Monthly Archives: March 2013

Deer driving law reinterpreted

The legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee has allowed the Maine Warden Service to reinterpret the law on driving deer, and by failing to clarify that law, has placed many Maine hunters in jeopardy. Captain Chris Cloutier informed the committee yesterday that driving deer is illegal even for two hunters. For more than a decade, […]

Alewife battle brews again in Augusta

It’s all my fault. In the early 1990s, in my first years as executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, I supported Representative Harry Bailey’s successful legislation to put a board in the fishway at the Grand Falls Dam to prevent alewives from accessing that watershed. And the fight was on. The fight continues […]

Harlow sponsors HSUS bear bill

The Humane Society of the United States has found a new sponsor for its “Bear Protection Act.” Rep. Denise Harlow of Portland will put her name on the bill that resurrects many of the issues in the 2004 statewide bear referendum. Senator Ed Mazurek, announced as the original sponsor, came to his senses and declined […]

Nonresident hunters – Going, Going, Gone for Good?

Will Maine ever regain the nonresident hunters it lost over the last decade?  Realistically, probably not. On January 23 last year, the members of a legislatively authorized Nonresident Hunter Task Force presented a lengthy list of recommendations to the legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. Like most task force reports, it flew onto the shelf […]

Wind Power Column Draws Fire

Well, the wind’s hit the fan. As a longtime proponent of wind power, tidal power, wood power, any power that comes from our natural resources, I’m also well aware of the nasty bullish response from anti-wind people. They seem to specialize in attacking my motives, rather than my facts. Perhaps that’s because the facts are […]

What are Maine game wardens doing these days?

Mainers are justifiably proud when our game wardens participate in a successful search and rescue operation, like they did this week at Sugarloaf. Sportsmen are especially happy when wardens arrest a group of poachers, as they did in my town in 2010 after a successful undercover operation. And while sportsmen are happy to pay for […]

Lots of Energy at Conservation Recreation Forum

An energetic and inquisitive crowd gathered in the conference room of the Maine Forest Products Council on Friday, March 1, for a meeting of the Conservation Recreation Forum cohosted by the MFPC and the Maine Conservation Alliance. With my help, the Alliance obtained a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund to organize a Forum […]

TV Show Debates Lead Sinker Ban

After two years off the air, the Wildfire TV Show has been returned to the airwaves by Maine Audubon. Harry Vanderweide and I continue to cohost the show – the only TV talk show that focuses on hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation, conservation, and environmental issues. Wildfire can be seen on the Time Warner cable station […]