhen he has to.


One of the things I’m alwaysamazed by is the remnants fromyears gone by. In the southernand central part of NH it’s most-ly stone walls and cellar holesand on rivers and streams theremains of old dams andbridges. There’s still a lot oforchards abandoned years agothat would produce fruit forwildlife if pruned. I seldom driveby or hunt the areas withoutwondering what it looked likeone, two or three hundred yearsago. There’s stone walls everywhere; some going over moun-tains. Sizes range from a stoneswidth to several feet across. Allwere built with manual labor andpossibly horses and oxen. Howmany years did it take to buildthem; probably generations. Ican remember when there weredairy farms in just about everytown and cows were milked byhand; not machines.

In the northern part of thestate the change has been sloweralthough most of the dairy farmson the NH side of theConnecticut River are gone.There are old cellar holes andapple trees high up on the hillswhere people once lived; refor-esting not development hasclaimed the land. Logging rem-nants are more prevalent; islandscreated for log booms and someof the dams. Many of the damsbuilt to drive logs were wood andover time have disappeared.Lower dam on the Rapid Riverin Maine before its removal andthe dam at the outlet ofParmachenee are good examples

of dams that lasted for years. Some changes are evident;

most rivers were dammed forpower (to operate mills beforeelectricity) or logging. There arestill around 5,000 dams in thestate. There probably were sever-al times those numbers once. It’sunusual to fish any stream or

river south of the notches andnot find where a dam existed.Dams were the primary cause ofthe destruction of native stocksof fish; they still are the majorimpediment of restoring Atlanticsalmon and other anadromousspecies. Not so noticeable arerivers or streams that have beenaltered; a prime example isIndian Stream that was channel-ized to straighten out the bendsto drive logs. Any impedimentslike boulders were blasted out ofthe stream. That was a commonoccurrence for rivers and streamsused for log drives. Gravel opera-tions caused damage on severalrivers; a prime example beingthe Pemi. A Trout Unlimitedrestoration project corrected the

problem; the largest restorationproject on a river in the state. Itwithstood the floods last year; agood indicator the project willhold up for years.

The change from agriculture toreforesting has been going onsince the industrial revolution.Sheep were one of the mainstaysfor farming providing wool forthe mills. Development has oblit-

erated many of the original arti-facts. Stone walls are everywhereand it’s interesting to see wherethe old roads were. I’ve runacross a few old stone archbridges in the woods that are stillin great shape; unless you’re ahiker or hunter most are longforgotten.

The effects of damming riversare well known. It’s easier tothink that hundreds of years agopeople did not know what theeffects would be. Fishing in NewHampshire a History by JackNoon dispels that theory. It’s afascinating book about what thefishery was like when NewHampshire was first settled andhow changes from dams to stock-ing practices destroyed most of

our native species. It would benice to think that we’ve learnedsomething about the environ-ment over the years; which istrue but it doesn’t stop corpora-tions from doing whatever ittakes to maximize profits.

I have a friend who years ago;before guides were required inLabrador and Quebec used toget topographical maps andchart out rivers in the Northernprovinces. Along with a friendthey would hire a bush pilot todrop them off and pick them upseveral days later. They probablyfished spots that had never beenfished before. They usuallyfished different rivers butreturned to one river twicebecause of the fantastic fishing.When they made arrangementsto fish it the third time the pilotinformed them he had built afishing lodge on the river. In justa few years the fishing haddeclined as the owner allowedclients to keep large fish. Hereturned to the same generalarea on a trip to Labrador lastsummer. The entire watershedwas dammed and underwater aspart of the Hydro Quebec proj-ect. Below is an excerpt from myfriend and partner Gerry’saccount of the trip to Labradorlast summer which he was alsoon’ Also look at the size of thetowers compared to the trees.

On our trip from NH toLabrador we went through theheart of the Hydro-Quebec area.For literally hundreds of miles,we saw huge transmission towersblighting the landscape. Inaddition to the ugly towers, the

By Jim Norton By Jim Norton

From the back of a canoe

From the back of a canoe

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Continued next page

Changes on the horizon


high towers would be built onexisting right-of-ways. Thisvideo is a sample of the swath ofdestruction that would be cutacross northern NH. From ourfloat plane you can also see someof the huge mines that have lev-eled mountains and filled lakes innorthern Quebec and southwest-ern Labrador.”

The report, along with somevideo, can be seen at flyfish-newengland.blogspot.com/search/label/Labrador.

The attached pictures are snap-shots taken from the video.

Seeing the blighted landscape inperson gave me cold chills justthinking of the destruction thiswould bring to New Hampshire.Anybody who thinks NorthernPass will bring “Green power” isdelusional. Bury the damnedpower lines! Gerry.

land underneath the towers wasdestroyed. All the boreal foresthad been scraped down and itwas just low bushes for miles andmiles.

This is an excerpt from myreport of the trip:

“Our drive from southern NHto Labrador City took over 20hours. The first half was prettyuneventful. Then when weheaded north from Baie Comeauon the St, Lawrence River thingsgot interesting. We pretty muchleft civilization behind, otherthan a blighted landscape of

high tension power lines, hugedams destroying entire water-sheds and huge mines scrapingoff mountains and filling lakeswith rust-red effluent. All neces-sary(?), but unfortunate by-prod-ucts of modern life. Anybody fol-lowing events in NH has heard ofthe Northern Pass project thatwould run high tensiontowers/cables across northernNH to bring "green" power tothe northeast urban corridor.At least 40 additional miles oftowers would be built aroundPittsburg, NH and additional

Continued from page 24

from previous page

Jim a native of New Hampshire enjoysfly-fishing & tying, bird hunting and avariety of other outdoor activities and isa registered NH fishing Guidewww.nhriversguide.com and author ofthe book Granite Lines.

Fred, I met through traditionalarchery back when we wereshooting the indoor league atR&L Archery. We were bothequally bad, but we did get betterover the years. He’s the one whousually talks me into huntingsomewhere I’ve never beenbefore.

I remember hunting with himonce in Bath,NH. He was goingto show me an area to hunt andthen he was going to go hunt outof a stand he already had set up.We walked about a mile into thewoods and kept passing by what Ithought was quite a lot of good

deer sign. When I finally askedFred why I didn’t just hunt there,his response was, “you don’t wantto hunt here do you, it’s awfulclose to the truck.” Since then Ido try to get as far away from thetruck as I can but I will hunt clos-er if the deer sign is good enough.

I’ve met quite a few peoplethrough traditional archery.Fred’s bother Scott was part ofthe Missouri hunting trip I men-tioned earlier. I’ve never laughedthat much on a trip before orsince. Next time you see Scottmake sure to tell him that. “yes,the corn is ready.” He’ll know

what you’re talking about. I alsomet Bruce on one of our trips toMissouri. We have hunted andshot our bows together in severalstates and Canada. He did try tokill me once at the EasternTraditional Archery Rendevousin Pennslyvania but I guess Ishould finally just let that one go.

I guess lately that I’m the mostthankful to whoever put up thesign. Every time I pass it, I’mreminded to be thankful.Thankful for the time I get tospend in the woods. Thankful forthe people I get to spend that timewith. Hopefully reading this will

also make you remember the peo-ple and times you are thankful for.I’ll continue to keep stopping onmy way to my hunting spot andI’m sure my list of things to bethankful for will continue to grow.

Ken Monte lives in Arlington, VT. Heworks with his whole family at theVillage Chocolate Shoppe inBennington, VT and TheChocolatorium in East Arlington, VT.Any time not spent at work is spentsomewhere in the woods, usually withhis longbow and a quiver full of arrowsclose at hand. Ken can be reached [email protected].

Living in rural New Hampshireas I do there is almost alwayssome access to wild creatures ifyou only keep your eyes open. Ona recent trip to run some errandsI came upon an unusual sight forthis time of year. Most folks that

have errands to do just zip off tothe store and are back home inten minutes or so. Each time I doerrands I have to plan on a halfhour trip just to get to the store.Since I used to lead photo safaristo Africa I got used to the conceptof a game drive. This is how Itreat these trips to the store. UntilI actually reach a town there isalways the chance of encounter-ing some wild thing along theway.

On this trip my encounter was amale ring neck pheasant. Themales of the various species ofpheasant are referred to as roost-ers and the females are hens. Thepheasant has become a worldtraveler over the centuries. Thereare subspecies of the pheasantthat originated in many parts ofthe world. A black-necked speciesfrom the Caucasus regionbetween the Black and Caspianseas was brought to Greecearound 1300 BC. From therethey spread to Western Europeand arrived in England by the10th Century AD. MostEuropean pheasants still have thisblack-necked variety as their pop-ulation base.

Birds from Eastern China were

eventually mixed in to the breed-ing pool causing a wide variety ofsubtle variations in color and pat-tern. Around 1730 the first NorthAmerican pheasant introductionsoccurred in New York. Pheasantintroductions in New Hampshire,

New Jersey, Maine and otherareas were not very successfulwith only localized breeding pop-ulations.

The first truly positive breedingand expansion began around1881 when Judge Owen Denny(the consul general in Shanghai,China) sent a few dozen birdsback to his home in theWillamette Valley of Oregon.The farming practices in the areaat the time made for perfect habi-tat for pheasants and in only tenyears the first hunt for pheasantswas initiated with a harvest ofnearly one half million birds.After that success there was arush to introduce the pheasant toother parts of the country. Thepheasants we hunt across thecountry today bear the stamp ofmany subspecies. The Englishblack neck, Japanese, Mongolian,Manchurian, Korean, Formosan,and Chinese ring necks have alllent a piece of their genetics tothe mix.

The pheasant is a very populargame bird here in New England,but since our habitat is primarilyforested, the pheasants don’t dowell creating viable wild popula-tions. New Hampshire and

Massachusetts, as well as NewYork all have stocking programsto provide the birds for hunters.There are also many privategame preserves that raise thebirds and many of them spreadaround if the hunters are unsuc-cessful in bagging the birds. Thepheasant I found has been spend-ing its time near a small farmwith a small number of horsesand cattle. This rooster is approx-imately six miles from the neareststocking site and over the monthhas just expanded his travels untilhe found a suitable winteringlocation. In the plains states andthe Dakotas the birds live in andaround crop fields during thesummer months, but later in thesummer when the crops are har-vested it restricts many of thebirds to what thick cover remains.Shelterbelts of trees, cattailswamps and thickets restrict thebird’s movements since the cornstubble is buried under snowmost of the winter. There areprograms like the ConservationReserve program and other fed-

eral programs that encouragefarmers to put part of their landholdings into good pheasantcover and forage plants.

The national stronghold for theRingneck is the Upper Midwestand Northern Plains states. NewEngland upland bird hunters areno slouches when it comes to pas-sion for the pheasant and pheas-ant hunting. One important thingto remember is to wear somepiece of hunter orange clothingto help other hunters see you.Pheasant hunting is high on thelist of hunting activities thatresult in hunter injuries. In myexperience, many waterfowlhunters go out early for ducksand geese and then stop by the

pheasant fields for a hunt afterthe waterfowl stop moving. Mostof the water fowlers wear full

camouflage outfits and it can bevery difficult to spot them and becertain they will not be in the lineof shotgun pellet drop after a shotis taken at a flying pheasant. Bothroosters and hens are fair game inNew Hampshire and lead shot-gun ammunition can still be used.Out west the rule is roosters onlyand lead shot is banned since thepheasants can be found in habitatshared with waterfowl. Waterfowlcan only be taken with non-leadshot. Pheasants are stunning birdsand the head feathers appear tochange color from green to blue

to black as the bird turns its head.Pheasants will come to bird feed-ers if they locate one in their win-ter travels, but even though theyare stocked birds they adapt tothe wild very quickly as soon asthe hunters come onto the scene.Finding one in the open this latein the winter is a rare treat. It’sjust another one of nature’s littlesurprises.

Page 34 March 2012 The Outdoor Gazette

Birding with BriereBirding with BriereBy Alan BriereBy Alan Briere

The Ring-Necked Pheasant

Alan Briere is an award winning photog-rapher and outdoor writer and the out-door photography instructor for the NHBecoming an Outdoors Woman program.Alan lives in Acworth, NH with fourlovely ladies: his wife, Cheryl, and theirBrittanys, Gypsy, Penny and Millie. Hisemail is [email protected].

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from previous page

how I am feeling this month.I am thankful for all the readers

that continue to buy the gazetteand the writers that make thispublication so unique. I am thank-ful for my health so I can enjoy theoutdoors with my family andfriends and then share it with all ofyou…

Look around I’m sure you havelots to be thankful for too, andkeep those that aren’t as lucky asus in your thoughts.… and Alan

don’t forget you still owe me thatbeer.

Fred Allard lives in Haverhill, NHwith his family. He is a BowhunterEducation Instructor, a scorer for theNortheast Big Buck Club, the NewHampshire Antler and Skull TrophyClub and the Vermont Big GameTrophy Club. He is the President of theMontshire Traditional Bowhunters.Fred can be reached by [email protected].

CONCORD, N.H. - Hey kids!Here’s a chance to express yourcreativity, learn about wildlifeand win cash prizes. Create yourown original artwork of a NorthAmerican duck or goose andenter it in the 2012 NewHampshire Junior Duck StampArt Contest. Entries must bepostmarked by March 15, 2012.

The contest is open to NewHampshire youth from kinder-garten through grade 12. Entriesare judged on artistic merit andscientific accuracy in portrayingthe waterfowl. The competition is

open to public, private andhome-schooled New Hampshirestudents.

This year’s winners will takehome some great prizes, madepossible by a grant from the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service. The

artist selected as Best-of-Showwill receive a $500 scholarshipand the first place winners ineach age group will be awardedcash prizes of up to $75.

The New Hampshire Fish andGame Department runs thestatewide competition, which ispart of the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService’s Federal Junior DuckStamp Conservation and DesignContest. The contest serves aedual purpose, giving students achance to use their artistic talentsat the same time they learn aboutwildlife and conservation.

Don’t forget — entries must bepostmarked by March 15, 2012.Competition guidelines, includ-ing dimension requirements andan entry form, can be down-loaded from www.wildnh.com/Education/Junior_Duck_Contest.htm, or contact N.H.

Junior Duck Stamp Art ContestCoordinator Ellen Macneil at theN.H. Fish and GameDepartment, 11 Hazen Drive,Concord, NH 03301; [email protected] or call603-271-2461.

The N.H. Junior Duck StampArt Contest will award first, sec-ond, third and honorable men-tion ribbons in four groups:grades K-3; 4-6; 7-9; and 10-12.The State Best-of-Show is select-ed from among the first-placewinning designs.

The Best-of-Show NewHampshire winner advances tothe National Junior Duck StampDesign Contest, in which thethree top winners receive a cashaward and a trip to the adultFederal Duck Stamp Contest.

Winning artwork in all cate-gories will be displayed at N.HFish and Game headquarters inConcord, N.H., in April 2012.

The Federal Junior Duck StampConservation and DesignProgram is an integrated art andscience activity developed toteach environmental science andhabitat conservation. Teacherswho want to integrate these les-sons into their coursework canfind a curriculum guide for teach-ing conservation through the artsat www.fws.gov/juniorduck/EducationProgram.htm.

Reminder — Junior Duck Stamp ContestDeadline is March 15


8 Years in the Wilderness8 Years in the WildernessBy Tom RideoutBy Tom Rideout

It seems like everywhere onegoes up here in the NorthCountry, people are complainingabout this winter or, as some say,the lack of winter. I get this at thepost office, supermarket, generalstore and on the street whenmeeting neighbors and friends. Iusually just listen, nod in agree-ment and try to change the sub-ject, as I disagree with most peo-ple because I think this is a greatwinter. Granted, there isn’t muchsnow, nor have the temperaturesbeen so unbearable that one can’tgo outside and enjoy many activ-ities that depend on good weath-er conditions. To me, this hasbeen a perfect winter, and I amhoping the good weather andlack of snow continues.

Since January 1, I have beenout on the pond ice fishing prettymuch every day. Sometimes it isall day, while other times it is onlyfor a few hours. I do not have abob-house, but when it is windy

and cooler, I usually use myneighbor’s. I prefer to sit on mysnowmachine or folding chair towatch my tip-ups.

