Alexander’s First Hunt

Alexander is sooooo excited to be out hunting today.  He has been waiting since I can remember for that magic tenth year of life to roll around. He has followed me traipsing through the woods and sitting on stumps on many occasions while I hunted. He always wants to carry my rifle or shotgun, just so he can pretend. How many times I’ve said, “Sorry, son. You can’t do that. You’ll be ten soon and get to hunt with your own gun!” Of course, he felt it would never come soon enough.

Alexander’s 1st Hunt

I heard him telling a friend at school the other day, “Yeah, Saturday I’ll be huntin’ with my mom and dad. I’m gonna get a buck. A BIG buck.” 🙂 I hope he does! Fresh deer meat in the freezer would be awesome.

In Maine, youth hunting begins at 10 years of age, however, legislation was recently passed removing that restriction. Beginning in January 1, 2016, an entire new generation of hunters will begin an exciting year. A family heritage we are so proud to honor and to protect will be continued.

For information on obtaining your Maine hunting license, to review all current guidelines and follow as they change, please visit: Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man – The Final Hunt

In the final few hours on the final day of hunting season, Dennis and I hopped in the Jeep and headed to the woods. After some driving around scoping the landscape for deer, he took me to a red pine plantation in Hodgdon, just a little ways from his home. He treated me to a beautiful location not only to hunt but to spend time exploring, walking the pathways through the trees and along the brook.

Red Pine Plantation

There is something that greatly appeals to me about tree plantations. Maybe it’s my slight OCD that makes me really, REALLY like things in order, straight, evenly spaced, etc. Maybe! I find trees of all shapes, sizes and species to be beautiful and have photographed my fair share of them, but when they’re lined up in row after row after row…it’s such a stunning display!

It was cold at the end of November. The sun was just starting to slide down behind the ridge. We walked in quietly and sat down on the ground, leaned against two trees across the path from each other…waited…and whispered. Dennis told me about times in the past when he’d hunted that same area. We were sitting just above a spot where he had found a scrape and had seen deer coming out of the woods to travel through the plantation. He’d also seen quite a number of places throughout the adjacent woods where they’d been bedding down, so we were in a prime location for hunting.

I didn’t have my rifle in the Jeep when we left, so Dennis said I’d use his that day. I hadn’t fired it yet, but I was itching to! He hunts with quite a sweet piece of equipment. He has a Remington Model 7 Magnum Alaskan Wilderness Rifle in 7mm Remington short action ultra mag mounted with a Leupold 6×42 scope. It’s one of his prized possessions and rightfully so! I hoped to try it out that afternoon, but more than anything, I wanted to tag my first deer.

I sat on the cold ground with what I quickly found was not enough layers of clothing for the occasion. I checked the safety again on the rifle,  laid it on my leg with the barrel resting across my boot and began scanning the woods around us with eager eyes.  We watched and listened with hardly a sound stirring in the dense forest circling the stand of pine. I could hear the water moving down the brook, a few birds sounding off, then one sound that made me turn my head. I looked across at Dennis, and he had heard it too. He pointed in the direction to my back, so I turned a little and listened, peering through the trees. Nothing. The sound stopped. I settled back into my pine needle seat.

We sat for over an hour watching the light fade to dusk, to the point I couldn’t see well enough to make out antlers if they’d been 50 yards in front of us. Dennis was watching the time closely and signaled when legal time was over. We got up, I brushed pine needles off my ass, handed him the rifle, and we started making our way back down the long path to the Jeep.

I was absolutely freezing, not having dressed well enough. I know better, and know now after several months with this outdoorsman of mine that I need to be prepared for wherever the road takes us when we leave home. That’s my kind of adventure! He asked if I was cold, and I answered him with trembling lips. He smiled, took my hand in his, and we walked out of the woods side by side. He never let go until we reached the Jeep.

No deer, no significant sightings or heart-pounding experiences…just a man and woman sitting on the ground in the quiet woods, watching the sun set…and it was the best date I think I’ve ever had. A slow day in the woods is better than any day anywhere else.

Till next time…

 

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Making the Cut

Very early in our dating, Dennis began sharing with me the plans he had for his land, his house and the connection of these plans to his love of hunting and falconry. I remember being awestruck that not only did he passionately pursue some REALLY cool outdoors activities, but he went about it methodically, conscientiously and put great emphasis on conservation and the preservation of a way of life. I figured out quickly upon seeing the hawk house he built from scratch utilizing his own design and milled wood from his land that he pays a lot of attention to detail and quality. I’ve found this extends to every area of his character and his life.

