and a strong cup of coffee

Trail cameras are addicting. You buy one, get some pictures then decide that you should have another one at a certain intersection and the next thing you know, you are like us and have almost 10 out in the woods, trying to pattern your deer.   That excitement of pulling those memory cards quickly vanishes when you see things that don’t belong on your property.   In the past couple of months, we have had lots of activity on the trail cameras; a car driving around in the newly planted clover and a man walking through a highly traveled deer intersection.  Both men had to make an effort to get where they were; this was not just an 'oops, I took a wrong turn.'  We had posted signs up already and clearly that was not enough of a deterrent to keep them away. This is when it pays to be friends with police officers.  I sent pictures of the car to a friend, who came back within minutes with the name of the car's owner.  I did the same thing with the p...

How can you not be excited when you are checking trail cameras? The suspense, the unknowing... one of the first pulls of the season gave us quite a shock. A dog.  A big brown, pit bull looking dog at the Sky Condo. It looks healthy enough but the last thing we want is a dog up there.  Is it friendly? Who knows but now we may need to carry more protection than we usually do when we are checking the cameras and making tweaks to the food plots.  I would rather see a coyote; they are skiddish of people and don't tend to come out in daylight hours.  Plus, you can shoot them on sight and resolve the problem. Dad thinks he knows who own's the dog but regardless, it doesn't belong running in the woods. 

How does the saying go? Good fences make good neighbors?  If that's the case, what do posted signs make? Two posted signs and a property marker tied onto the tree After a few incidents last year, Dad and I spent Saturday putting up posted signs around the piece of property.  It is kinda of sad to think about the changes over the past few years and how it used to not be an issue: people knew who owned what pieces of land and who hunted on them.  There was a respect for owners and when they said no to hunting, it was respected.  Last year, I was yelled at while sitting in my tree seat, we had people walking along the edge of our property and our neighbor had hunters that he did not know, sit in his blind and hunt.  There is a total disrespect for land owner rights and what they say is and is not ok on their property. Sadly, as a result, we posted the land.  As did our property neighbors.  We have worked hard to build up the habitat, keep ou...

The Maine legislature begins its next session soon and while there are a bunch of wildlife bills being put forward to help keep Maine's wildlife safe and healthy, each year there is one argument that is heard over and over and over again - the desire for Sunday hunting in Maine. The law has been on the books since the 1800's and there have been bills to try and get it over turned but nothing has worked.  Many people think that the law is outdated, needs to be changed and is costing Maine revenue from hunters who would come here to hunt. Here are the most common arguments heard for it: 1. People who work Monday-Friday only have Saturday to hunt 2. If you own the land, why can't you hunt on it whenever you want? I sat in a meeting recently and the guy sitting at the head of the table wanted our group to work towards legislative bills that would 'help the sportsman of Maine." When he said that he wanted to push for Sunday hunting, some around the table nodded....

A hunting license does not authorize you to enter private property without permission. Last week, my friend Robin and I got into a conversation about hunting on private vs public lands (and about hunting on Sundays, but that’s a different blog) and the lack of public land around to hunt on. IFW says 94% of land in Maine is privately owned which makes hunting hard if you do not own land to hunt on. I am fortunate. The three pieces of land that we hunt on make up about 430 acres and are owned by my parents and grandparents. We have allowed people to hunt on the land as long as they asked and did not use four-wheelers. I hunt in a small town where everyone knows everyone else and knows where they hunt/own. It is a community where the rules and verbal requests to hunt on certain parts of land are taken seriously. This year, we posted a new piece of land to keep people off of the logging road and away from where my tree seat is. We don’t expect to have problems, but with a new l...