Some of us head out into the woods each November, tromp around, sit in trees, huddle on stumps, and emerge at the end of deer season with cold toes and no venison in the freezer. Others are a bit luckier. Last week I spoke with a pair of 80-somethings who used a tried-and-true tactic to fill their tags this season: They stood in their kitchen, looked out the window and took advantage of the opportunity that was presented. If the story sounds familiar, it should. Virginia Mattson-Tracy, the 84-year-old hunter, called me three years ago to tell me a nearly identical story. Though she can’t get around as well as she used to, her kitchen window still looks out onto a pretty productive piece of land, and she’s always got her rifle at the ready.
— John Holyoke
Pair of 80-somethings look out kitchen window, fill deer tags
“I shot a deer the first day [of the season],” Virginia Mattson-Tracy says, proudly. “My husband shot one on Tuesday, in the very same place I shot mine.”
Mattson-Tracy isn’t just saying that the two bucks were standing in the same place, mind you. She’s saying that both she and her husband spotted those deer while “hunting” from the same spot.
That lucky spot: Right in their kitchen, while looking out the window toward a large field and a distant apple tree.
4 moose illegally killed, wardens seek information
Four moose have been shot and killed in Aroostook County, and the Maine Warden Service is looking for help solving the crimes.
Three of the moose were shot over a two-day period, Nov. 3 and 4, in Wildlife Management District 3.
Snowy owls return to Maine, wildlife watchers report early sightings
Snowy owls are once again popping up all over Maine — atop Cadillac Mountain, in Bangor-area fields and near the state capitol building. Migrating down from the Arctic tundra, many of these majestic birds will likely remain in Maine throughout the winter, and biologists believe more owls may be on their way.
Last winter, snowy owls migrated to the United States in unprecedented numbers, a phenomenon known as an “irruption.”
Blog log
Act Out with Aislinn: 1-minute hike: McPhetres Farm Forest in Veazie
In addition to being a place of recreation, McPhetres Farm Forest is a certified tree farm in the national American Tree Farm System, which was founded in 1941 and is now the oldest and largest forest conservation, certification and advocacy program in the country.
Act Out with Aislinn: Bangor hiker films curious critter on Sears Island
When a small brown mammal first scampered up to 21-year-old Mike Ogilvie of Bangor, he was a little concerned it might attack him. But the weasel hung back a few feet, watching him with what appeared to be curiosity, stretching its neck to peek at him above the rocks along the shore.
It was a sunny day in early November, and Mike and his friend Joe Lattari had only just begun their walk along the rocky beach of Sears Island.
“It seemed like one of the last warm days we were going to have,” said Mike. “So we just went to hike around.”
As they continued on their way, they were surprised to find the weasel was following them.
On the horizon
Aislinn spent Tuesday afternoon checking out the critters at the DEW Animal Kingdom and Sanctuary in Mount Vernon, a facility that will be featured in a new reality show on Animal Planet, “Yankee Jungle.” She’ll share that story with online readers later today, and the story will appear in Thursday’s print edition.
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