Last year there was a lot ofslush on the pond. This occurred

when we got snow. The weight ofthe snow pushed the ice down,and water seeped up through thecracks and flowed across the ice.To the untrained eye, one onlysaw snow, but run your snowmo-

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bile across it and one immediate-ly bogged down in the slush. Lastwinter, I was forever trying to getmy snowmachine unstuck.

This year is a totally differentstory. We had some slush accu-mulate along the edges of thepond, but breaking up what little

snow we had exposed it to thecold nights and it froze. Thesefrozen avenues are what I use toaccess the pond.

This is the second winter thatthe pond has been legally open toice fishermen. I am trying tolearn the pond and how best tofish it during the winter. I spendtime sharing the pond with someneighbors, but even then it is onlya couple who try to learn thepond. I find that day after day Ihave the pond all to myself, orshould I say I am the only person.

Though the fishing has beenexcellent for most of the winter, Ido experience times when theaction slows down and it may befifteen or twenty minutes betweenflags. During these slow times, Ijust enjoy the scenery and lookaround me.

No matter where one goes onthe pond, all one sees is moun-tains. The pond is settled in abowl surrounded by AziscoosMountain to the north, MountDustan to the west, SturtevantMountain to the south andElephant Mount in the distanceto the east.

The mountainsides and ridges,that are visible from the pond, arescarred by the logging that is soprevalent around here. Everyyear, more and more clear-cutsare visible, as are new loggingrights-of-way and skidder trails.But overall the hills around thepond remain relatively woodedand pleasing to the eye.

It is the pond and its shoreline

that I usually focus my attentionon. The few camps that are onthe pond are all located in thesouthwest corner and remain hid-den. That is not to say one does-n’t see any camps, as there arealmost always one or two visible.But for the most part, the pond isundeveloped and largely pristine.

I have watched deer feed in thewoods along the pond’s shorelineas well as moose. On the northshore, I have seen rabbits pop-ping out here and there to lookacross the pond from the densethickets. Usually when they seeme, they scamper back to thesafety of the thick underbrush.

A week or so ago, I was out fish-ing when one of my neighborsstopped by to see how I wasdoing. He usually fished, but onthis one day he decided he need-ed to finish some chores aroundhis house.

He finished his chores shortlyafter lunch and decided to take aride on his snow machine. As wewere sitting there talking, I spot-ted a coyote making its wayacross the pond off to the east.Pointing to the brown objectcrossing the ice, I said that heshould try to run it down.

I have an old Artic Cat Jag 340,which isn’t a fast snowmachine,but my neighbor’s machine is a700.

I have befriended an immaturebald eagle while out fishing. Itstarted showing up about threeweeks ago. My neighbor thoughtit was a golden eagle, and when Ifirst saw it, I wasn’t sure. It wasn’tuntil I got a real good close lookat it that I was able to tell it was ayoung bald eagle.

For the last few days, this birdhas been sitting in a tree on theshore of the pond just up thepond from my house. When itsees me, it follows me across thepond to where I set up my tip-ups. Sometimes it finds a nearbytree in which to perch; othertimes it perches on a big rockwithin sight of me.

When I catch a yellow perch orpickerel, I toss it towards the wait-ing bird. It immediately swoopsdown and starts tearing away atthe fish. I enjoy watching it as iteats and enjoy its company.

It has gotten so used to me thatit has been getting as close as 20

Continued on page 7

Omar, waiting for a shore lunch Photo- Tom Rideout


from previous page

feet. It has picked up a habit ofselecting one of my tip-ups andsitting nearby and watching it asif waiting for it to fly up. On sev-eral occasions, the tip-up haspopped, causing the eagle tojump back, but it never flies away.It will hopped off a few feet andwait for me to walk over and pullthe fish in.

Yesterday this happened, and Icaught a fairly large pickerel,which I immediately threwtowards the bird. I walked back tomy snowmachine and sat downand watched as the eagle tore atthe still-flopping fish.

I couldn’t help but wonder ifthe eagle was really aware of howthe tip-ups work. It was then thatI realized that it was a Disneymoment and I was reading toomuch into what was going on.

It isn’t uncommon for othereagles to fly overhead, but theyare afraid of my presence andwill not come near. I watch as theyoung eagle watches the matureeagles soar overhead and againwonder if perhaps the youngsteris savoring the moment before Irealize that I have watched too

many Disney cartoons.For now I have named my fish-

ing buddy Omar. He usually eatstwo medium-sized fish a daybefore going to perch nearby,where he spends the rest of histime watching me. Yesterdaywhile it was on a perch, I watchedan unsuspecting rabbit hoparound directly beneath the bird.The eagle, I assume, prefers fishover rabbit as it never made amove to try to get the rabbit. Ieven thought to myself at onepoint, “perhaps they are friends”before I shook off the notion andmuttered….. that damn Disney! For your

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Tom Rideout is the former editor ofNH Outdoor Gazette and was theowner of Bosebuck Mountain Campson Aszicoos Lake in western Maine for17 years. He has held a Master MaineGuide’s license for more than 35 years(hence the 8 years in the wilderness) Heand his wife Martha operate SturtevantPond Camps in Magalloway, Maineand operates Pakesso Guide Service,which specializes in upland bird wingshooting . You can reach Tom [email protected]

better stay here!” It’s a sacredoath that many of the womenhave tried to break to noavail…That morning most of theguys started off going in all differ-ent directions and I picked whereI wanted to hunt.

It was a good choice becausethat is where I ended up shootingthe deer. I got to the spot I want-ed and decided to sit and wait.Along came a doe and I thoughtmaybe there was a buck followingher. I looked up and saw anotherdeer with a rack behind her andshot, it went down. I walked overand noticed it had one horn miss-ing. I was thinking maybe I shotthe other horn off but when Ipicked up the head the horn wasunderneath. One of the guysSteve heard the shot and came tosee what I had shot and to help.He started to gut out the deer andwhile I was spreading the legs, hewas looking for his male organsbut they weren’t there.

That’s when we saw it was afemale with a rack. We heardanother shot in the distance, itwas my grandson Tom. He shotan 8-point buck which is the onewe think who was following thesetwo does. He said there was a doe

running in front of the buck heshot. We tagged it and starteddragging it and the other hornfell off. After we got it back tocamp we brought it to be checkedin and registered.

It weighed in at 213 lbs and hada 9 point rack. We talked to abear guide and he told us weshould go to the hatchery and seeif they wanted to see it. Theycalled the game warden and Italked to him on the phone. Hesaid the state no longer keeps

records of them but I was told toregister it in the 200 club. We hadheard the record was 198 lbs...The deer has been one of thebest eating deer we have had sofar…the butcher said she had alot of fat on her.

My name is Norm Bachand, Ilive in Holland, MA. . I’ll be 74years old in May. In 1959 some ofour relatives got together andpurchased some land inDorchester, NH to hunt on. Sincethat time we’ve built a huntingcabin and our families havegrown until we now haveGrandfathers, fathers, sons,Uncles and nephews all spendingtime there.

I have a son, two son-in-lawsand 5 grandsons and we all enjoyour time at the camp especiallyduring hunting season. Thefamous expressions they aretaught at an early age is “what

you see here, what you hear here,

Heaviest Antlered Doe ever taken in New Hampshire

stage of the migration, therewere more bachelor groups ofbulls than cows and calves.

Dawna was the first to shootcapitalizing on a good bullthat just kept coming, beggingfor a bullet. Within the next

hour Stan took two from agroup of bulls skirting just offto the side of their vantagepoint.

Even as they butchered thethree animals and hauledhindquarters and horns to theboat, caribou continued tocross the tundra and swim thebay behind them. By latemorning they resumed theirperch, Stuart still hoping toadd an archery kill to theirfirst day harvest. Then at 1:30he nudged Steward to glasswhat appeared to be a betterthan average bull topping thecrest of their plateau a miledistant. The guide acknowl-edged that this was indeed ashooter if it kept its courseand came within range of areasonable shot. Stu, archerypro shop manager at R&LArchery in Barre, Vermonthas bow hunted for thirty

some years taking elk, wildboar and numerous whitetails.His shooting ability is auto-matic and he gets to hunt withthe best equipment. He wasglad he had his rangefinder asit was essential for determin-ing distances in such a foreignlandscape.

As the big bull approached,the attributes of its antlersbecame more apparent. At 40yards Stu was tempted to drawyet hesitated, as the animalnonchalantly continued toclose the distance. Then,almost as if by design, the bullraised his head and stepped tothe left presenting a broadsideprofile at 25 yards. The arrowwhispered across the rest hold-ing true into the wind andslammed the bull behind theshoulder. He bolted thirtyyards and tumbled into thewet ground. He was down.

In all they had seen 400 hun-dred or more animals thatmorning. some passing within10 yards of their rock, Thetundra does not always pres-ent such opportunities partic-ularly for the die-hard archer.In fact, the group returned tothis same spot the very nextmorning and saw only onesmall bull cross the area thatjust the day before had beenlittered with migrating cari-bou.

By week’s end all three hadtagged out on two animalseach but it is Stu’s memory ofthat first day of their hunt thatwill one day bring him back tothe tundra bow in hand.


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Traveling OutdoorsmanTraveling OutdoorsmanBy Glenn DunningBy Glenn Dunning

Glenn Dunning lives in Brookfield,Vermont and owns TUNDRATOURConsultants, a travel agency specializ-ing in North American hunting andfishing adventures. He is also a memberof the New England Outdoor WritersAssoc. Glenn can be reached by phone at802-276-3317 or via his web site at:www.tundratour.com

It had been a long year sincehusband & wife hunting part-ners, Stuart and DawnaMaclaren, had booked theirfirst-ever caribou hunt.Dawna’s dad Stan decided tojoin them and filled out the1x3 guide arrangement.

The outfit they had chosenwas based 1,000 miles north ofMontreal on Quebec’s arctictundra and now on the firstday of their hunt theywatched from the back oftheir boat as Snow Camp, theisolated outpost that was theirhome for the week, faded fromview behind them. It wasAugust in the arctic, the tem-perature was in the 30’s and a50 to 60 mph wind peltedtheir faces with rain.

Their guide, Steward,expertly banked the boatagainst the wind and cut theengine, maneuvering the shal-lows as they rounded a finalpoint before putting intoshore. Any misgivings aboutthe weather evaporated as sev-eral caribou retreated fromthe water’s edge as theyapproached. Steward hadscouted this area in advance ofthe hunt and noted the worn,wide paths leading to multiplewater crossings around thislagoon.

Caribou, during the annualfall migration are constantlyon the move covering 20 ormore miles a day. They areexpert swimmers and seem tobe drawn to water crossings.This area of the tundra westof Ungava Bay constitutes themain travel corridor of theLeaf River herd which num-bers in excess of 400,000 ani-mals. Veterans of a tundrahunt know they can be thick asflies or impossibly scarce asthey cross through an arearoughly the size of NewEngland. The Maclarens

would witness this feast orfamine contrast and Stu’sdetermination to take a quali-ty bull with his bow signifi-cantly increased the challenge.

The guide had selected aslightly elevated piece of

ground just 25 yards from thewater’s edge. With suchinclement weather conditionsthey sought refuge behind aboulder.

The rock, large enough toshield all four of them, offeredrelative comfort and a clearview of the barren wind swepttundra directly in front ofthem. They settled backagainst the rock’s cold surfacesimultaneously detecting themovement of multiple groupsof animals in several direc-tions.

They sat frozen in excite-ment as the minutes passedwhile far out on the tundra’sred-brown moonscape moreand more caribou appeared.They were losing count asupwards of 100 animalsmeandered toward the watercrossing directly behind them.As is not unusual during this

Adventure in the Arctic, Hunting Caribou With A Bow

R&L’s Stuart Maclaren with his bow killed barren ground caribou from arcticQuebec.


and we're surprised!Native American stories about

Coyote are always good readingand his presence was intertwinedin their life and death too.

One spoke of the chiefs of thegreat nations having a meetingwith god about eternal life. The

man and the deer nations want-ed to live in their bodies here onearth forever. The great spirithad made a lodge to take onlyone nation to worldly eternityand they must decide who itwould be. Coyote in his wisdom

said no one should stay foreverand the argument went on fordays. Finally , completely frus-trated coyote ran into the lodgeand locked the door. A greatwind blew him away and to thisday he trots slinking along look-ing over his shoulder, hated,scrapping by on anything, any-where. Always resurfacing in newways and forms, able to handlethe new or the old, existingbeyond control, time or touchier.

A cunning,quick,tricking, scav-enger, with undeniable tenacitythat will inherit the world com-pletely after our departure, stillwild in every way.Take him orleave him...Coyote....Good orBad? I think...Both! He Just Is.Yeah!! I'm a little jealous. Onething is for certain, if we reallylooked into the mirror,we mightsee him in all of us.

Song dog, Scavenger, Trickster,Little Wolf, Coy dog, MedicineWolf, Hybrid, among manymore, are all part of the truthand the legend that is the coyote.The animal itself is interestingenough but our relationship withit, to me, is more interesting. Inadvertising you use key wordsand ask yourself is that wordgood or bad. Coyote... good orbad?

Bad is what I hear most frompeople. "They eat "OUR"game!" "Their everywhere andthere's millions!" "The pack nearme howls right out in the yard!"(A howling,TEXT message!) Welove legends and such things wecan't control this animal fits thespot perfectly. Part of our humanancestral past was, and still seemsto be, to "control nature", goodor bad? Stop the water (DAM)good or bad?, kill the competi-tion (WAR) good or bad?, Tamethe wild(farmer) good or bad?

Their prowess as hunters seemsto be envied. Wolves, it has beenargued, are the only ones whocan control them, yet we talkfondly of their tenacity on natureshows. Why do we build them upso? The word "bait", good orbad?

We place out free food to bringthem to a shootable location,blast away and with guilt, askaround after it's dead, if anyonewants the hide of our exploded,blotted specimen that mustweigh at least 50 pounds. Feedthem with dead cow and fume ifthey walk through the pasture.We curse as it runs through the

housing development because wedon't have our gun and therewasn't time to drop my blade! Weraise dogs to chase and harassthem, but shoot the neighbor'sdog for chasing deer. (Trail cam-

era)good or bad? We take pic-tures of them to prove they eatfawns and use them to fuelother's negative feelings and raisethe roof at a deer managementmeeting.

Our turkey hunt interruptergets a wounding barrage of bird-shot at 65 yards and at the con-venient store his name is bashedand our actions justified." No bigdeal, there's millions." (Fur) Wetalk of their beauty and colors,the size of the teeth. The speedand the distance they travel. Theincredible smelling and hearingabilities.

How much they look like man'sbest friend, the dog. The cunningand brains to not repeat mis-takes. We shot,poisoned, trappedand ran over them long enoughthat only the craftiest of individ-uals remain to raise crafty pupsthat won't come to the call theysniffed out and eluded last time

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Now that all the guns are cleanand put away it’s time to startthinking about fishing. And at thisend of the state, the number onefish on everyone’s mind is trout.In Massachusetts they stock overa half million trout throughoutthe state with over one hundredthousand of these beauties end-ing up here in the western dis-trict.

According to Andrew Maddenthe fisheries manager for thewestern district over half of thesetrout are in the 12”-14” rangewith some of these weighingmore than one and a halfpounds. Most of these fish arerainbows with some browns,brookies and even some, (about1000), tiger trout mixed in. Atiger trout is a cross between afemale brown and a male brooktrout.

The next biggest group of fish isin the 9”-12” range followed bythe 6 “-9” classes. Every year thestate throws in some “specialty”fish. These fish are 18” and overand are very fat. Some of thesefish even break the 20” mark andweigh more than four pounds.

Occasionally they stock a cou-ple of salmon too. One wascaught last year in Windsor Pondthat tipped the scales at 15pounds. Sometimes these fish arecaught through the ice as well.

