It’s that time of year again to ponder resolutions for the new year. You could lose that last stubborn 50 pounds, cut back on buying hunting and fishing toys, or you could do something really meaningful and make a pledge to keep your feet dry and your hunting boots looking great. While losing a few pounds and buying fewer toys might sound more responsible, you have a much better chance of sticking to a resolution of keeping your feet dry…
A. The shortest day of the year B. The longest night of the year C. The Mayan end of the world D. Time to plan a fishing trip Me and Dad at Libby’s a few years back Forget that it is the shortest day of the year or the darkest day. Forget that some think the Mayans predicted that the world will end today. Let’s be honest, can you think of a better time to start planning a late-spring fishing…
I contacted Brenda Boutin, owner of the Mountain Gazette, back in November with the idea of writing a recurring feature that focuses on outdoor news (broadly defined). The idea is to try to capture all the local scenery that makes up what it is to hunt, fish, and enjoy the outdoors in Vermont. I’ll be reporting on local hunting and fishing news for Bolton, Cambridge, Jericho, Underhill, Westford, and Jeffersonville. This will include interviews with outdoorsman and women, hunting and…
As I wrote in a previous blog post, my “anniversary” DeLorme GPS met an untimely and inconvenient death. With its passing went the passing of all my treasured way points – those points of interest where a partridge was flushed, where I found a deer scrape, where Adirondack trail heads or rendezvous points were, and so on. A new GPS means new way points. The first way point for my new Garmin etrex 20 was my home. I’m not sure…
I’m always interested in what different hunters conclude is essential hunting gear. Essential being defined as essential enough to carry on your person all day long. I drove to New Hampshire last Friday to visit my brother Kirk and to hunt the last weekend of rifle season. If there is anyone who enjoys new hunting toys as much as I do, it is Kirk. We were joined at Kirk’s by his friend Gary. One of the first orders of business…
This past Sunday I completed my first trifecta…three states, no deer, and one year. Despite the lack of meat in the freezer I had a good time. I had an opportunity to hunt with my dad, my brother, my cousin, and several friends in 2012. That is a successful year by any measure. The picture to the left of my cousin Mike, brother Kirk, me, and friend Gary was taken at the base of Bear Hill in Hillsborough, NH. This…
Stopped by the Jericho General Store this morning and caught Mel teaching his English Setter pup, Chester, to work the cash register. He rang up my sale fine, but he had a heck of time making correct change! One more day until I head to New Hampshire for the last weekend of rifle season. I’m sure there will be stories to tell…some real. I am mostly packed – I still have everything out from muzzleloader season here in Vermont (much…
After a couple days of hunting with my muzzleloader (Thompson/Center Triumph) in the hills of Underhill, I decided it was time to spend a day in the office…to work on my blog. The photo was taken yesterday just below the top of a local hill. Extra credit if you can identify it. (Jim and Paul are not eligible for this contest with no prize.) I was hunting with Jim and Paul (those not eligible), who both had doe tags (only…
Back in “the day” you might hear about a buddy getting a deer from the buddy himself, or another friend, or down at the general store, or at the check-in station (often the same place as the general store). Nothing is so simple today. I was down in Connecticut, celebrating Thanksgiving with family, when my daughter told me my friend Jim back in Underhill got a buck. My daughter, Maddie, had just received a “tweet” (from Twitter) from Jim’s daughter…
My wife, Karen, and I just returned from a lovely Thanksgiving celebration at my brother’s house in Connecticut. I told my family that I was writing a hunting and fishing blog and would be writing an outdoor column for the Mountain Gazette. That was the cue needed for the “did I ever tell you about the time” stories to begin. My first editorial comment was, “I can’t write about that, that was illegal!” To which the storyteller responded, “yeah, don’t…