All posts by George Smith

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.

The privilege of deer hunting

This was my Kennebec Journal column on November 8, 1993. As the canoe slid quietly along Hopkins Stream in the pre-dawn darkness, 11-year-old son Joshua jumped when an unseen beaver slapped the water right beside him. “Wow, what was that Dad?” he asked, more exclamation than question. It was the opening morning of the firearms […]

Duck hunting’s a love affair with nature

This was my newspaper column in 1995. You may hear gunshots in the marsh this morning. Duck hunting opened 30 minutes before sunrise. If things went according to plan, at 6 am this morning I was seated in a comfortable chair under overhanding alders, my natural blind alongside Hopkins Stream, a panorama of feathered friends […]