There are three hatcheries thatsupply the trout for the westerndistrict. They are in Belchertown,Sunderland, and Montague. Ofthe three, the MclaughlinHatchery in Belchertown is thebiggest and when it comes togrowing fish, size does matter.According to the fisheries manag-er, the 12”-14” trout that comeout of this hatchery are 1 1/2years old, whereas in the othertwo hatcheries this same size trouttakes 2 1/2 years to grow this size.

All trout are fed the same feed,the same number of times perday. The fish in the MclaughlinHatchery have a bigger holdingpond to grow faster. So I guessthe adage “bigger water, biggerfish” is true even at the hatcherylevel.

The fishing regulations havechanged significantly over thepast 30 years with the two mostprominent changes being the

stopping of the traditional open-ing day and the drastic change increel limits.

Years ago opening day of troutfishing was always the second

Saturday in April, to coincidewith school vacation week. Now,fishing season is open year roundin this state, and only the creellimits change from September10th to April 1st, on all but themajor rivers and ponds.

Typically most people don’t fishyear round though. I can’tremember the last time I sawsomeone fishing or even talkingabout fishing after Oct. 1st. Oncein a great while you’ll see some-one out there on a beautiful win-ter day. After April 1st the creellimit increases from three to eighttrout on all the smaller rivers andponds. On the major rivers andlakes, as defined by the“abstracts“, the limit is three fishyear round.

When I first started fishing fortyplus years ago the limit on troutwas twelve fish a day, any size.Over the years the state hasadjusted this from the originaltwelve, to six of the twelve have tobe less than ten inches. Then thelimit went to six fish per day anysize, then to three fish any size tothe present creel limits.

The state has changed its phi-losophy on creel limits from an“inches based”, to a “poundagebased” system. And it really is forthe better. The state calls it “max-imizing the sportsman’s dollars”.After one has filled his/her limit,you can still fish and practicecatch and release. There is more

fun in catching fish than keepingthem anyway.

Now three trout may not soundlike a lot of fish but when you’recatching three 14”, (or better),trout that weigh 1 1/2 pounds apiece, that’s almost five pounds of

trout. After you catch your threetrout in a major river or lake,you’re still legal to catch five more

trout from a smaller brook orpond. Some of these trout arealso in the 12”-14” range.

It’s not like the state puts onlythe big fish in the biggest waters.Yes, the biggest waters get almostall large fish, but the smallerrivers and ponds get at least 30%of their fish in the 12”-14” rangeas well. If you’re lucky and fish ina smaller river you can catcheight 14” trout in a day. That’salmost ten pounds of trout.

These trout are stocked on aweekly basis from April 1, to atleast Memorial Day. There arealso some fall stockings too. Themajor rivers and lakes get stockedtwice weekly, while the smallerbodies of water get stocked justonce a week.

Next month I’ll discuss where togo, and what to use to catch thesetrout in the western district.

Trout fishing in the Bay State

David Willette is a free-lance outdoorwriter who lives in WesternMassachusetts. He can be contactedthrough www.coyotewars.com

Mass MeanderingsMass MeanderingsBy David WilletteBy David Willette


Scattered across America thereare numerous small towns thatare famous as destinations for flyfisherman. These are townswhere no one looks twice at youwhen you walk into the supermarket wearing your waders.Cars parked on the streets aremost likely to sport a TU decal ormaybe a license plate the readsFLYCAST or MAYFLY. Mostlikely the town will have morethan one fly shop and one ormore may be owned by a famousfly fishing celebrity. Most impor-tant there will be a couple of wellknown trout streams near by.

Perhaps the most famous fishingtown in America is Roscoe, NewYork. The town even calls itself“Trout Town USA”. Roscoe laysclaim to being the birth place ofAmerican dry fly fishing.Theodore Gordon fished thelocal streams and created theCatskill style dry fly; the GordonQuill or Quill Gordon as the pro-

totype. Many notable fly fisher-man followed in Gordon’s footsteps; Rube Cross, A. E.

Hendrickson, the Dette familyand Elise and Harry Darbee toname but a few.

The rivers that flow in the vicin-ity of Roscoe are legendary. TheBeaverkill River, WillowemocCreek and the East and WestBranch of the Delaware Riverare as popular fishing destinations

today as they were in the time ofGordon.

Roscoe has several fly shops;however the most famous andhistoric would be Dette Trout

Flies and Kuttner’s. Both of theseshops have linage to the historicpast of the area.

Far be from me to take the titleof “Trout Town USA” fromRoscoe; however it is safe to saythat the western part of the coun-try has some very famous fishingtowns. Jackson, Hole, Wyomingcomes to mind almost immedi-ately. Jackson is probably bestknown for being the southerngateway to Teton andYellowstone National Parks.

The Snake River is the largestriver in the Jackson area andprobably gets the most attentionby visiting anglers. Other near byrivers include: the Gros Ventre,Hoback and, my favorite, FlatCreek. Jack Dennis’s OutdoorShop is the best know fly shop intown, but there is plenty of com-petition from the likes of HighCountry Flies, Snake RiverOutfitters and the Orvis Shop.

West Yellowstone, Montana,

located near the northwest gate ofYellowstone Park is another con-tender for the best known “TroutTown” in America. Local flyshops include: Craig Mathews’Blue Ribbon Flies, Bud Lilly’sTrout Shop, Jacklin’s Fly Shop,Arrick’s Fly Shop and Eagle’stackle Shop. The Madison Riveris the major local river, but thanthere is “The Park” and all of therivers within its boarders and,who could forget, the near byHenry’s Fork.

There are dozens of notableFish Towns in the west, far toomany to name but a samplingwould include: Missoula, Craigand Bozeman Montana,Glenwood, Steamboat Springsand Breckenridge Colorado andSun Valley and Last Chance inIdaho.

There are many other statesthat offer great fishing and withnotable trout towns of there own.Which leads to the question, arethere any trout towns in NewEngland?

The state of Maine has severalwonderful fish towns. Greenvilleis a premier destination foranglers from all over the world.The town sets on the shore ofMoosehead Lake; the largest lakein New England. The town hastraditionally been the jumping offpoint for anglers heading intoMaine’s northern woods. Near byrivers include the East and WestOutlets of the Kennebec River,the Moose River and the RoachRiver. In addition to the riversthere are forty trout ponds withina half hours drive from town. Asfor fly shops there are none better

Riverbank TalesRiverbank Talesby Bill Thompsonby Bill Thompson

Continued next page

Trout town USA

2888 White Mountain HighwayNorth Conway, New Hampshirewww.northcountryangler.comPhone: 603-356-6000

The North Country Angler has been in the “Valley”for over thirty years. We are a full service fly shopoffering quality fly fishing gear and guiding.

Bill andJanet’s10 Year

Anniversaryas owners

Bill andJanet’s10 Year

Anniversaryas owners

107 Summer StreetLancaster, NH 03584603-788-4577

A family owned and operated business since 1983

We sell a wide variety of itemsfrom Tractors to Excavators aswell as quality used machines.We also do maintenance work on everything we sell!

Hours of Operation:Monday-Friday 8am-5pmSaturday 8am-12pm

0%up to 60months


Quality Eyewear

Richard TremaineOptician

603-752-3382

148 Main Street • Berlin, NH 03570Locally owned and operated

M-F 9-5• Fri 9-6Sat. am by appt.

from previous page

than the Maine Guide Fly Shop;a must visit when in town.

Grand Lake Stream is anotherfamous Maine trout townalthough it may be better knownfor its salmon and small mouthbass fishing than trout. GrandLake is famous for the “GrandLaker” canoe and the guides whouse them. The very first streamerfly may have been invented here.The fly known as the Rooster’sRegret tied by Alonzo Bacon, alocal guide, is often credited withthe honor of tying the firststreamer. There are numerouslodges and cabins in the area,however Weatherby’s is no doubtthe most well known. TedWilliams, who often fished GrandLake Stream, always stayed atWeatherby’s. Grand Lake Streamis not heavily populated and thereis only one place that I know of tobuy flies. The Pine Tree Store is alandmark in Maine and hasalways carried a selection oflocally tied flies.

Rangeley Maine is equally wellknown as a fishing destination ofworld class renown. The area isoften referred to as “The Land ofLegends” and with good reason.The story of Carrie Stevens andthe Gray Ghost fly is perhaps themost endearing story ever tocome out of Maine; well at leastto fly fishermen. The rivers are

storied in the annuals of fishingliterature. The Kennebago,Magalloway, Rapid andCupsuptic are music to a fly fish-erman’s ear. The RangeleyRegion Sport Shop is the bestknown fly shop in the area andhas been in town since 1945.

When it comes to NewHampshire one town stands outabove all others and that wouldbe Pittsburg. Located in thenorthern tier of the state, betterknown as the Connecticut LakesRegion, Pittsburg has a lot tooffer visiting anglers. TheConnecticut River offers somegreat fishing for trout and land-locked salmon and than there arethe Connecticut Lakes them-selves. Indian Stream and PerryStream are also pretty good troutstreams as well. There are severalwell know fishing and huntinglodges in the area. Two of myfavorites are Lopstick Lodge andTall Timber. I have stayed at bothof these lodges and highly recom-mend both. These two fine estab-lishments offer quality lodgingand Tall Timber offers fine din-ing as well. Both lodges haveexcellent guide services and havesmall tackle shops on site. Whenit comes to local flies Young’sStore is hard to beat. Young’sdoes have a large selection of spintackle also. Young’s is also the

only grocery store in the area,and they won’t mind if you comein wearing your waders.

Errol might also qualify as afishing town of note, although itis rather small. Errol does havethe Androscoggin River and isquite close to Rangeley. Youcould also factor in L. L. Cote asthe largest hunting and fishingretailer in northern NewHampshire. The town does havea certain charm and I have neverbeen thrown out of any place forwearing waders.

There is one other town in NewHampshire that could be consid-ered a fishing town. I would liketo make the case for my townNorth Conway. North Conwaywas just selected as one of thebest ski towns in America. Greatski towns are very often great fish-ing towns. Jackson, Wyoming,Sun Valley, Idaho, SteamboatSpring, Breckenridge, Coloradoare all great ski destinations.Mountains make for great ski hillsas well as great trout streams.

North Conway does have its fairshare of trout water; the Sacoand the Ellis to name a couple.And in addition there are dozensof small trout streams to boot.There are hundreds of hotels andcampgrounds that cater to out-doorsmen. I hesitate to mentionit, but there is at least one decentfly shop in town. I say this in allmodesty, of course. I am not surehow the other shops in town feelabout waders, but you are morethan welcome in our establish-ment dressed for the stream.

Originally from Maine, BillThompson, with his wife Janet, lives inFreedom and owns North CountryAngler fly shop in North Conway. Hehas been fly fishing for more than 30years and is a licensed NH FishingGuide. He has fished all over NewEngland, in Canada and out West, butclaims the Saco as his “home river.” Healso writes a column for a local paperas well as articles in national fly fishingmagazines. Bill’s email is [email protected].

The waters of Vermont continueto prove just how productive they canbe for the trophy angler. In 2011,three new state records were estab-lished for burbot, pumpkinseed sun-fish and white sucker.

In February 2011, PatrickWoodward caught the first staterecord fish of the year, a 5.63-poundBurbot from Lake Champlain.

In April, Brian Cadoret caught a5.32-pound white sucker, only tohave that record broken days later byDrew Price, who caught and entereda 6.34-pound fish. Both fish werecaught from the same location – asmall brook flowing into LakeDunmore.

A similar situation occurred later inthe summer of 2011, when thepumpkinseed sunfish record was bro-

ken twice in a short period. InAugust, Sylvia Beaudoin entered a1.01-pound pumpkinseed, bestingthe previous record of 0.98-poundsset in 2010. However, Sylvia’s recordlasted only a week, until Michael Peetcaught a pumpkinseed weighing in at1.02-pounds. Both sunfish werecaught in Lake Champlain.

These are just the latest records tobe set in a decade marked by recordbreaking fish catches in Vermont. Ofthe 33 fish species eligible for staterecord consideration, 15 recordshave been set since 2001, with five ofthem coming since 2010. No otherstate in the region can boast thismany new state record fish over thesame time period.

Many other large fish were caughtthat didn’t break previous records.

“The new Master Angler Programwe started in 2010 has really been ashowcase for the phenomenal fishingwe have all across the state,” saiddepartment fisheries biologist ShawnGood. “There really are some excep-tional fish being caught by anglers allover Vermont.”

Good pointed to a Master Anglerentry from 2011 for a yellow perchexceeding the 2-pound mark as evi-dence. “This is the first time in over30 years that the catch of yellowperch over 2 pounds has been offi-cially recorded by the department.”The fish, weighing 2.08-pounds wascaught through the ice on CaspianLake by Dylan Smith in February2011.

The forecast for 2012 looks just aspromising – a new potential state

record burbot was caught in LakeChamplain just last week, weighingin at 8.81-pounds, more than threepounds heavier than the record bur-bot submitted a year ago. The newrecord will not be officially recog-nized until the appropriate paper-work has been filed by the angler andreviewed by department officials.

These new state records are a testa-ment to the great quality and diversi-ty of fishing opportunities available toanglers in Vermont, so get out thereand fish with your family and friends.You never know…you could set thenext state record!

For more information onVermont’s state record fish or todownload a record fish entry form,visit www.vtfishandwildlife.com/Fishing_frmRecords.cfm.

Three New State Record Fish Caught in 2011

what they’re shooting at. This pastsummer I had the group try to hitexploding targets from a distanceof 100 yards. The guys must haveexpended something like 500rounds without a single hit. I hadtwo girls in my group, both veryinexperienced shooters. Each onewas able to hit their target within 2or 3 shots; in fact one of the girlsnailed hers on the first shot. Theguys all had this sort of “Huh?”look on their faces.

One of my wife’s friends hasalways been notoriously anti-gun.“Why do you need those things?”was one of her favorite questions.Recently she asked me if she couldtry shooting some of my handguns.She’s now the proud owner of anew Sig pistol, has taken handgunshooting classes, and practices reg-ularly at her local range. More andmore women seem to be slowlyaccepting the fact that a gun can bea very effective means of protect-ing one’s self and family fromharm.

There has been a steady increasein the sale of firearms, and espe-cially handguns, to women. Thereare now even magazines that arededicated entirely to women andguns. This has not gone unnoticedin the gun industry, and manufac-turers are constantly trying tocome up with new ways to attractwomen to their product lines. Forseveral years now, Smith & Wessonhas offered a line of “Ladysmith”handguns. Other gun makers areproducing smaller and lighterguns, as well as a more recentinflux of pink guns, to try to grab apiece of this growing market. Yes,there really are now pink guns onthe market. There are little singleshot pink rifles for young girls, shot-guns in just darling pink camou-flage patterns, and a slew of pistolsand revolvers that are pink enoughto turn a grown man green. Ifnothing else, this splash of pinkscertainly makes most gun shopsmore colorful. Given the latest

craze with Zombie targets andZombie ammunition, can pinkZombies be far behind?

I see a lot of women who arelooking for their first gun. Toooften, the first advice I have to giveis to ask them to forget all theadvice they’ve already gotten fromtheir resident “gun experts.”Sometimes they’ve been told thatnothing less than a .44 Magnumwill do, or that they need thebiggest and highest capacity semi-automatic pistol they can fit in theirhands. They ask to see guns thatare totally inappropriate for them;guns that they would never be ableto even load, let alone shoot.

Since the majority of new,women shooters want a semi-auto-matic, that’s what I’ll first let themhandle. My opening question isalways the same; “Can you pull theslide back?” You must be able to“rack” the slide back in order toload the first round into the gun’schamber. If you can’t rack theslide, you can’t chamber the firstround.