He explained a little about cutting part of the forest behind his house, and our weekend activities soon turned toward getting the tree lines ribboned off for the upcoming cut. Boy did I learn a lot, following him through the thick trees and brush while we worked together to tag miles of trees. He measured off and used a special compass and his GPS to determine the lines, and I followed behind him filling in the gaps with loads of bright pink ribbon so Andy could come through later in the feller buncher and start cutting according to a very specific plan Dennis had laid out. I’d never done so much bushwhacking in my life…and I LOVED it!

When Dennis bought his property in Hodgdon 28 years ago, the land had recently been selectively cut. He, his son Joey, and friend Matt have hunted the thickly wooded 31 acre homestead every year.

Dennis’s cabin and hunting grounds in the Maine woods on a snowy day in January

They have harvested bear, a number of ruffed grouse (“partridge”) and hares and have seen deer and a vast array of birds coming in and out of there routinely. As the landscape has grown up and changed over time, the small game population has dwindled due to the decrease in easily accessible food and shelter. Dennis started reading and putting in some research and has set in motion a plan to revitalize his land, encourage healthy forest growth for proper wildlife management and hopes to increase the game population by providing a suitable habitat for them. His primary focus in this effort is hunting – more specifically, falconry.

Kahn, a goshawk, eating red squirrel for supper

The management process he has chosen involves clearcutting designated blocks of land. The 24 acres of forest he is cutting for managing will be cut in two sessions over a twenty year period. This month, they are cutting twelve one acre blocks and leaving the remaining twelve untouched to be cut after the current cleared sections have regrown and matured. To look at his diagram on paper, it forms a checker board pattern. He studied this method in “Managing Northern Forests for Wildlife” by Gordon W. Gullion, a book promoted by the Ruffed Grouse Society in Maine. Dennis has taught me that ruffed grouse require four stages of forest growth available year-round to provide shelter, breeding, nesting and brooding grounds and food for all seasons. They are a non-migratory bird and tend to spend their entire life in a small area, so all these natural resources must be available in close proximity.

Ruffed grouse I photographed last summer

The ideal prescription for this particular cut is to clear blocks of land every ten years over a forty year period, but due to the limited number of acres he is working with, he will only be able to make this cut twice. It’s difficult to get the logging companies out to cut smaller acreage due to the cost involved, and, as Dennis says, “It’s going to make a hell of a mess, and it will probably take ten years to clean up the front yard.”

Glen in the “limber,” de-limbing and sorting wood into piles, getting it ready for the chippers to come in

Dennis’s son, Joe, hauls trees out of the woods with the massive sized skidder so they can be processed and hauled to the mill.

Tree hugger types argue that clearcutting land is an unacceptable practice of deforestation, destroys wildlife habitats and contributes to negative climate change. “SAVE OUR FORESTS” has become a blanket battle cry and clearcutting trees for any reason deemed incomprehensible. Some scientists, foresters and hunters who are familiar with the patterns of wildlife and habitat around them argue just the opposite. Deforestation is the removal of a forest with no intention of establishing a future stand of trees. Deforestation occurs every time a piece of land is cleared for the purpose of putting up a man-made permanent structure, such as shopping strips and housing. Those of us concerned with true environmental conservation and well thought out wildlife management can clearly see the value in carefully planned management of our forests. This is a project I can easily support Dennis in seeing through, and I’m thrilled to be involved in the process.

When this cut is complete and the trees are yarded out, the ground will be exposed to the sunlight again, and the regrowth will begin nearly immediately. The soft and hardwood varieties will thrive in the newly designed space, with more sunlight and breathing room that will encourage healthy growth. The popple roots will start sending up sucker shoots rapidly and provide a very quickly growing habitat for animals to move into. There are drumming logs that have been set aside and will soon be moved into the centers of each cut block for the male grouse to use in their rituals. We’re already saving all the apple cores we can to seed in the cuts to grow for the deer. The new environment should be welcoming to a large variety of area wildlife.

Soon, we’ll be making plans to set up observation and hunting blinds and make good use of the 10,560 feet of new edges available along the cut blocks. Joe will be clearing a couple more trees to make a good view from the hunting stand he already has built in the woods, and we’ll be looking for a couple of good spots to set up bear bait cans for the fall hunting season. The popple will start filling in, the wildlife will multiply, and the hawk will have some prime hunting grounds to soar and explore. Yes, there will be bear, deer, grouse, hares, coyote and hopefully moose harvested on this land. The hawk will hunt and eat live prey. No, it’s not always a pretty picture, but it’s life. It’s natural, it’s useful, and there is a healthy balance to be maintained between man and nature. Harvesting on this land will be selective, well thought out and planned for with Dennis’s ever watchful eye focused on conservation and proper management of these resources.

