and a strong cup of coffee

No doubt that I have dropped the ball on posting my adventures here, but I have had a lot of fun happenings this year!  Here is my quick recap: * Beaver trapping - with my uncle and friend Staci . * Honored as Sportsman of the Year from the New England Outdoor Writers Association. * Turkey hunting. * The Maine Moose lottery held in my hometown and my friend Bryan performed. * Mushroom foraging with Staci. * Going to the ribbon cutting of the Ezra Smith Wildlife Conservation area to honor my friend George . * Bear hunting with Staci and then going out with Bill Dereszewski and having Robin comes with us. * Deer hunting with Dad and Hubs. * Taking O out for his first sit in the new deer stand. * Seeing lots and lots of wildlife including a fisher and bobcat, both of which I had never seen in the wild before. * Started writing for Drury Outdoors ' DeerCast app . * Joined the board of the New England Outdoor Writers Association. It has been busy but I am excited to fi

I didn’t see the fawn but I watched in slow motion as the doe hit the corner of the oncoming jeep and disappeared into the tall grass. I hoped that it was just a brush with the bumper and that she would be OK. The driver pulled over and began to walk along the edge of the road to see if the deer was OK. I pulled over on the opposite shoulder and asked if he was OK. We saw the doe struggling to get up and she made a horrific noise.  I assumed that she had a broken leg so I asked my mom to leave me on the side of the road with the driver and go to my house to get the gun. I placed a call to dispatch was put in touch with a warden. He asked if I was able to dispatch the deer and if I wanted to. The last thing I wanted was for this deer to suffer so I said yes and wrote down the tag number. It was dump day in town and the man had planned on making it a quick trip so he did not bring his phone with him.  We gave him a donut and my phone to make some calls; one to his wife so that she c

In an effort to learn how to trap, I asked my uncle to take me out when he set his traps last winter.  He agreed and we went out to set some beaver traps and learn how it’s done. My uncle has been trapping for most of his life, so he knew which areas to check for fresh sign and he had been asked by the landowners to come onto their property to take beaver out and keep the bog from flooding and eating up more land.  Unfortunately, that was the case for a section of our trail and we had to get out and walk. We loaded up an ax, the traps, lures, gloves, a shovel and started hiking, which in waders is no easy task!  We looked for slides, caster mounds and freshly dropped trees.  It was obvious that there were beaver there, we just needed to pick the right place where they were being the most active.  My uncle slipped carefully into what looked like a shallow stream coming out of the bog and almost instantly went up to his thighs.  Waterways that looked shallow and small were a