If you can’t chamber that firstround, you have nothing but a veryexpensive paperweight. In all mymany years of selling guns, I havefound that only a very small per-centage of women have enoughwrist strength to comfortably oper-ate the slide of any semi-automaticpistol. The exception to this wouldbe .22’s, but most buyers lookingfor a self-defense handgun arelooking for something bigger. A .22handgun can, in fact, be an effec-tive self defense weapon, but itrequires skilled shot placement.There also lots of really small .380pistols on the market right now andmany women find these appealing.The problem here is that becauseof their small size, these little gunscan be very difficult to hold andshoot. Their little slides have limit-ed grasping area, and can bealmost impossible for some womento use. Also, given their small sizeand light weight, these tiny .380’scan produce surprisingly heavy


Lock, Stock and Smoking BarrelLock, Stock and Smoking BarrelBy Stan HolzBy Stan Holz

Northern New Hampshire’s Guns-Only Gun Shop

Northern New Hampshire’sGuns-Only Gun Shop

4 King's Square, Whitefield, NH 03598

Phone 603-837-2345Visit our webiste www.villagegun.com

The Village Gun Store is an "old fashioned" gun shopproviding personalized serv-ice, great prices, and a wealthof gun expertise. We arelocated on the common" inthe Northern New HampshireVillage of Whitefield.

Hours of operation: Tuesday to Saturday - 10am to 5pmFriday - 10am to 6:30pmStan & Sandy

Continued next page

That’s one of my favoritebumper stockers: “You can’t beat awoman who shoots.” On the onehand, it salutes women who partic-ipate in the shooting sports; but onthe other hand, it shows howfirearms ownership can protectwomen from abuse.

Women have always played a rolein shooting. Just look at the historyof Annie Oakley, and you’ll seehow important a role women canplay in exhibition and competitionshooting. Women have competedin Olympic shooting events andhave been involved in hunting,skeet and trap shooting, and col-lecting for almost as long as therehave been guns. One of the “deepdark secrets” in the gun world is thefact that many women can out-shoot most men. I don’t know howmany times I’ve heard, “I took herout to shoot for the first time andshe outshot me.”

Many women do tend to be nat-ural shots, and take to shooting

almost instinctively. Every summerI take a group of folks from ourlocal repertory theater, the

Weathervane Theatre, out for aday of shooting. The group is amix of young men and womenwho typically have little or noshooting experience. Although it’sthe guys who always step up andmake the most noise, it’s almostalways the girls who actually hit

You Can’t beat a woman who shoots

Suzette Stevens of Springfield,Vermont.... taking aim


A Waterfowler's PerspectiveA Waterfowler's PerspectiveBy Brian BouchardBy Brian Bouchard

recoil.Invariably, I wind up moving my

women customers over to therevolver section and show themsmall .38 Special revolvers. Most ofthese guns are very light, havesmall grips that women can useeasily, and are simple to operate. Ifyou can squeeze the trigger, youcan shoot one of these guns. The.38 Special is certainly an adequateshort range defense cartridge, andrecoil is usually manageable. Themajority of my women clientele,who are looking for self-defensehandguns, do wind up gettingsome sort of small revolver … andmost do very well with them. Andno, most of these guns are notpink.

Let me give my male readers aword of warning here. If youdecide to teach your significantother how to shoot, do not be sur-prised if the love of your life cleansyour clock out on the range.Women seem to approach shoot-ing with few preconceptions andnone of the ego pressure that manymale shooters seem to endure.They just don’t seem to care ifthey’re the best shot on their block,and that means they shoot relaxed.No pressure no cares. Even mydear wife Sandy, who claims to be

the worst shot in the modernworld, has … on very rare occa-sions when I wasn’t feeling well orwas otherwise distracted … out-shot me. I remember one timewhen I was trying out an old Colt44/40 single action revolver. Thegun was made in 1902 and was stillin good shooting condition, but Iwas having an awful time keepingit on the target at 50 feet. Sandyasked if she could shoot it. Sure,why not? She proceeded to placeall six shots right in the middle ofthe paper. So here was this woman,admittedly the worst shot in themodern world, making me lookbad with my own gun. She wassuch a good wife; I’ll really missher.

Just remember, for better orworse, “You can’t beat a womanwho shoots!” And that just aboutsums it all up.

Stan Holz lives in Whitefield, NHand, with his wife Sandy, has ownedand operated Village Gun Store theresince 1974. He invites everyone to stopand visit. Aside from his interest infirearms and shooting, Stan is alsoinvolved in amateur astronomy, photo-graphy, ham radio and scuba diving. Hecan be contacted by emailing him [email protected].

Sometimes you make a hastydecision that hind sight proves tobe a foolish one. This duck seasonwas filled with more good deci-sions than bad ones. In my travelsfor my day job I met a farmerthat owns several farms. Thishappens quite often.

After some conversation aboutthe farms locations and thepotential that these farms mighthold waterfowl the farmer men-tioned one in particular that wasknown to be frequented by ducksand geese. I discovered that hewas interested in leasing the hunt-ing rights to the farm.

In my usual haste I said I wouldlease it and agreed to the price.After pulling together the paper-work and sending off the check amajority of folks I talked toseemed to think I was a bit crazy.The fact that it was May, and Ihad not hunted or scouted thefarm, I too was a bit concernedabout my quick decision.

A few months later I decided to

take my dogs for a walk on theproperty. Less than 20 minutesinto our trek I saw what appearedto be several 100 Canada Geeseworking the field. I was starting toget the feeling that my hasty deci-sion was a good one. As I pre-pared to take a photo on myphone to send off to fellow hunt-ing buddies and those thatthought I was crazy ( my wife ) Iturned to notice 50 or so ducksworking the sky.

I couldn’t snap photos and sendthem via my phone fast enough.When opening day of goose sea-son hit we were ready to go.Although we didn’t pile them upas I had expected we did a num-ber on the population. We didhowever see 100?s of geese.Several more hunts proved to beas successful for the geese. I was abit disappointed that we weren’tgetting the ducks to work ourspread like I thought they would.We had fly by’s but no feet in yourface stuff.

After about the fourth hunt forgeese I stumbled into the otherfield on the farm and discoveredthe honey hole. A small puddle

that was holding 50 plus mallards& black ducks with a few woodiessprinkled in for fun. I decided togo back the next morning andwork the puddle with a huntingbuddy. A sort of two man stealthapproach. Which consisted of 18or so decoys, 2 ground blinds hid-den close in the corn. After sever-al hunts we did our best to thinout the Mallard population.

Taking our 1 black allowed eachwith the rest being Mallards.

In the end we were picking outjust the green heads. One hunt inparticular I went alone on aweekday.

A hasty decision to sneak out at6 am set up with a dozen decoystossed out into the puddle Texasrigging style. I covered theground blind with corn from pre-vious hunts. I was ready to go at615 just waiting for legal shootingto arrive at 628. At 645 they start-ed to come. By 715 I had limitedout on 4 green heads. It only took5 shots. 3 shots at the first passthat took 2 greenies. 1 shot thesecond pass that took the thirddrake.

The fifth and final shot on thethird pass I had my limit of greenheads. I waited for a black duckfor a bit but decided to pick upand get home before my day jobstarted. I will say that my hastydecision to lease the field provedthis time that haste doesn’t alwaysmake waste.

from previous page

Haste doesn’t always make waste

onto the asphalt. The driver actu-ally drove kind of fast and itmight not have been a bad idea toput our helmets on for the ride upto the lodge.

Eager to get on the slopes, we

found our way to the base of thelift. Getting both kids and all theirgear plus your own gear up highenough on the hill so you canactually start sliding downhill tosomething is quite a project. Whosays downhill skiing isn’t exercise?Pushing a 4 year old around onskis on flat and uphill terrain islike rolling a spare tire around theyard that keeps pulling away.

The lower novice trails were ingreat shape for a winter with littlesnow. Waterville boasts 100%snowmaking coverage of all 220acres of skiable terrain. It waspretty well covered but you couldtell it was thin in spots. We tookseveral sunny cruises down thelower half of the mountainbefore lunch. There were somelow slalom gates set up on onetrail, only about a foot high, andBen weaved down through them

perfectly, carving his little skis’edges into the icy turns like aminiature Bode Miller. Meganhad her new poles, and skied veryconfidently after having lessonswith the school program this win-ter. They would both make littleturns up the snow banks and lookfor the small jumps along thesides. Ben would just plain oldjump while gliding down the mid-dle of the trail.

At lunch time, we met ourfriend Jeff and his daughterAtlantis, plus his girlfriendRebecca and her daughterEmma. Introductions were madeover a table of hot chocolate,food and four more people’sworth of winter ski gear; all signsof fun.

The whole group together nowand the afternoon ahead of us,we headed to the top, 4,004 feet ifyou took a final short lift at thetop. We didn’t push our luck.Fantastic views greeted us at thetop and just about bullet proofice accompanied us on the waydown. The kids did great though,making perfect slow turns backand forth across the icy slope,known as “Oblivion” on the trailmap, in perfect control.

Ice, also known as “easternpowder” I think simply makesyou a better skier if you can han-dle it, and then you also reallyappreciate the days when themountain is endless soft, fluffyfresh snow. After a few runs to thetop and a short tour of the moun-tain, we finished off the after-noon on the lower slopes andsofter snow. Walking back to thelodge we passed the WaffleCabin, a little hut built out in


We just picked a spot on themap. We had never been therebefore, and the only thing impor-tant to us was its geographicallocation. A mid-winters reunionwith a friend from college, put offfor many years for one reason oranother, was to finally occur, andwe wanted a ski area located justabout half way between myhome in Vermont and his inMaine.

We landed in Waterville Valley,NH, a beautiful little ski areatucked up into the WhiteMountains. It took us about twoand a half hours of quality fami-ly time in the car to get there.According to the ski areas web-site, in that same amount of timeyou can drive to Providence, RI. Ilooked for and tried not to hit amoose, while my wife looked atevery house for sale and day-dreamed about buying the niceones. The kids, I admit, watcheda movie. But everyone arrived

happy, which is an important firststep for a weekend away.

We arrived in the parking lotwith a nice temperature in the

mid thirty’s and unpacked ourgear while a light snow quietly fellon the ice around us. The shuttlebus was a flatbed truck with barswelded waist high in a grid pat-tern that kept us from tumbling

Family TracksFamily TracksBy Brian LangBy Brian Lang

Warm Hearts and Cold Toes


part of Vermont’s adaptation toclimate change, given that 1)many Vermont communities arebuilt along rivers and 2) climatechange predictions call for more

intense storms and precipitationevents in Vermont over the com-ing decades. The report illustratesthe vulnerability of our river val-ley communities and naturalresources to intensive flood disas-ters, begins to count the costsassociated with that vulnerability,and poses some of the hard ques-tions our state and communitieswill need to answer in order tobuild flood resiliency.

The ANR Climate Changeteam has been working to pro-mote both mitigation of green-house gas emissions and adapta-tion to a changing climate. To seethe new report visit the ANR cli-mate change website at:www.anr.state.vt.us/anr/climate-change/irenebythenumbers.html

WAITSFIELD, VT—What canVermonters learn from TropicalStorm Irene, in order to helpmake our state stronger and bet-ter prepared for flooding in thefuture?

Vermont’s Agency of NaturalResources Climate Change Teamtoday released “Lessons fromIrene: Building Resiliency as WeRebuild,” an interdisciplinarylook at Irene’s many impacts andchallenges. Secretary of theAgency of Natural Resources,Deb Markowitz said, “Climatedata shows that Vermont is expe-riencing more extreme rainevents, and because of this wecan expect to see more frequentflooding. This is why it is soimportant for us to learn from

Irene so that our communitiescan be better prepared for futurefloods.” This new report pointsout that floo

d resiliency may be a critical

front of the main lodge and ema-nating a heavenly aroma (which Ithink is purposely shot out at noselevel for marketing purposes).The kids asked and asked, andwere promised one at the end ofthe weekend, pending goodbehavior of course.

We stayed in a hotel nearby thatnight. The forecast was for plum-meting temperatures into the sin-gle digits. When I stepped outsidein the morning to go get coffees,my nostrils froze together and myears stung in the wind as I shuf-fled across the icy parking lot. Itwould be even colder up on themountain. We lingered over a hotbreakfast, and when we got thereit was frigid and windy. The liftsserving the summit were closeddue to high wind.

Not to be deterred, we slowlyand steadily bundled up the kidsand ourselves with just abouteverything we brought to wear. Isaid “Hey Jeff, remember whenwe could just put our boots on atthe car and walk up to the lift andski?” He just raised his eyebrows

and nodded, struggling toremember when life was that sim-ple. And so, complete with newWaterville stickers on the kids’helmets, we headed out into thecold.

The bonus to the cold was thatit was much less crowded. We hadvirtually no lift lines, and ourfavorite slopes were bathed glori-ously in sunlight. The views ofthe surrounding mountains in thecold winter air were fantastic. Iwas very proud of the kids skiing,as I could now freely ski alongsidethem and enjoy watching them. Itreally made those first yearsstruggling to teach them worth it,and to now see them enjoying itfor themselves is very rewarding.Jeff proved again to be a naturalentertainer of children and led a“follow the leader” tour with thekids making snake tracks downthe slopes; playfully zig zaggingand trying to teach them to spinaround.

The tough part was the ride onthe lift. Suspended up high in theair it feels like your being blown

on by superman’s super coldbreath. The air seeps through anycrack in your armor and justmakes you numb. You try andhunch your face down into yourcoat and watch the mini torna-does of snow swirling by. We real-ly could only manage a few runsat a time before heading in towarm the gang up. Hot chocolatereally is the “save the day” elixirof cold weather activities withchildren.

Sunnyside Timber Lodge waspartway up the mountain in thearea we were skiing. We skiedright up to it, struggling to getBen to stop mid-trail and followus inside. Every run he would justtake off on his own without wait-ing. I would like to say he was justso excited and eager to go makehis kiddy-carved turns, and thathis enthusiasm overshadowed hisnormally obedient demeanor. Butby the end of the second day hewas just not listening.

Our clink-bang, click-bang ofski boots up the stairs led us to alarge open beamed log cabin

lodge, with a great stone fireplaceand seats right in front of it justfor us. I looked around at thedécor, and noticed the “antique”skis hung as decorations. Youmust be getting a least a littleolder when the decorations arethe equipment you used to useyourself, seemingly not so longago. With old friends and new, weshared the thrill and chill of theWhite Mountains in winter. Justbefore heading home, whileunbuckling and wrenching theboots off for good, the childrengot their waffles, drizzled withwarm chocolate.

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Brian Lang lives with his wife,Michelle and two children Megan andBen in Reading, VT. Brian grew up inVT and started enjoying his outdoorpursuits at a very young age. He is anavid hunter, fisherman, camper, andhiker and hopes to give his kids the samewholesome upbringing he enjoyed in theNew England outdoors. When he's notoutside, he works as an MRITechnologist. He can be reached [email protected].

from previous page

Vermont ANR Climate Change Team Looks at Lessons of Irene

Post Irene repairs continued in to the night.... photo by Jim Cobb


I visited with the owner of Hollister's Appliance in Bennington, Vermont for about an hour, man time flys when you'retalking deer hunting. I wrote his name down and took lot's of pictures of his store. The deer on the walls are veryimpressive. The owner, I can't find his first name for the life me. I bet his last name is Hollister though:)..anyway he isan amateur taxidermist as well. The mount with the shed antler was very unique and well done too. So if your in theBennington area and need appliances or want to see some bone stop in at Hollister's.


As many of you know, I spentmost of the winter teaching 6thgrade at Colebrook ElementarySchool. On February 14, themiddle-schoolers had a WinterSurvival Day as part of SpiritWeek. I know that most of thekids saw it as a fun day spent out-doors and out of “real” classes,but what we wanted them tolearn was dead serious. Thus, itwas a classic example of hands-on learning that was so much funthe kids didn’t even realize thatthey were learning anythingimportant.

We adults are every bit as guiltyas kids are of thinking that youare only truly “learning” whenyou are sufficiently miserable andeveryone is being sufficiently seri-ous about it. Like most teachers, Ihave heard parents complain thattheir kids “play” too much inschool and, therefore, can’t possi-bly be learning anything. Buthumans, like all social animals,

learn by playing, and anyone whowandered on the Colebrook play-ing fields on Valentine’s Day

would have just thought that itwas Winter Carnival.