Dennis and the Hawk – photo courtesy of his daughter, Ashley

With the cut only a week old at this point, we have already seen an increase in the signs of animals coming in to graze on the freshly cut trees and foliage that are now much more easily accessible to them. Standing at the back door the other evening, Dennis spotted a huge bull moose browsing up on the knoll on one of two new trails we can see all the way down from the house. The knoll is now called Moose Knoll. He peered toward us, we gawked at him, he was still eating his fill as we lost sight of him when darkness fell. Dennis said, “This is EXACTLY why I’m doing this.” He beamed with pride at such an accomplishment. I couldn’t help but smile at this outdoorsman of mine.

Till next time…

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man

Growing up in Houston, you’d think I had grown up living the city life. In many ways, yes…when in Rome…but I had the great fortune of being raised around my grandparents’ homestead and with a variety of farm animals that my parents dabbled with over the years. I grew up in the garden, wearing bonnets and work aprons made by my grandma. We were surrounded by cows, a horse or two, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats and later on a large variety of exotic birds that my grandparents raised. Mornings in the garden and tending and milking animals followed by warm, humid evenings relaxing in lawn chairs under the porch made up a day in my life. We lived an “outdoors lifestyle” but it was a far stretch from the outdoors lifestyle I have discovered a passion for since moving to Maine in 2009.

Maine has become my personal heaven on earth. I never realized how out of place I had been during my entire adult life until I set foot on this soil. From the first visit to check things out before settling on the big move, I was home. It was a surreal feeling standing on the edge of these woods and on top of the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and having that feeling that I had finally found MY path. Four years behind me and not one single regret have proven that I was correct. This is the life I was meant to live.

Soon after moving to Maine, I set about pursuing every activity I could think of (and brave) along with my family. We hiked, camped, and did more sightseeing than I thought possible. We learned to canoe and kayak and started fishing avidly during the summer months, as well as spending time on the ice during hard water season. We’ve hunted bear, deer, turkey and partridge and put more miles in on the dirt roads in the last four years than I had in my entire life. Over the past year, the kids and I have begun learning about archery with the goal of adding bow hunting to our annual activities. We’ve been living our dream life with zeal, and I have become a passionate outdoors woman. The only thing I felt I was personally missing along this exciting new journey was an outdoorsman.

Through a series of life events and some major changes, I found myself traveling down a vastly different path and really wanted someone – the right kind of someone – to share the journey with. My “someone” had to be a man who would not only be by my side during an unlimited variety of outdoors activities, but he also had to sincerely enjoy all that the lifestyle has to offer. I had never had the benefit of a partner who was a true outdoorsman, and the idea of a “paddling partner” or “hunting honey” appealed to me greatly. I knew I’d *know* him when I met him. I had all but given up and sworn off the whole dating scene, and then I met Dennis. What a perfect match he’s been.

We had a number of friends in common through the logging industry in Maine, with Dennis working many years for one of the local logging companies, and found an instant and easy connection as we began to talk and compare notes. The man I quickly got to know was all he was cracked up to be…and so much more! I found him to be a great man, an amazing father to his three grown children, proud papa to two super sweet little boys, and he was the quintessential outdoorsman I’d been dreaming of. We spent many hours talking about our families, our kids and our shared life experiences – good experiences and bad. We talked about his years of adventures hunting bear, deer, partridge, turkeys, sledding with his own team of dogs, flying small planes as a certified pilot, raising all sorts of animals, horses he keeps for his daughter and grandson to enjoy, building his amazing cabin in the Maine woods, cutting and milling the lumber off his land to build a hawk house from scratch, etc. Yep, I was highly impressed!

We connected on so many levels, I was just astounded, and I found myself listening at the other end of the phone with pure excitement as he shared some amazing and often hilarious stories. I hadn’t laughed – or blushed – that way in a very long time. Yep, this man was definitely worth getting to know better. I was chomping at the bit to get out there and start sharing in some of these incredible adventures with him. We agreed to meet on a Sunday and had plans for an outing…but after the second week of nightly three and four hour conversations, he couldn’t wait to meet. Sweet! By Friday, he was on my doorstep, and we were on our way! Our first date was a simple evening Jeep ride and relatively uneventful, but when he returned again Sunday for our originally scheduled date, boy did the fun begin!

In addition to his many outdoors skills, Dennis is a falconer and has spent the last several months raising and training Kahn, a goshawk. He had a red tailed hawk previously, but his dream was to find and raise a goshawk, so he spoke about it very passionately, as he began teaching me all about the bird and the process of training him to hunt. I’d never even heard of the sport until meeting him, but what an absolutely amazing concept and activity and a perfect collaboration between man and wildlife. The second day we got together, he brought Kahn and we took him down to a nearby gravel pit for a training session.

Dennis getting ready to release Kahn, a goshawk, for a simulated training hunt.

