Monthly Archives: July 2013

Nature Wars is a must read book for Mainers

George’s Outdoor Picks Blog posts labeled “George’s Outdoor Picks” will tell you about my favorite things from books to bullets to binoculars, fly rods to flashlights, focusing on what’s new. I do get a lot of products to try, some great, some good, some not so good. In these posts, I’ll only be telling you […]

Doak details landowner concerns on Wildfire

Are you currently picking a tasty crop of chanterelle mushrooms somewhere in the forest? Linda and I have found that the chanterelles are a bit late this year. Did you find lots of fiddleheads this spring, as Linda and I did? Well, you probably do your picking on private land. So did you ask permission […]

Moose permits increase while applications decline

While Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife increased moose permits by 385 this year, applications declined.  DIF&W’s moose biologist Lee Kantar told legislators a few months ago that he is confident Maine now has 75,000 moose. And although he opposed legislative bills calling for significant increases in permits this year, Lee nudged up the […]

Trash walking yields two bags full

It was a Marlboro morning. For my morning walks, I have started carrying a couple of plastic bags and picking up trash. In the midst of this July heat wave, I got out early and chose a route that was mostly in the shade. Picked up 8 empty Marlboro packages, a lot of bits of plastic, […]

Italian birds are colorful and amazing

Hoopoe Hurray! Don’t die until you see a Hoopoe. What a stunning bird! In Italy for the last two weeks of June, we saw many European Hoopoes, entranced by every single one. Each morning we’d pull out our map and choose a walk on one of the ancient gravel roads that wind up, down, and […]

Legislature Corrects Turkey Hunting Mistake

A last minute legislative amendment to a comprehensive expansion of Maine’s turkey hunt included a change that would have allowed two turkeys of either sex to be taken in the spring season. And I reported this after the amendment was added to the bill and enacted into law, in my comprehensive report on the expansion […]

Maine’s brook trout deserve the best

With a stunning sunset to the west and a ring of pink clouds surrounding the magnificent Mount Katahdin and its surrounding mountains to the east, I had to put down my fly rod for a moment and enjoy the views. For the past 90 minutes, my view had been focused almost entirely on the Yarn […]