Packs of kids on snowshoeswere racing back and forth,

throwing rubber rabbits, in amodified game of freeze tag andGiant Steps. Others were chasingeach other around in circles in across between Duck, Duck,

Goose and tag. Still others werein the woods building sheltersamong the trees, while othersbuilt fires and roasted marshmal-lows. Meanwhile, another groupwas turning their classmates intoburritos and dragging themaround the baseball diamondand another was “putting redFred in the shed” on their com-passes.

What they were really doingwas learning to use snowshoes,learning about predator/preyrelationships, learning survivaltechniques, learning how to savea friend from hypothermia, andlearning orienteering skills.

The “stations” were plannedand personned by folks from theAppalachian Mountain Club inPinkham Notch NH and theNorthWoods Stewardship Centerin East Charleston VT. They dida great job with the kids and, forthe most part, their lessons werehands-on and participatory, andavoided being “teachy andpreachy.” But even when they didtilt towards the latter end of thespectrum, just the fact that wewere outside made the kids feellike it was recess rather than“learning.”

It also, thankfully, was a perfectday weatherwise—sunny andwarm but with enough of abreeze to remind you that it wasstill winter—though we couldhave used a lot more snow forsnowshoeing, snow shelter build-

ing and rodent tunneling. It was alittle too warm for me to illus-trate, rather than just explain, toone student why leaving her mit-tens lying in the snow as she ranoff to help build a shelter was nota really good idea—though Ithink the thought of black andfalling-off fingers did leave a last-ing image.

Colebrook Elementary School’sprincipal, Mary Jolles, is an avidoutdoorswoman, and it is impor-tant to her that the kids of theNorth Country learn to appreci-ate and respect the place thatthey call home. In addition toorganizing days like this one, shealso facilitates lots of field tripsand even teaches her own unit tothe 7th grade each spring on fish,helping them raise trout hatch-lings and release them into a localstream when they are bigenough.

In my many years teaching inthe North Country, I have seenchildren’s relationships with theoutdoors change. Six years ago,when I was analyzing theNECAP (the New England stan-dardized test) results, I wasdelighted to see that, though forthe most part getting a Colebrookkid to write more than a sentencewas like pulling teeth, when thetopic was something like watch-ing a storm come across a lake,they could wax eloquent—because they knew exactly whatthat looks and feels like.

Even that recently ago, when Itaught a unit based on winter sur-vival, the kids were engaged andexcited about it, having had someclose calls themselves. (When Imentioned snow dropping off afir branch onto a fire at the fire-building “station,” the presenterimmediately made the connec-tion to Jack London’s story, “ToBuild a Fire,” which we had readas part of that unit.)

Over the years, I could alwayscount on keeping the kids’ atten-tion with stories of mountainmen and pioneer settlers in thewoods, because they could imag-ine what a life like that would belike. I shameless make referencesto guns and hunting because itkeeps many of the most intransi-gent of the boys interested andengaged.

When we read a story about aContinued next page

Lessons from the Great OutdoorsLessons from the Great OutdoorsBy Martha VanderWolk By Martha VanderWolk

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Winter Survival Training

Snowshoe race at “Colebrook Widerness Day” Photo courtesy of the ColebrookChronicle.

girl who lost a leg in a Seadooingaccident, it was easy to have along discussion about how theaccident happened based on mystudents’ knowledge of snowma-chines. (This is known as “scaf-folding” in educational jargon.)

The day after our WinterSurvival Day, we read a storyabout the Japanese tsunami andabout how some middle-school-ers had helped save the elemen-tary schoolers because they hadhad tsunami-response training. Itried to get a discussion goingabout why we might need train-ing in winter survival, given thatextreme cold is about the mostdangerous natural phenomenonwe face around here. The kidscould see the connection intellec-tually, but really only the oneswho hunt (and those are fewerand fewer every year) got it. Mostof the kids didn’t understand whythey would need to know “thatstuff ” and said that they neverreally leave their yards.

Apparently, most of them don’teven snowmachine, and now thatthe Balsams is closed, they don’tski either. Some own snowshoesbut said that they don’t go far.

Even when I read them an arti-cle from the Union Leader abouta groups of friends who saved askidooer who had gone throughthe ice on Lake Winnipesaukeewhile they were just hanging outaround the fire in their own yard,my kids couldn’t quite get theconcept of when and why theymight need to know the thingsthey had learned the day before.

Maybe it’s just the mild winterswe’ve been having; at eleven,these kids might not remember awinter when it was so cold thatyou couldn’t breathe or the snowso deep you couldn’t find yourcar. But I suspect that it also hasto do with the economy, one inwhich both parents are workingas much as they can all the timefor low wages and don’t havetime themselves to do the out-


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from previous page

door activities that are, often, thereal reason they live here, muchless take their kids out to dothem. While I don’t wish dangerto anyone, I do hope all ofColebrook’s 6th, 7th and 8thgraders have the chance to usetheir winter survival skills manytimes in their lives.

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CONCORD, N.H. – Anglersshould be aware that the“Alabama rig,” a type of tacklegaining popularity in the bassfishing world, is illegal to use inNew Hampshire’s fresh waters,New Hampshire Fish and GameDepartment officials said today.

The Alabama rig generatednational interest following awell-publicized win by a profes-sional bass angler in a majorbass tournament last fall.

Technically, the rig is not alure, but an apparatus thatallows an angler to attach andfish up to five lures on a singleline, with the possibility ofcatching more than one fish at atime. It is basically a castable“umbrella” rig, consisting of ahard body with a line-tie, fol-lowed by five wire strands in a

fanned out design each with asnap swivel at the end. Anglerscan attach a variety of lures toeach swivel for a look that is

meant to mimic a school ofbaitfish.

Following the tournament winusing the Alabama rig, bass fish-ing websites, forums, and maga-zines abounded with storiestouting the fish-catching abili-ties of the new tackle. The buzzhas generated many inquiries toFish and Game about the legalstatus of using the Alabama rig,

or similar fishing rigs, in NewHampshire freshwaters.

The bottom line is that therig’s use in New Hampshirefresh waters is not allowed. Thatdetermination is based on thefollowing New Hampshire regu-lations:

• RSA 207:1 I Angling: Thetaking of fish by line in hand, orrod in hand to which is attacheda cast of artificial flies, or anartificial bait, or hooks or otherdevices for the attachment ofbait. A person may have in usenot more than 2 such lines atone time. Nothing in this titleshall prohibit the use of a rod-holder in a boat.

• Fis 401.011 “Artificial bait”means any fishing bait con-structed by humans as an imita-tion or substitute for natural

bait or fish forage and includes,but is not limited to spinners,spoons, poppers, plugs, jigs andplastic, rubber or other artificialimitations of natural bait.“Artificial bait” does not include“fly” as defined in RSA 207:1VII.

The words “an artificial bait”contained in New Hampshire’sstatutory definition of“angling,” mean one artificialbait per line. Attaching addi-tional spinners, spoons, pop-pers, plugs, jigs and plastic, rub-ber or other artificial imitationsof natural bait is not allowed.Therefore, an Alabama rig isillegal to use in NewHampshire’s fresh waters.

For more information on fish-ing in New Hampshire, visitwww.fishnh.com.

Use of the “Alabama Rig” Illegal in New Hampshire’s Fresh Waters

Martha VanderWolk owns and oper-ates Sturtevant Pond Camps inMagalloway, Maine with her husband,Tom Rideout. A lifelong educator, shecurrently teaches in the SustainableBusiness and Communities Program atGoddard College. She can be reached [email protected].


It all started Forty Three yearsago. I was a young sport then,with the summer off from school,working part time on the farm.When I was not working, I was inthe woods looking for wildlife orat stream fishing.

On a hot summer day I pulleddown an old trap that hung fromthe garage rafters and asked dadhow it worked. HE advised thetrap had been there for years andhe had never tried to set it.Together we set it, with a fewpinched fingers, we quickly mas-tered setting it. He then advisedto “go find where animals arerunning, wire it down, and I willcatch an animal”.

The next morning I was at thestream behind my house, andlooking for tracks. It was not longbefore I found these rat typetracks on the edge of the water. Iset the trap, wired it down andleft. I checked this trap twice aday for weeks; nothing ever wasin the trap. I thought I was a fail-ure.

After two to three more weeks, Ifinally hit pay dirt. It was early inthe morning and upon reachingthe creek, I saw an animal sittingwhere my trap was. I had caught

my first muskrat. Being my first, Ihad no idea these guys were soanti-sociable. I had to walk backhome, get my .22 rifle, and dis-patch the little guy.

I was happy as ever. I had, afterweeks of trying, caught my firstfurbearer via a trap. I strung itonto my three-speed bike, andproceeded to the local hardwarestore in town to show Arnold, theowner. He was happy that I hadcaught it, but then the lecturebegan. I had caught my first rat,out of trapping season, without a

license, and when the fur was ofno value. My happiness was fad-ing. How could I have screwed upso bad? Arnold did offer helpthough, he could order a how tobook for me, and if I read it, andcould answer his questions, he

would help me through this get-ting started process. I read thebook, cover to cover, memorizedit. That fall, I took my test,bought a license, got three moretraps from Arnold, and away Iwent.

From that point on, I washooked. I have set traps nearlyevery year since then. I have hadyears where I bought a new gunwith the money I made, or paidmy taxes. I have also had yearswhere I did not make enough topay for the gas I used checkingtraps, and certainly not enoughfor the time invested or for themoney spent on buying moreequipment.

Why am I telling you all of this,you ask; hopefully to peak yourinterest, especially the youngreaders who enjoy the outdoors.If you really enjoy the outdoors,there is not a better way to spendthe day outside. Sure, huntingand fishing are fun, but with trap-ping, you have to think like thetarget species. You have to thinklike a coon, if you were a coon,where would you go for a meal?Or a coyote, muskrat, fox, beaverand so on.

Trapper numbers are dwindlingat an alarming pace. There aremany reasons for this. Thebiggest I think is the lack of avail-able land to trap on. Are thereany places you knew as a kid thatwere good for hunting and fishing

that are now housing develop-ments or malls? The second rea-son, the prices of fur, I have seenprices run the gamut. In theeighties we got six plus dollars fora properly prepared rat, in thelast few years if you got a dollaryou had a good day. If you jointhis sport to get rich, you will besadly mistaken. The third reasonis people who do trap are notpassing on the tradition.

Sooooo, if you are willing towork for nothing, other than thesheer enjoyment of being out-doors, willing to get up beforedaylight, check traps, go to workall day, get home and spend hoursin the shed putting up fur, i.e.skinning, fleshing, stretching, etc.,then welcome aboard. If you arenot prepared or do not have thetime to do all of this, then behonest with yourself and don’tcome aboard.

I have decided to write this col-umn about trapping to peak yourinterest, as I said earlier. I willtake you through the ins and outof trapping in the comingmonths, right from taking a trap-per education course, if needed,to buying your first traps, prepar-ing them, setting them, fur han-dling, etc. I will also keep you upto date on all state laws pertainingto trapping, and there are many.Did you know that trappers arethe most heavily regulated sports-man in Vermont? Well, we are. Iwill also walk you through theethics part of this sport, which isreal important.

One question before I close, didyou ever set a mouse trap in yourhouse for the little critter eating ahold down the center of the loafof bread? If the answer is yes, youare already a trapper!!!!!

Until next time, keep yourwaders patched, and your lures inthe shed.

See you on the trap line.

Randy lives in Milton, Vermont, hastrapped in Vermont for 43 years, is ahunter Ed Instructor and an AdvancedTrapper Instructor for the Vermont Fish& Wildlife Department. Randy andwife, Diane & their family, own andoperate Arrowhead Trapping Supply.Randy is also a Vermont State LicensedFur Dealer. They can be reached [email protected] or 802-355-7496, on facebook or at www.arrow-headtrappingsupply.com.

By Randy BarrowsBy Randy Barrows

The Trap LineThe Trap Line

Forty three years ago


first person I called whenever Igot one. He passed on Veteran’sDay 2007. I always have a puffon a cigar and a little nip on thatday in his memory. I also pourhim out a share and leave the rest

of the cigar for him to finish.After a couple of years of pass-

ing by the sign it finally occurredto me that there are many otherpeople throughout the years thatI should be thankful for. My par-ents never really have understoodwhat it is about hunting andbeing in the woods that I can’tlive without. That hasn’t stoppedthem through the years fromhelping me get out there. Myfather doesn’t hunt, but one yearwhen he couldn’t find anyone elseto take me out, he took me outhimself.

I will never forget lookingbehind me and seeing him sleep-ing, standing up, leaning against atree. My first deer came on a daythat my mother dropped me offafter school and was going to pickme up at dark. I think that maybeshe was more excited than I waswhen I told her I got one. I didn’tthink she was going to be able todrive home. Now that I work withmy family at the chocolate shopeven my sisters help me out. I amforever grateful to them for writ-

ing schedules and working them-selves so I can get some time offto hike in the summer or hunt inthe fall.

I’m also thankful for my manyhunting partners throughout theyears. Some are folks I may haveonly hunted with for a few years.Some are people I hope to huntwith for the rest of my life. SomeI’m glad that they have movedon. Each of them have made animpression that I either love toremember or hope to soon forget.

My Dad traded the use of ourDatsun pickup to Gary. All hehad to do was take me out hunt-ing with him. I remember askinghim how to field dress a deer. Hisexact response was, “you cut himopen and take out everything thatdoesn’t look like it belongs inthere anymore.” It turns out thatactually, that is, pretty muchexactly how it’s done. My Dadused to ask me if we had to putthe truck in 4-wheel drive at allduring the day. I never couldbring myself to tell him aboutsome of the places we went. YesDad, we definitely had to put it in4-wheel drive.

I met Ed when we were both ona deer drive together in Reading,VT. Quite a crew had gatheredthat day. Ed was the only guy inthe group that seemed to have hisact together, so one day the fol-lowing year I just showed up athis house and reintroducedmyself. We have been huntingtogether each year now for over20 years. I consider him to be my“Brother from another Mother.”Once, when we were bowhuntingin Missouri, I heard the twang ofhis recurve, a deer running andthen the deer falling over. I yelledover to him and heard his usualresponse. “Down and bloody.” Igot over to him in less than fiveminutes to find that not only didhe already have the deer fielddressed, he already had it trussedup ready for dragging.

It’s been there for at least thefive years that I have been hunt-ing in the area. On an old beechtree, at least a mile from any road,in the town of Glastenbury, VTthere is a sign that really makesme stop and think whenever Ipass it.

The sign is handmade from alarge piece of rough pine boardwith a message and a pictureburned into it’s surface. It says“In Memory of Richard LeeStrobel -Jan 26, 1962 - Nov 24,1998 A Good Friend.” I nevermet him but he obviously made alasting impression on whoevermade the sign. Also if you look atthe date he must have passed onduring deer season that year.

I always stop on my way by andsay a little thank you in my headto all the people who have madeit possible for me to enjoy mytime out in the woods hunting. Atfirst I used to only think about myGrandfather who got me interest-

ed in hunting way back when Iwas five. I remember followinghim through the woods inPownal, VT. I was so little that I

had to jump from one footstep inthe snow to another. He nevershot a deer himself but he was the

Tribute to a friend in the mountains of Glastenbury Vermont

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Combine ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cookon high for 6 to 8 hours, or until very tender. Shredmeat with a potato masher or forks; serve over buns,potatoes, rice, or any pasta.

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Flour2 c. unsifted flour2 tsp. baking powder1 tsp. salt2 eggs, slightly beaten2 c. beer1/2 c. salad oilOil for deep frying

Coat fish with flour; set aside. In a large bowl,combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt,eggs, beer and 1/2 cup oil; beat with rotarybeater until smooth. Dip fish into batter,allowing excess to drip into bowl. Fry in deephot oil until golden brown on both sides. Drainon paper towels.

BEER-BATTER FRIED FISH

6 brook trout or other fresh water fish (about 3/4 lb. each)

Flour2 c. unsifted flour2 tsp. baking powder1 tsp. salt2 eggs, slightly beaten2 c. beer1/2 c. salad oilOil for deep frying

Coat fish with flour; set aside. In a large bowl,combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt,eggs, beer and 1/2 cup oil; beat with rotarybeater until smooth. Dip fish into batter,allowing excess to drip into bowl. Fry in deephot oil until golden brown on both sides. Drainon paper towels.