I was absolutely in awe watching man and wild bird, working as companions. Being the adventurous soul that I am, I wanted my turn!

An absolutely amazing experience being in close contact with a hawk!

It was truly an amazing feeling being in contact with the hawk – my first of many new experiences shared with Dennis. An even better feeling…sharing my passion for the outdoors with a true outdoorsman and great partner at my side. I realized very quickly what I’d been missing in my life. I have a lot of lost time to make up for!

We have since spent every weekend together, sharing, learning, talking, laughing…we have hunted side by side, walked out of the woods holding hands between us and a rifle on each of our shoulders, driven the countryside in his Jeep, hiked for many hours through the thick woods around his house, worked together training the hawk, and spent time hanging out with the kids and grandkids. And for all the ground we’ve covered the last few months…I find myself sitting in the living room of his beautiful cabin in the woods, looking out over the front porch and listening to the horses playing around in the snow…daydreaming about setting up a hunting blind this fall out behind his house along the edge of a new cut. I’ll tell you more about the latest project he has going on around here and another learning experience I have the benefit of sharing with him – next time!

 

 

An Outdoors Woman in the Making

I sit next to my daughter while she is rabbit shopping online, and I’m listening…“Look, Mom! Awwww, how cute. Can I have that one?” For as long as I can remember, Olivia has loved not only animals, but all things related to nature. She reminds me so much of her mother, so I can hardly say anything about her weekly requests for new “pets,” bringing a variety of “really cool” bugs and rodents into the house and pushing the laptop in my face to show me photos of her latest find. She’s a true outdoors-woman in the making. I’m confident that her natural compassion and instinct for working with animals in combination with a healthy respect for the animals’ purpose in our food supply will serve her and the animals she encounters very well.

At 11 years old, Liv has had experiences girls twice her age aren’t fortunate enough to have. She has always been my fearless child and is up for any adventure. When I learned to hunt, she was the first of my four children to say, “Take me with you! Can I go? I want to hunt!” And she did. I took her out to hunt white tail deer, she sat still and quiet beside me on a tree stump when it was so cold we were bundled up to our eyeballs…and she didn’t want to leave when it was finally the end of legal hunting time. We walked out of the woods near dark, and all she wanted to know was when we could go again. She’s been out with me a number of times since to hunt deer and partridge. One day, she’ll be tagging her very own, and I’ll be the proud mother who gets to say “I took my daughter on her first hunt. It was a day I’ll never forget!”

The first year after our move to Maine, we jumped right into the farm life. We started our garden and ordered our first batches of meat birds and layers. We raised chickens and turkeys with the intention of doing our own processing and providing our family with farm raised food. I started teaching the kids right away that these animals were meant to be eaten or to provide us eggs. No names allowed. Yeah, right! Tell young children not to name their “food” and they tend to get creative. Before I knew it, the discussion turned to our flock of meat birds, lovingly named…Roast Chicken, Chicken-n-Dumplings, Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Stew…

Liv was awed by our first batch of laying hens.

When it came time for the first few harvests, Liv was right there! It took her a bit to get comfortable with the actual killing, but she did. The birds started coming to the processing table one by one, and she got right into the task and learned all about the inside of the animals, verging on an actual dissection to find out “what’s inside that pouch? Cool!! That’s the food crop.” No qualms about it! Her insatiable curiosity made it easy to overcome any discomfort she may have had about it, and soon she was cutting right into the birds like a seasoned farm girl and using her naturally scientific brain.

That same curiosity level drove Liv to be the first in our household to learn to clean and filet fish…yes, after she dissected the first one to see what was what.

Liv’s determination paid off with a nice yellow perch! I’m glad she made a good catch, because we’d have been there until she did, no matter how long it took.

Liv dissects and cleans our fish

Curiosity and strong-willed determination drive this girl of mine, and I can already see what an amazing woman she will become. She never backs down from even the toughest challenge, she pushes herself to do what to some grown women see as the unthinkable, and the best part of all…she loves it!

 

 

 

 

Her latest big adventure has been getting more time, experience and comfort in the saddle. She has always wanted her own horse…I think most little girls do, at some point…and finally has the opportunity to pursue this dream activity of hers more often.  Last summer, the kids attended Living Waters Camp on East Grand Lake in Danforth, Maine (www.lwcamp.com) where she was able to take short trail rides during free time. Of course, as for any natural adventurer, the opportunity only served to whet her appetite even more!

Liv riding Cheyenne

Now, with deep snow banks surrounding us and frigid winter hanging in the air, Liv is asking if she can ride this weekend. If it’s at all possible, she’ll be on the horse all bundled up to withstand the cold, and a super proud mom will be right there with her, photographing her in her element…outdoors!