and a strong cup of coffee

Staci and I were roaming around the woods on a piece of property that she knew. It was snowing and we were chasing deer tracks to see if we could find some early sheds. It was a perfect day to be out in the woods and we were relaxed and not really paying attention to where we were going. We knew the border of the property and we knew that if we walked long enough we would hit roads or the bog and find our way back. We got to a point where we thought we knew where we were but we were not sure. Staci got out her compass to take a waypoint to make sure we were going in the right direction to get back to the truck. I took out my phone and turned on OnX. Within seconds we knew where we were, where the property borders were in relation to us and we could watch the dot (that represented us) on the map move as we walked out of the woods and got closer to the truck. In another adventure, my son and I headed out on a shed hunting mission.  When we got into the woods, I turned on the trac...

Have you ever looked up at the sky and marveled at how blue it was? There was not a cloud up there when  Staci and I packed up our snowshoes and headed into the woods to look for sheds. The recent rain had made the snow unstable and we would break through the crust and sink with every step.  It wasn't the best option, but we ended up on the snowmobile trail looking for active deer crossings.   Wet holes had opened up and streams were roaring.  It was a perfect day to be out in the woods. The rain had made some spots icy and some soft and water logged.  We had to pick and chose where we walked and how fast we could go.  I was surprised when we met three snowmobilers on the trail.  They were probably surprised to see us too because they stopped to make sure that we were all set and had not broken down somewhere.  We continued on and as soon as we reached the tree line, we spotted two deer beds - ALWAYS a good sign. We followed t...

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...

For three days leading up to my turkey hunt, I woke up and looked at the clock to figure out how much earlier I would need to wake up to be at Staci's house on time.  Aside from ticks, the worst part of turkey hunting is the early start time.  The day of my hunt arrived and armed with my coffee, I drove to Staci's house to find some turkeys.  Her husband, John, agreed to be our designated turkey caller. Deer ran through the woods off to our right and a partridge drummed continuously as we walked to our first spot.  The world was waking up all around us but there were no turkeys to answer our calls, so we moved. I spotted the first birds of the morning, a tom fanned out with three hens (or two hens and a jake) so we parked the truck in the next field over and started making our way towards the birds.  Staci and I crawled on our stomachs to the edge of the hill and watched as the tom answered every time John called but it would not cross the field to come tow...

How do you create outdoor kids?  You have them grow up experiencing outdoor adventures like it is a normal part of life. Over the summer, as I was on maternity leave, I was determined not to let the nice weather slip away without getting some fun, outdoor adventures in.  Staci from MyMainelyGirlAdventures took me to one of her favorite fishing spots.  I loaded up the baby, my waders (which I fit back into!) and into the water we went. We didn't catch any fish, but we did have a few bites.  I had the most action on my fly line that I have ever had!  Could have been the flies we put on or, maybe, this baby will be my good luck charm! The weather was perfect and we got to enjoy a few hours in the water wetting our lines and catching up.  What better way to enjoy my maternity leave?

At this point, Staci and I just say that we are doing shed hunting but in reality, we just walk through the woods and see what we can find.  Our latest trip was quite the adventure.  I took Staci to T3 and showed her where Dad had shot his doe.   The trick was getting there without getting hurt. There was enough crust on the snow to be able to walk on it in the morning.  We debated bringing our snowshoes, but ruled that we could handle the crust with the occasional inch break through.  The amount of deer tracks right from the start were nice to see.  They had been checking the old apple trees and following a lot of the same trails that they had been taking during hunting season.  We started off at the Sky Condo, then traveled through the woods to T3.  There were a handful of deer beds close, which is not typical for them at this point in the winter.  It looked like the herd was staying closer to the Sky Condo then they typically did....

While Staci and I were out paddling, we had the chance to get pretty close to female Mallards and a Blue Heron as it fished.

I have no idea what Staci said after the words "water snake" came out of her mouth. I went into panic mode wondering if I was going to snag one with my fishing pole or if every bubble that came up from under the canoe was a snake below us. But, the plan was to catch bass and we climbed into the canoe and paddled off to do just that. We started off with frog lures and within the first two casts, I had a bump on my line but nothing hooked. After a few more casts, Staci was landing bass on a regular basis. One of about 15 bass that Staci caught She was out fishing me almost 10 to one and I knew that I needed to hook something.  I cast into the shallows under one of the fallen down trees and boom! had a bite.  The fish hit and dove.  I could see the bass' light colored belly as it turned and went under the canoe.  Then, all of the tension was gone and so was my lure.  The fish grabbed everything and completely straightened my swivel. I quickly got a ...

...Other outdoor women who support and push them. Plain and simple. Robin Follette, Taylor Follette and Me. These women make me want to be a better outdoors woman! In the month that I took off, there were blog posts flying around about who outdoor women are, what we like and don't and how, even into adult hood, those damn cliques from high school pop back up. Here are a couple of links to check out in case you missed them: Field & Stream's survey on "real women weighing in on hunting." I took the survey but anyone could have told you the results and at the end of the day, it has nothing to do with my hunting. Following Eva Shockey on social media does not make me a better hunter.  Feeding into stereotypes doesn't help my shot placement. The only great thing F&S did in that issue was put the rock-star hunter Mia Anstine on the cover and highlight her along with other women who are breaking stereotypes and changing the face of the outdoor indus...

My friend Staci and I went fishing recently.  The water was down, the air wasn't too hot and the fish were jumping! It was the third time we had attempted to fish this spot and we arrived early enough to be the first in. We had the luxury of being able to enjoy the nature around us and try out a few different flies to see what the fish were biting.  A pair of Mergansers flew overhead and then swam past us while we stood waist-deep in the current. We would cast, change flies and then change spots on the stream.  It was great.  Eventually, a man parked on the edge of the road and started walking down to the stream to fish as well.  I wasn't the least bit concerned because I had just had a great experience in GLS with Greg . I stopped watching him when Staci yelled to point to the fish jumping in front of her and then we watched as her fly rod created an arc back into the water and she started fighting the fish at the other end. I left my sp...

Staci and I found a great place to shed hunt.  We knew that there were deer all around and that we would be in the right spot to find something.  It had started to snow when we got there but the forecast called for heavier snow in the late afternoon.  As outdoors women, we figured that we would be fine. We just started following tracks to figure out where the deer were traveling from.  We headed through a field and towards the woods, looking for beds, feeding areas or yards where the antlers may have fallen off.  Our plan was to walk the perimeter of the property to see what we could find. It is always a good sign when you see a rub almost immediately.  We have seen the sheds that have been found nearby so we knew that there were decent sized bucks around and that the odds were in our favor. Highways of deer tracks ran through the woods and crossed a stream in two distinct spots.  Staci and I followed different trails looking for...

Staci and I headed out again for our second fishing adventure! For the second time, the water levels where we wanted to go were too high so we headed to my hometown to try our lines in the river. The Kennebec River The Kennebec River It was fantastic to be fishing there since I had never done it but I quickly learned that my lures were way too heavy for the water and the grass and slim covering the rocks.  I would get caught on every two or three casts while Staci was using a fly rod and was able to cast out and relax for a few minutes before casting again. We walked about a mile down the river closer to town and tried again to get a bite.  Seeing town from this angle was great! And the weather was perfect. My lure sunk worst at this spot then the first one and I only cast a few times before I reeled in my line and walked over to watch Staci. The Kennebec River The Kennebec Rive Soon, we decided that we needed lunch and to try a third spot.  One ...