By Ken MonteBy Ken Monte

On and off the TrailOn and off the Trail

Being thankful

Continued on page 33


The Coolest Gift IdeaYour Picture on The Outdoor Gazette! No, not the real cover but an 8x10full color mock-up of our cover. You can put your favorite hunting, fish-ing, snowmobiling or anything you can think of, right on The NewHampshire and Vermont Outdoor Gazette cover and it will look like thereal thing. It’s the perfect gift for any outdoor enthusiast. Cover will befull color on heavy stock photo paper and will fit an 8x10 picture frame.

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I’ve had the good fortune ofstalking many prized game fish allover this great nation and a fewexotic ports in between. There’s

nothing like the thrill of a tarponas it leaps skyward or the bulldogbattle of a gag grouper trying to

tangle your gear on a reef.Slipping into a mangrove linedcreek pitching live baits to roothugging snook and sea trout is

also right up there. Not to mention my favorite

form of fishing, sight casting on

By Captian John CurryBy Captain John CurryNew England’s Saltwater Variety

The Coastal ZoneThe Coastal Zone

the flats for bones, permit and theoccasional shark. Contrary toones belief this type of fishingcan be had right here in NewEngland. While we obviously lackmost of the warm water speciesthat exits in our sub-tropics wehave the equivalent right here inour own backyard.

From Down East Maine toNarragansett Bay we have asmuch diversity in our saltwatergame fish as anywhere I’ve been.Just replace their tarpon for ouracrobatic bluefish. Black sea bassare a dead ringer for grouperwhen it comes to that style offishing. I would match a stripedbass any day for a snook or evena redfish.

Our summer flounder or“fluke” as we call them are one ofmy favorite game fish to targetnot only for their fine eating, butthey have an attitude to go with it.Picture this for a moment; you’reat the bow of my Cuda 23 with a9 weight fly rod in hand ready tolaunch a silverside pattern flywhen I give you the signal, its 82degrees with a light breeze fromthe southwest.

We’re in 3 feet of water and thesand dunes are covered in a lateafternoon shade of pink andorange. Terns are working aschool of baitfish just off the flatwhere the first break line meetsand outgoing tide eddy. From myperch high up on the stern I cansee four shadows moving slowlyon our port side. I whisper, “ten-o’clock fish moving to your rightcast 30 yards”. Your fly hits thewater perfectly five yards in frontof them. “Strip-strip-stop, waitone’s taking a look, strip again!”You’re on to a 25 pounder andshe is taking the business end ofyour rod on a 40 yard run.

After a 20 minute battle wehave her boat side. A few picturesand a high-five end a perfect dayof flats fishing for stripers onCape Cod. That’s right I saidCape Cod. Minus the palm treesyou wouldn’t know the differencemost days. Most of us think ofNew England as a deep drop bot-tom fishing venue for such delica-cies as cod, pollock and haddock.

“I haven’t been deep sea fishingin years” is a common discussionwhen booking trips for my guid-ing service based out of Cape

Cod. I tell my clients to take thewords “deep” and “sea” out oftheir vocabulary to make a point.We most likely will be fishing avariety of species using a varietyof techniques and in most casesin less than 30 feet of water. Justlike our southern game fish, ournorthern species do run certaintimes of the season. We canalways count on striped bass fromApril – October and the blues

run great from May-September.It’s not uncommon to boat 4-5different species in one trip on myboat.

So the next time you are withthe family at Disney World takethe time to experience some redfishing on the famed Space Coastof Florida, but if you want toexperience the same thrill and inmy opinion much better sceneryfor possibly less money thanround trip plane ticket to Florida,hire a guide in New England

when the weather warms up andtell them you want to explore thevariety that our coastal watershave to offer.

Capt. John Curry grew up in Rehobeth,MA and summered on the Cape mainlyin the Bass River area. He has over 30years of fishing and boating on CapeCod and Rhode Island waters. Currentlyliving in W. Yarmouth and summers inBourne. He runs a sportfishing businesson tha Cape, visit his website www.cape-fishing.net.


2012 Trail Camera Photo Contest

2011 Trail Camera Photo Contest ,

and the Winners are ;

2-Winners will be drawn Randomly andannounced in the Jan. 2013 issue. Plus 1-Winner, Owner of “The Trail CamPic of the Year”, will be chosen by theOutdoor Gazette staff and folks on ourFacebook page. The “Pic of the Year” willbe on the cover of the Jan. 2013 issue!

Send photos to:[email protected] with the subject line “TC Photo Contest 2011”

Send in your trail camera pics, and for every picturethat is published in The Outdoor Gazette you will get

one chance to win one of three Trail Cameras.

2010 Contest Winners - Paul Nault of Gorham, New Hampshire for the Trail Camera Pictureof the Year. Random winners - Kevin Skinner of Newport, New HampshireBob George of Newport, Vermont......It’s a “Newport” Sweep

New for 2012’s contest---Do you have a picture of atrophy buck or huge bull moose you want to share,but are afraid to give up it’s location. We will post

your pics anonymously, with as little info as you like.Your secret is safe with us!... HaHa!.... Really it is!

New for 2012’s contest---Do you have a picture of atrophy buck or huge bull moose you want to share,but are afraid to give up it’s location. We will post

your pics anonymously, with as little info as you like.Your secret is safe with us!... HaHa!.... Really it is!

2011 Trail Camera Picture of the Year is Dan Green from Lyme, New Hampshire

Random Winners - Thomas Flynn from Holderness, New Hampshireand Mary Emery from Enfield, New Hampshire

It’s a Granite State Sweep!

2011 Trail Camera Picture of the Year is Dan Green from Lyme, New Hampshire

Random Winners - Thomas Flynn from Holderness, New Hampshireand Mary Emery from Enfield, New Hampshire

It’s a Granite State Sweep!


Trail Camera Photo Contest

Mitchell Palmer - Alexandria, New Hampshire

Dustin Bucklin - Alexandria, New HampshireDustin Bucklin - Alexandria, New Hampshire

Glenn Adams - Do fox climb trees?

John Stull - Pennsylvania


John Stull - Pennsylvania

Mitchell Palmer - Alexandria, NH

Glen Adams and Kevin Folgers, Rollinsford, NH - Two Eagles in differentstages of maturity fight over the spoils of winter.

Mitchell Palmer - Alexandria, NH

Anonymous - New Hampshire


believe you must begin with atruly clean barrel. Clean meansno trace of dirt and all acids neu-tralized. In this area, I believenothing work better than hotwater and soap. If you are one ofthe "barrel flushers", I would still

follow up the flush with a chemi-cal wipe. You can really see if youare cleaning properly when nomore staining occurs on a chemi-cal patch. "Number 13" byThompson/Center seem to workwell, is cheap and was designedfor muzzleloaders. Use the clean-er until you can pull a perfectlyclean patch. The breech plug willrequire a good cleaning to pre-vent rust in the threaded position.Some traditional guns such asThompson/Center and Lyman,use a breech that is smaller thanthe bore. If you are unsure thatyou are reaching the bottom ofthe breech, just measure thedepth of the bore with your ram-rod, then lay it outside the barrel.The smaller breech will require asmaller cleaning tool. I use amodern rifle slotted jag to hold apatch. I insert it in the breech andtwist to wipe this area clean.

Other tools you might findhandy are bronze or plastic borebrushes for muzzleloaders. I usethem to knock out powderresidue before using any solution.It seems to speed things up. If youshoot an inline and use sabots,

the bronze brushes are almost amust to remove any plastic foul-ing from the bore. When using abrush, check the threads on therod to make sure they will tightlyhold the brush. If you pull thebrush out of the rod while it isdown the barrel, you have a seri-ous problem that you will need agunsmith to correct!

After the bore is clean, you willwant to add a rust protector. In anon-scientific test I thought Iwould see what would provide thebest rust protection. Taking steelwool pads, I washed the oil out ofthem with brake cleaner. Then Iplaced the pads outside andsprayed half of each pad withevery aerosol lubricant in myshop. These included "WD-40,Birchwood Casey "Sheath", "PBBlaster" and one liquid oil,"Break Free". Another pad wasleft completely unprotected. Ittook about a week for any seriousrust to appear, except on theunprotected pad. The first toshow rust was PB Blaster. This isnot a gun product, just a mechan-ic’s penetrate. In a few days thenext product, WD 40 failed. Thiswas no surprise me as it is oftenused only for water displacement(WD). The Sheath gave thelongest performance; in fact Ifinally gave up waiting for rust toappear. The Break Free showedspotty rust, but I felt this was anunfair test because it is not anaerosol.

What does this show? Well, ifyou take reasonable care of yourguns, most products will preventrust, but I would stick to thosespecifically made for guns, andeven better, for blackpowderguns.

There is one product that Icould not test with the steel wool,but I have used it for protectionand it is perhaps one of the best.That is Sentry Solutions “Tuf-Cloth”. I use the Marine clothand wipe my guns prior to field

By Charlie ChalkBy Charlie Chalk

Behind the SightsBehind the Sights

Hunting season is a faded mem-ory and most target shootersawait the dawning of warmerweather, so out guns rest in somedark recess. Those guns are nowexperiencing some oxidation ifnot properly cleaned and protect-ed. Makes you want to go andcheck them, doesn’t it?

Over the years of doing thissport, I have seen a lot of improp-erly cleaned and not protectedguns. Commonly, there wereobvious signs of rust. I have sal-vaged the bore of more than onerifle, but some are probably a lit-tle harder to clean, due to the rustpits that will catch dirt.Fortunately many have beenlucky, with minor damage doneto the accuracy of the gun, butwhy risk this?

Over the years, I have triedmany chemicals and rust preven-ters. Some work; some don't.Most of my guns are used yearround and face some severe con-

ditions such as multiple nightsoutside in rain and humidity. Nomatter how long the day hasbeen, my Father always taughtme to take care of my guns first,

then make supper. This guidelinehas served me well, and preservedmy guns.

So what really works? I will giveyou a few of my favorites. I

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To clean and protect

Continued next page


from previous page

March is when I concentrate onperch and often can fill a bucketwhile getting some much neededsun and fresh air. A meal of freshlycaught perch is a nice reward for afew hours on the ice. I always freeze

any extra perch I catch for cookinglater in the year.

There will be open water alongmuch of the Connecticut and themouths of many of its tributariesthat anglers can try. Pay close atten-tion to the digest of Fish & WildlifeRegulations as Connecticut Riverregulations are set by NewHampshire and cover the river, set-backs and tributaries upstream tothe first highway bridge on eitherside of the river.

Trout may be taken January 1through October 15. In severalcases such as the Waits River inBradford and the Passumpsic inBarnet you can take trout underNew Hampshire regulations nearlya mile up river into Vermont.

A warm March day is also a goodtime to do some exploring to see

how the deer have faired. I don mysnowshoes or cross country skisdepending on the conditions andterrain and move silently throughthe woods always vigilant for move-ment.

When you do see deer, swing widearound them to avoid forcing themto run and use up dwindling fatreserves. Often, I will backtrack abit and then begin to work my wayaround.

Late March is a good time to lookfor sheds as the snow begins to melt.Those you don’t find will soon begnawed on by squirrels, mice,hedgehogs and other critters.Nature recycles well.

As I write this mid February, Ihave no way to predict what themonth will bring for weather andthus how much snow and ice therewill be come March. If it is any-thing like the three previous monthsand February so far, there will be lit-tle snow and unseasonably warmtemperatures. That means Marchice will soften and become unsafesooner than usual and the snow willnot impede the movement of deer.

One thing I am sure of is thatsteam will rise from sugar houses allover the state and delicious maplesyrup will be made. Most sugarmakers welcome visitors and I urgethose who have the time to do so.You will gain an understanding ofwhy the amber liquid is so expen-sive.

Fisheries biologists are conductingcreel surveys on Norton Pond andSouth Bay of LakeMemphremagog this winter. Thepurpose of the surveys is to estimatethe fishing pressure and total har-vest of northern pike on these twowaters, which are known for pro-ducing trophy-sized pike.

Many of us are sick of winter bythe time March arrives. Luckily, thedays are getting longer and warmer.The month is better known formaple sugaring than for hunting orfishing. A visit to a sugar house fora taste of new maple syrup and araised doughnut when sweetsmelling steam is rising from thepan is a treat I look forward to.

March may be a transition monthfor sportsmen, but there are stillhunting and fishing opportunitiesavailable.

Avid rabbit hunters will be outwith their beagles pursuing snow-shoe hare until the season endsMarch 11. The melodious barkingof beagles bounding after a fleeingsnowshoe is music to the ears ofmany a hunter.

It is always a challenge to get infront of the hare who often runs inlarge circles attempting to elude thedogs. Shots have to be quick andaccurate if one is to bring home thegame.

Coyotes are legal year round andMarch is a good time to set upbefore dawn or at dusk. Some ofmy friends use bait quite successful-ly while others rely on calling.Either way, stealth and camouflageare a must.

Coyotes have keen senses and canbe a real challenge to hunt.Hunting the wild canids is a test ofwits, yours against theirs. Thosehunters who learn the ropes oftenget hooked and consider coyotestheir favorite quarry.

The end of the rabbit hunting

season does not mean you need toput away the shotgun. Three dayslater, on March 14, the crow seasonopens.

Crow hunting is a good way topractice your wing shooting. The

autumn waterfowl and upland birdseasons have been over for monthsand it will be many more beforethey reopen. Good shooting takespractice and crow hunting providesan opportunity to hone our skills.

Camouflage is a must and and anowl decoy a big help. Most farmerswelcome crow hunters as they con-sider the big black birds a nuisanceand a destroyer of freshly plantedcorn.

Hard water anglers can still fishfor trout, salmon and bass throughMarch 15 on most lakes. There isgenerally plenty of ice the first partof the month and much more day-light to enjoy.

The second half of the monthone has to be careful to check thedepth of the ice and its consistency.Warm weather, sunny days andinflows to the lakes and ponds oftenmake for unsafe conditions.

If you do find good ice, you arelikely to have plenty of action. Late

time. The product leaves a dryfilm that really protects. The bestpart is the cloth lasts indefinity ifyou follow the directions. Best yet,they are only about $9. and theycan protect all your firearms.Sentry Solutions carry a full lineof gun care products and is downin Wilton, NH. You can findthem online or at most gun shopsor call (800) 546-8049.

Your guns are an investment.You may use them once a year or

monthly; but they deserve thebest care you can give them.Clean and protect them and theywill serve you well.

Charlie Chalk is an outdoor writer andhas a background as a professionalFirefighter and is a member of theAmerican Mountain Men, an organi-zation that emulates the life of the furtrappers of the 1800's and their sur-vival on the land.

by Gary W. Mooreby Gary W. Moore

Thoughts on the out-of-doorsThoughts on the out-of-doors

Syndicated columnist Gary W. Mooreis a life long resident of Vermont and aformer Commissioner of Fish andGame. He may be reached by e-mail [email protected] or atBox 454, Bradford, VT 05033.

Twenty pound northern pike caught by David Reen of Eden in Norton Pond.


from the date of purchasethrough the end of the calendaryear. It may not be used to hunt

moose and does not apply to thethree-day small game license.

If you want to hunt in a futureyear, you must first complete ahunter education or bowhuntereducation course, then buy a reg-

ular New Hampshire huntinglicense. Register for HunterEducation atwww.huntnh.com/Hunting/hunter_ed.htm.

“The Apprentice HuntingLicense is an exciting new oppor-tunity for sharing the huntingexperience,” said Steve Weber,Chief of the N.H. Fish andGame Wildlife Division. “Likeour successful youth hunting pro-gram, in which youngsters goafield under the supervision of anadult mentor, this program is agreat way to provide a positivefirst-time experience for oldernew hunters who never had thechance to go hunting as a youth.”

In instituting the program, NewHampshire follows the lead ofapproximately thirty states thathave established some kind ofapprentice hunting program overthe past five years.

Want to know more? Fish andGame has put together someFrequently Asked Questionsabout the new ApprenticeHunting License, atwww.huntnh.com/Hunting/apprentice_FAQs.htm.

CONCORD, N.H. — Haveyou ever had a friend who youknow would enjoy hunting if theyonly had a chance to try it? Orperhaps you’re a non-hunter whohas always wanted to go along ona hunt to see what it’s all about.Now you can have your chance.A new law takes effect January 1,2012, that allows people who areinterested in trying hunting orbowhunting an opportunity to doso under the guidance of anexperienced hunter without hav-ing to take a Hunter Educationcourse first. It’s called the NewHampshire Apprentice HuntingLicense. Here’s how it works:

The licensed apprentice hunteris allowed to hunt only whenaccompanied by a properlylicensed hunter who is 18 years ofage or older. “Accompanied”means maintaining actual physi-cal direction and control — keep-ing the apprentice within sightand hearing at all times (withoutuse of electronic devices).

The apprentice hunting licenseis the same price as a regular res-ident or nonresident huntinglicense (click here for license

prices). It can be purchased onlyat N.H. Fish and Game head-quarters, 11 Hazen Drive in

Concord, N.H., or by mail (visitwww.wildnh.com/Licensing/license_forms.htm).

You can purchase anApprentice Hunting License onlyonce in your lifetime. It is valid

New Hampshire First: Apprentice Hunting Licenses Become Available January 1

“Take a friend – Make a hunter”

recording a image. The endresult could be a missed oppor-tunity. This should be a nobrainer!

#2 Detection Zone

Detection zone doesn't getnearly the attention that triggerspeed gets, and that's unfortu-nate. Detection zone is heavilyunder-rated. The detection zoneis the cone-shaped area in whichmovement is detected by the PIRsensor. Detection zones can varyfrom long and narrow to shortand wide, and any combinationin between. Regardless of howfast your camera trigger speed is,a photo will not be taken if theanimal does not enter your cam-era's detection zone!

#3 Recovery Rate

Recovery time is the amount oftime a camera takes to capture aphoto, store that photo to mem-ory and then re-arm itself for thenext photo opportunity. Somecameras will only take a picture

every 30 to 60 seconds. If youwant to see everything that iswalking down a game trail, youneed a camera that recoversquickly. The best recovery time,RECONYX trail cameras recov-er in just 1/2 second.

#4 Flash

Does the camera use a incan-descent flash or infrared?Incandescent will give you colornight photos, but is also subjectto spooking game. Infrared iscolor daytime and black andwhite at night and gives off avery faint glow. A new technolo-gy is the "Black Lens". Thismakes the camera virtuallyundetectable when the flash goesoff. What a great theft deterant!

Also great for home security.

#5 Theft

This seems to be one of thebiggest topics that we have beenhearing from those that have hadtheir cameras stolen or knowsomeone that has. There aremany ways of protecting yourinvestment with the use of secu-rity boxes, cable locks, chains,etc.

I am very excited about a veryNEW product available for yourtrail camera. It is a trail camerastand.

STIC N PIC. Stic n Pic is atrail camera mounting systemthat gives you the freedom tomount your camera ANY-WHERE. You do not have tohave a tree to mount your cam-era on. In many situations thetree ( along with all your otheraccessories, security boxes,cables etc,) gives your cameraaway to possible theft, You mightas well put a sign out , indicatingwhere your camera is.

I have been able to hide and

disquise my cameras where noone can find them. There is alsoa great tree mount that can beput up in a tree, and still bepointed down to capture greatpictures.

My saying is " If they can't seeit, They can't steal it !Brian will be presenting many brandsof cameras along with the Stic n’ PicTrail Camera stand at the upcomingTWIN STATE BIG GAME andOUTDOOR SHOW, March 24thand 25th in Lebanon NH .


How to choose a trail cameraBy Brian Chadwick

I have been using trail camerasfor well over 10 years now. It hasbeen very exciting seeing all thenewest advances in technologysince putting out my first cam-era. There are now over 20 man-ufactures of trail cameras on themarket. Wow! How does anyoneknow what camera is best forthem?

Depending on what you useyour camera for, scouting thatbig buck, birdwatching, ormaybe home security, it can be a

very tough decision. How muchmoney do I spend? What fea-tures do I look for?

Can I use a camera for homesecurity? Here are some impor-tant things to consider.

#1 Trigger Speed

Trigger speed is typically high-lighted most in trail camera mar-keting wars because it is cru-

cial.Trigger speed is simply thelength of time that elapsesbetween the PIR sensor detect-ing motion and the camera

Brian Chadwick is the owner of "Chadwick's Trail Cams", a division ofChadwick's Digital out of Orange, VT.Visit his website at www.chadwick-strailcams.com or you can reach him atcell 802-793-8398 or work 802-479-2767.


2011 New Hampshire 200 lb buck club entries

WAITSFIELD, VT – TheVermont Fish & WildlifeDepartment has issued its annualreport on the conservation prac-tices used during 2011 at the 86Wildlife Management Areas(WMAs) around the state. Theeight-page report is on theVermont Fish & WildlifeDepartment’s website (www.vtfis-handwildlife.com) under “Itemsof Special Interest.”

“Hunters, anglers and trapperscan be credited with generouslyproviding most of the funding forpurchasing and managingVermont’s Wildlife ManagementAreas that are enjoyed by count-less visitors,” said Vermont Fish &Wildlife Commissioner PatrickBerry. “These special places havebeen acquired for conservation ofimportant fish and wildlife valuesand will be managed for thosevalues in perpetuity.”

Ranging in size from 10,826-acre Steam Mill Brook WMA inWalden, Stannard, Wheelock,and Danville to a few that are lessthan 100 acres, Vermont’sWMAs provide more than130,000 acres of habitat for fishand wildlife as well as places forhunting, fishing, trapping, wildlifewatching, and hiking. Maps anddescriptions of most of theWMAs are available under“Maps” on the website.

The WMAs all provide habitatfor a variety of wildlife, and somehave unique habitats that couldhave been lost to development if

they were not set aside for publicownership. Bird Mountain WMAin West Rutland, for example,was purchased in the 1970s, inpart, because it historically was anesting site for peregrine falcons.Later, when Fish & Wildlifehelped return peregrines toVermont, the falcons chose BirdMountain as one of their first

places to nest. Dead Creek WMA in Addison,

Panton and Bridport has almost3,000 acres of habitat, much of itas wetlands that provide nestingand resting areas for migratingwater birds. In the fall, sections ofDead Creek WMA offer excellenthunting opportunities for Canadageese and snow geese.

“You can learn aboutVermont’s Wildlife ManagementAreas by visiting our website,”said Berry, “and then get out andenjoy them. Vermont’s wildliferesources help make our state aspecial place to live, and theseareas are prime spots to engageour wildlife in a variety of ways.”

F&W issues annual report on its86 wildlife management areas


er achievers than yourself is bothenlightening and a valued learningexperience. Additionally, it givesdepth and enhanced meaning tofollowing these individuals in racesin future years. You somehow feelyou have been gifted with a higher

vested interest in these race partici-pants after interacting with them forthe weekend. This year’s YukonQuest champion was a keynotespeaker at the trade show two yearsago.

A lesser known, but more localdistance race is the Can-Am CrownInternational Sled Dog Race inFort Kent, Maine (http://www.can-am-crown.net) beginning the sameweekend as the Iditarod. Attractingparticipants from Maine, NewHampshire and Vermont as well assome lower New England Statesand Ontario and Quebec, it is aqualifier for the Yukon Quest andIditarod.

Dog sledding is a primitive sportusing today’s technologies, and fol-lowing these races is not unlike thedays gone by, pre- network televi-sion, when our parents or grand-parents huddled around the radiolistening to political or athletic con-tests. For the next several weeks mybrowser tabs will include the cur-rent race (Iditarod & Can-Am),Iditarod Insider (a subscriptionvideo feed of the race events),YouTube and Facebook to try tokeep abreast of the most currentstandings. The websites of the raceswill include musher profiles and his-

tory and will include a GPS track-ing feature in which you can trackspecific participants of interest. Thedrama unfolds as you follow checkpoint logs to reveal who is into thecheckpoint and at what time, howlong they have laid over (if they did)and if they have had to drop anydogs or not. Continued dramaunfolds as mushers leap frog oneanother and strategically plan theirmandatory lay-over’s at a check-point, a mandatory item for the sledbag forgotten, a musher or handlerforgets a nuanced rule and is penal-ized with a time delay, or a musherscratches the race or withdrawschanging the entire dynamic of therace. Fore warning – following theseraces can be as addicting as thesport itself.

The one race I have participatedin did not have GPS tracking oreven a Facebook presence. Here ismy personal account.

A Mushers First Raceby Allan Tschorn on Monday,

March 21, 2011 at 5:52pmWhen people see you have sled

dogs, commonly one of the firstquestions is “Do you race?” Myreply has always been “no”. Life istoo competitive, and dog sledding isway too much fun to mix the two.Until now. And that is not to implythat my calling has taken me to alife of a competitive musher. Lastyear I completed my first 25-milesled dog race hosted by NorthCountry Mushers (www.north-countrymushers.com) at Groveton,NH. My results – the coveted Red

Lantern Award.I have never thought I wanted to

get seriously involved in competitivesled racing, and I am sticking withthat plan. The events leading up tomy participation in this eventoccurred rather serendipitously

Not many would consider dis-tance sled dog races a spectatorsport. With the introduction ofGPS tracking technology, the inter-net, blogs, YouTube and socialmedia such as Facebook, followingthese races can be very exciting. Youwon’t have the media coverage thatNASCAR or the NBA have, andthere is no half time show like theNFL, but you won’t have the com-mercials to contend with either. Letme share with you some perspectiveon following distance mushing, andthen I will share with you my onlyrace experience.

It is mid February, and many havecrossed the finish line at the 1,000mile International Dog Sled Raceknown as the Yukon Quest Race(www.yukonquest.com). This yearthere was the closest contest inYukon Quest history (and the sec-ond closest finish in the history ofdistance mushing ) with musherHugh Neff crossing the finish linein 9 days, 16 hours and 5 minutesand second place finisher AllenMoore only 26 seconds behindhim. Yes, a 1,000 mile race overalmost 10 days and a near photofinish – Call me a dog geek if youlike. That’s some pretty exciting rac-ing right there. The better knownIditarod (www.iditarod.com) willbegin on March 3. For many mush-ers, the race season is a culminationof weeks and months of hard work,dedication and training. Though Iam not focused on the competitiveside of mushing, I do have atremendous respect and admirationfor those who do. Maintaining akennel of sled dogs is a huge com-mitment in time, money and men-tal focus. Racing those dogs in a

committed and competitive man-ner ratchets that up exponentially.To add fuel to my obsession ofmushing itself, some of these partic-ipants are people I have met or

know. As with most hobbies, pas-sions or pastimes, it is always help-ful, interesting and informative tomeet and gather with people whoare more addicted, connected andfanatic about the activity than youare. For us, this opportunity comesat the Northern New England SledDog and Trade Show held at theHopkinton Fair Ground inContoocook, New Hampshire eachfall. It is a week-end long affairblessed with some of the racingworld’s characters of Iditarod,Yukon Quest and Can-Am notori-ety. To rub elbows with much high-

By Allan Tschorn By Allan Tschorn

Tails from the TrailTails from the Trail

The First Race

Training day run. Photo Allan Tschorn

The Race is on... Photo courtesy Allan Tschorn


Pictures Gone WildPictures Gone WildOur reader submitted photosOur reader submitted photos

John Burke (Member of Castleton Lions Club) in front of the Prize Board.They gave away $3400 in door prizes and money.

Main ingredients for fish chowder, courtesy of Sturtevant Pond - Photo by Tom Rideout

The Great Benson Fishing Derby was held February 25 & 26, at LakeBomoseen. Vermont. “Big Fish” & “Big Cash” Over $10,000 in cash prizes.Sponsored by the Fair Haven Rotary Club. Pictured in photo is Jeff Larson,President of the Fair Haven Rotary Club.

“ Water Roots” Photo by David John

New columnist for the Gazette, Todd Mead from the Adirondacks of New York.Todd’s “Anchor Points” debuts in the April issue....photo courtesy of Todd Mead

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department says Vermont’s wild turkeys appearto be surviving the winter well because of easy mobility, warm temperatures,snow free areas, and access to foods. These East Montpelier turkeys were sun-ning themselves late in the afternoon before going to roost... photo by John Hall


A winter to remember as “thewinter that wasn’t.” I remembermany Valentines Day nor’east-ers that dropped two feet ormore of snow. Today isFebruary 10, and I just readthat in Canaan VT there werethree male blue birds checkingout birdhouses.

All winter long I have haddeer and turkeys in the back-yard, and all of them looked ingood shape. The snow depthnever went over 10 inches. Yes,we measured snow this winter ininches, not feet.

There is a line drawn in thesand by many people; some likeit some don’t. I would think itwould be the homeowners, therabbit hunters, the loggers andice fishermen and the maplesyrup producers (maybe) whowon’t mind it. But the sportingcamps, snow machine sales andservice shops, the restaurantsand motels as well as the stores

are the ones which are losingrevenue. Myself, I love it. Nosnow to speak of while getting

firewood, bringing it home andsplitting and stacking it.

The downside of this so-calledmild winter is the constant icearound buildings and drive-

ways. If this mild weather con-tinues and we keep missing thesnowstorms, the snow we nowhave will go very fast, leavingbare ground way too early. Bareground early means the topcouple of inches of ground willthaw every time the tempera-ture gets above freezing, makingthe roads and driveways asgreasy as ice and freezing atnight, leaving ruts in the morn-ing. And this will go well intoApril.

The deer and turkeys are mov-ing around in the woods with noeffort.

You could not have asked for abetter winter than this year forthe ice fishermen and the rabbit

hunter. Usually, this time ofyear, the snow depth on the iceis so deep and heavy that, whenyou drill a hole, it is like tappinga well, with water flooding thearea...And, no snow shovelingto set traps.

I have talked with rabbithunters and they have limitedout every hunt. The woods arecovered with rabbit tracks nomatter where I antler.

Years ago, I ran beagles for anumber of years and enjoyed it.I hunted with Danny Gloverand his boys, Dana and Doug. Alot of times, Danny’s wife wouldmeet us at a designated spot andhave a fire going for burgers andhot dogs. It was not unusual tostand around for lunch andhave the rabbit run right besideus with the dog hot on the track.

When I first started antleringover 25 years ago, I got sohooked I gave up ice fishing andrabbit hunting. They say that inlife what goes around comesaround. We shall see. I have allmy ice traps, chisel and every-thing to ice fish except an auger,which I gave up.

With this little snow cover wehave, it won’t take but only afew hot days and it will be gone.

With the deer roaming thearea here in Wilsons Mills,going to and from their feedingareas in backyards, they get veryused to people. One evening Iwent out to lock up the hens,and there were two deer aroundthe bird feeders, not 30 feetaway. They just watched melock the door and go back insidethe house without moving.

Antlers for Sale!Antlers for Sale!

By David JohnBy David John

Searching for Natures TreasuresSearching for Natures Treasures

You sell what?

Call David John 603-381-000 or 207-486-9352

Call David John 603-381-000 or 207-486-9352

Continued next page

257 Wilson’s Mills Rd.Errol NH 03579

257 Wilson’s Mills Rd.Errol NH 03579

The Pros and Cons of a Mild Winter

Since the “antlering” bug has infected the author he has not had the time for otherwinter outdoor sports.... Photo by Fred Allard

Another day, while splittingwood with the splitter, I turnedto get wood and there werethree watching me. They stayedclose by for over an hour.

In October, I had a largebranch from an apple tree breakoff, and I threw it at the edge ofthe woods. It is just now thatthey stop and munch on it. Idon’t have any idea how faraway the deer come from, but itmust be a long ways. With allthe folks who feed the deer inWilsons Mills and Magalloway,the deer count is in the highhundreds.

Here comes March, themonth that’s neither winter norspring. A month that, on awhim, can bring any type ofweather. Days that can bedownright warm, or hellishcold. Going tramping the wood-lands now, one is not sure howto dress.

Too warm too soon in Marchwrecks havoc on the loggingroads, and then the gates getclosed. I have driven in theroads early in the morningwhen the temps have been inthe teens with no problem, butcoming out after lunch whenthe temps got into the fifties, itwas tough going. Sometime atthe end of March, I change overfrom the snowmachine to the 4-wheeler. Snowshoeing this win-ter wasn’t the best; the snow wasdeep enough that you neededthem but not deep enough tocover all the stumps, rocks andblow downs.

Most of the winter, it was easygoing in the woodlands, but get-ting into my places, I found thelogging roads iced over in manyplaces. Sometimes rough icewas drivable, but other placeshad glare ice. Glare ice fromone side of the road to the otheris a trap. You might be able to

get in a mile or so, but eventual-ly you get in a jam. You shouldwait for a wet snow or a melt toventure into these places.

What about the coming win-ters and milder weather? Whatdestructive disease, virus orinsect pest will it bring to theNorth Country?

There are some insects ofdamage not that far awayknocking on our door. Thelong-horned beetle, whichbrings shivers down the spine ofmaple orchard owners; the ashtree borer, and the insect thatkills hemlock stands. All waitingto come north.

How will that happen? Maybeout-of-staters bringing in theirown firewood, logging truckscoming loaded from downstateto our mills up here. But theywill come. The tick made it andis thriving. I am waiting for thefirst possum to come to theNorth Country. The farthest Ihave heard of, and that wasquite a while ago, was a possumreported in Plymouth

So as March is neither herenor there, for me it is the longestmonth, a waiting month. I lookat the garden waiting, the smelt-ing equipment waiting andthinking of fiddleheading.

And speaking of smelting,what’s up with the smelt runs?Aziscohos Lake has a goodsmelt population in it. Yearsback the run was good for aweek or two. Now, after three orfour days, it is over. Last season,we got limits, but four days later,it shut down. The smelt used torun heavy just at dark. Nowthey trickle in at dark and don’tcome good until eleven or mid-night.

Things sure do change. Well,most things change, and I amglad I don’t. Although I noticedhillsides I always climb up must

be heaving more each yearbecause they now are steeper,and the roads I hike must belonger than they used to be.There must be somethingwrong with the air we breathe,because now I breathe a lotharder when I hike. Some thingthey put in the metal on the newsnowshoes makes them dragmore. Even around the home,things change. They are makingthe newsprint smaller because Ihave to hold the newspapercloser. People talk a lot softerthan they used to too, makingme say, “Huh?” all the time.Yes, things change.

At the end of March, thebears will be up and aroundwalking the cuttings. At the endof March, one will see oldstumps and blow downs rippedapart and flat rocks turned overby the hungry bear. And onceagain we do battle. Human vs.bear over birdfeeders, garbagecans, barbeque grills, beehivesand corn patches. It won’t belong before the outdoorsmanwill be hearing of camping andfishing expos, planning to fishthe mouth of brooks for salmonand brookies come ice-out,

thinking of boating instead ofsnow machining, and the sport-ing camps will be gearing up forfishing season.

In the meantime, we all waitduring the long month ofMarch. There will be some outduring March doing their thingsas we wait. The tree-tappers willbe tapping, hauling and boiling.I can’t wait for fresh taffy.

The month of March will giveus the full worm moon. Thepussywillows will burst out withtheir catkins; the coltsfoot andskunk cabbage will be outamongst the snow. And thedooryard chickadees will besinging their spring song. And ofcourse, the March wind willcome blowing in with the prom-ise of renewal. The frozen earthwill thaw, and it will start overfor another season: openbrooks, plants shooting up, theblue bird and woodcock willcome early. We will be lookingfor the familiar V in the sky aswe hear the ever so faint cry ofthe geese coming back North.


David John roams the hills year-round,bringing home the moose antler andother nature’s treasures. You can emailhim at DavidJohn1943@gmail .com.

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rod of whatever it is that's growingout back for less than half of whatthe Brits are charging.

In the mid 1850’s, SamuelPhillippe from Easton, PA, createdthe biggest innovation in fly fish-

ing: the fly rod made of six bam-boo strips. Not satisfied withPhillippe’s method, other rod mak-ers created rods from four andeight strips, but the 6-strip hadstaying power and is the standardseen today. There was one excep-tion.

Robert W. Crompton, of St.Paul, MN, developed a 5-stripmodel that, although too stiff, wassuperior in strength. This strengthcame from the fact that there was aflat side opposite each joint, unlikethe six-strip model that had a jointopposed by another joint.

Some time after WWII, fiber-glass became fodder for fly rods. Itwasn’t the hollow rod we knowtoday, but, a solid blank, square orround in cross section. This solidform was necessary because fiber-glass had a much lower modulusthan bamboo and would notrecover as quickly because it wastoo flexible. Not much danger ofbreaking one of these. Many arestill in use as tomato stakes or forpoking cats out of trees.

In the 1950’s, the FenwickCompany developed a thin-walled, hollow rod that flexedmore like the traditional bamboorods. They did this by laying uplongitudinal lengths of glass fibers,wrapping them around a form andheating them in an oven until theglue turned the fibers into a solidwall. This is the same process usedthese days for modern rod blanks.

At one point, a space-saving tele-scoping rod was developed.Poachers favored these or telescop-ing steel rods because they couldbe hidden in a pant leg. I suppose

the illegally caught fish would go inthe other pant leg.

In the early 1970’s, graphitecame out of the aerospace fieldand into fly rod technology. TheOrvis Company was a leader inthis technology. This worked outwell because prime bamboo wasbecoming difficult to find andOrvis wanted to maintain its repu-tation for quality. In fact, LeighPerkins, the Orvis owner at thattime nearly went to jail because wewere prohibited from importinganything from the Commies. Theonly exception was for materialsthat were "remanufactured."Perkins got a chemist to testify thatthe heat-treating process, done inFrance, before importation, chem-ically changed the bamboo. TheG-men agreed and Perkins wenton his happy way.

Long about this same time,boron, another aerospace materi-al, found its way to fly fishing. Inthose days I belonged to the samefly fishing club as Don Phillips, anaerospace engineer and inventor ofthe boron rod.

Don would show up with his lat-est boron model and wave it undereverybody’s nose. He’d demon-strate the strength of boron bythrowing it down and stepping onthe tip. My fishing partner, Bill,suggested Don would catch morefish if he could manage to keephold of the rod.

Don indignantly explained thatthe rod was indestructible. Bill tookthis as a challenge and he attempt-ed, unsuccessfully, to bend the rodinto a 720 degree circle. In the longrun, boron faded away whilegraphite did not, but I don’t thinkit was Bill’s fault.

Since then, other materials havebeen introduced. Titanium is oneof the latest, introduced by ADGin 1999. Apparently today’s endgame is to see who can make thelightest, fastest action rod. In orderto capture a different market seg-ment, some manufacturers areheading in a different direction -claiming their new fiberglass rodshave the closest action to qualitybamboo rods, so here we goaround again.

I was recently overcome by anavalanche of fly rods while lookingfor a misplaced frog gig. Whoeversaid, “You can never have toomuch of a good thing,” has notpeeked into my guestroom closet.That got me thinking about fly rodevolution - or is it revolution?

Some cite an illustration of anangler from Thebes (ancientGreece) circa 1400 B.C. using a 6-foot twig, horsehair line and a flymade from wool and a roosterneck feather as the earliest recordof fly fishing. Unfortunately, thereare no confirming photos.Apparently they were lost in thedrug store film department.

The next major advance camefrom Scotland or northernEngland in the mid-1600s whenmerchants began specializing infishing tackle. Tree branches wereshaved into rods and used with aline of equal length. The line wasflopped out and the fly followed bythe rod tip much like modern high-

stick nymphing. Not too excitingbut it worked. This was before theadvent of the reel so distance cast-ing would have been impossible.

Various types of wood wereemployed including shaved green-heart, lancewood, hazel, willowand hickory. I guess anglers usedwhatever was at hand. You can stillpurchase a greenheart rod fromClan Fishing Rods, Ltd(clanrods.com). Or, I'll sell you a

Guided by the Light or is That a Train Coming?Guided by the Light or is That a Train Coming? By Tony LolliBy Tony Lolli

Spare the spare rod

Tony Lolli is from Cabot, VT. Hisbook, Go-To Flies: 101 Pattern thePros Use When All Else Fails is avail-able online from Amazon andBarnes&Noble.


any shakiness that may comefrom resting the camera on thewindow ledge of a car that stillhas the motor running, or evenfrom your pulse. That means youhave to use some stabilizingdevice to ensure sharply focusedimages.

If you are making that leap tobuying a new P&S, keep a coupleof things in mind. The manufac-turers are loading the cameraswith mega pixels. Pixels are thebuilding blocks of a digital image.Currently you can find cameraswith 12, 15, 18 mega pixel imagesand even more. These computerfiles are huge. When you considerthat a photo that covers two pagesin a magazine can really beachieved with a file size of 5-8mega pixels. Each of these

images will take up the amount ofmemory you have set your cam-era for. That means you will needa huge amount of memory inyour computer or on a separatestand-alone hard drive just tostore all the image informationyou will be transferring off yourcamera. You will also find thatmost P&S digital cameras willshow you both an optical zoomand a digital zoom. Optical zoomis your primary consideration. It’sjust like changing lenses. Youselect a focal length based on

what you are trying to emphasizein you image. 35, 100, 200,500mm, etc. Digital cameras alsodisplay digital zoom. Digital

zoom primarily enlarges individ-ual pixels and may lessen thesharpness of the image, just likethe selection of a fast film speedused to. I have included a fewimages with this column thatwere all made with P&S digitalcameras. It takes some extra timeup front to learn the idiosyn-crasies of the modern phototools, but the results can be dra-matic.

The rooster pheasant images inmy birding column found else-where in this issue were alsomade with a point and shootcamera. Oh, by the way.Remember to get a shim of woodto replace the camera manual’sformer position and functionunder that table leg.

It seems that almost everythinghas a camera in it these days. Ourcell phones, blackberry electronicdevices, key chains, it’s bewilder-ing. While these devices havetheir place in the photo world, thepoint and shoot camera in all its

current variety has grown up andis a popular tool for sportsmen.The point and shoot camera thatstunned us all in its simplicitymeant that we didn’t have tofocus and a flash was built in andfired automatically when needed.

Today’s point and shoot devicesrange is size from a fat credit cardto cameras about half the size ofa regular DSLR (digital singlelens reflex). The primary differ-ence in features is that most P&Scameras do not have interchange-able lenses. That is because themodern P&S cameras have verygood quality lenses with a widerange of focal lengths from wideangle to long telephoto. TheNikon model I use will zoom outto 500mm which is ten times thestandard focal length. It alsocomes with a variety of menuchoices that have predeterminedsettings that handle everythingfrom sports events requiring fastshutter speeds to landscapes andmacro photography. These cam-eras are computers with a lens.The built in computers are farmore powerful than those com-puters most of us in our middleyears learned to type on in highschool. It is critical that you famil-iarize yourself with these menuitems in order to effectively utilizethem when the time comes.

So take a moment and go in theother room and get the manualfor the camera out from underthe slightly short leg of the table,you’re going to need it. Keep itwith your camera or at least closeby. Now when a TV commercialinterrupts NCIS try playing withthe different settings. My camerafor instance, has a pet portrait set-

ting. I have literally thousands ofphotos of my dogs and I instinc-tively know how I like the imagesto appear. For a newcomer tophotography or the sportsmanthat received a new camera forChristmas or a birthday, it is veryimportant to know how the cam-era sees the world without youmodifying the image. Rememberthat the programs in the cameraare based on literally hundreds ofthousands of images in order tosatisfy the majority of photo-graphic challenges with whichyou will be faced.

These computer cameras canbe scary. I think it’s safe to saythat the majority of my studentsin photo classes haven’t crackedopen the camera manual otherthan the one page Quick-Startguide. They set the camera on fullprogram where the cameramakes all the decisions. Once Iintroduce them to the other fea-tures that sit at their fingertips,they are thrilled. They feel a senseof overwhelming joy. For instancemost of the cameras offer you theability to adjust your exposure upor down in order to lighten ordarken the image.

I will admit that I only startedwith digital cameras about fouryears ago. A friend loaned meone of his and when he saw some

of the photos of my BrittanyGypsy, he was astonished. Hesaid; “How do you get pictureslike that in two days with a cam-era I’ve had for five years with nosuccess”? I do have an advantage.I’ve been photographing the out-door world for about forty years.I’ve made all the mistakes morethan once and you have to runhome to a couple of basic rules.Remember that if you are using along telephoto setting like400mm it magnifies the imageeight times. This also magnifies

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is an emotional, somewhatromantic celebration of the com-plex relationship between huntersand hunting dogs. It captures thespiritual nature of our relation-ships with these offspring ofwolves. It is the depth of that spir-itual relationship that transcendswhatever pragmatic associationwe may have with dogs – be ithunting, guarding our property,or pulling our sleds.

Arnette divides his stories intothree parts, replicating the threephases of a dog’s life: The EarlyYears, when the bonds betweenman and dog are formed andwhen the young dog learns toblend that which is instinct andthat which is training; TheMiddle Years, when the dog’sperformance is at its best and itstalents the most productive; andfinally, the Last Years, when thebonds between man and dog arestrongest and the relationshipholds its deepest meaning. This isalso the period when any dogowner faces impending loss andcomes to comprehend decline, aswell as the time when the huntervalues his companion the most.

Arnette binds all three sectionstogether with a unifying epilogthat, as he says, “brings a degreeof symmetry.” Trained as awildlife biologist, Arnette writeswith the spare, direct language of

a scientist, his stories filled withsentiment without seeming senti-mental.

Stories such as “WarmPuppies,” “Homestead Ghost,”and “A Fair Trade” unfold withan abiding sense of the author’slove for all dogs, a special collec-tion of creatures indeed. InArnett’s words, “The associationbetween man and dog is unique,without parallel over the spec-trum of our history.”

It may take a bit of effort tolocate a copy of Gun DogChronicles, but it remains avail-able to those who look, and oncefound, putting it down proves thechallenge.

In his concluding paragraphs,Arnette writes of “PerfectMornings” and he recalls “anoth-er morning not that long past, amorning that was a gift whoseminutes and hours flowed togeth-er into an extraordinary whole.”For anyone who knows the love ofa dog or has admired a sportingdog at work, Joe Arnette haswoven 26 tales into one extraordi-nary whole.


AttentionNew HampshireHunters

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Name:Address:City: State: Zip:Telephone Number:

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AttentionNew HampshireHunters

The Gazette’s Book ReviewThe Gazette’s Book ReviewGUN DOG CHRONICLESBy Joe ArnetteSilver Quill Press, 2001189 pages, $22.95ISBN: 0-89272-530-3

By Colonel J.C. Allard

Nearly everyone loves a gooddog story – think Lassie, ComeHome or Old Yeller. Stories ofsporting dogs are among the best– think Big Red or Irish Red.Now think of 26 fine sporting dogstories compiled into one volume.

Respected columnist for GunDog magazine, Joe Arnette ofKennebunk, ME, has woven 26reflections into a volume that isboth a joy to read and a welcomeaddition to the panoply of dogrelated literature. Though tenyears old now, this book has lostnone of its appeal nor the power-ful way it illustrates, 26 times, themajesty of our relationship withdogs.

Published by Silver Quill Press,an imprint of Down East Books

in Camden, ME, Gun DogChronicles weaves togetherArnette’s prose with pencilsketches by Ross Young and ascene-setting introduction by JoelVance. The result is a wholeworth much more than the sumof its parts.

Not a guide book like John andAmy Dahl’s The 10-MinuteRetriever, or a training manuallike Richard Wolter’s classicGame Dog, Gun Dog Chronicles

Col. J.C. Allard lives in Pittsfield, NHabout 20 miles north by east ofConcord. “We're in the shadow of theBelknap mountains here, but we can seeMt. Washington on a clear day”.

HELP WANTEDLooking for distibutors in various

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march 2012 - the outdoor gazette

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