December 2009 Almanac
**THIS MONTH**
–December Offers Rest, Or Intense Activity, The Choice Is Yours–
True baby boomers born in 1946 remember when December passed as the lazy man’s month for outdoors activities. During December, from World War II to the early 1970s, the hunting, fishing and outdoors life in general passed slowly for folks who found this month a grand time to eat leisurely meals with fruits from the forests and water or, better yet, for many of them to sit in kitchens with friends while telling stories of past hunts and fishing successes and failures. It was indeed an unhurried time before the holidays when women did the lion’s share of Christmas shopping and other domestic chores.
Here’s a quick snapshot of outdoor pursuits in those years:
• Ice-fishing for trout and salmon didn’t start until Feb. 1.
• Coyotes didn’t arrive in full force until the 1970s, so no one hunted this wild canine until at least then, and many didn’t get the idea of sitting and calling on field edges until the 1980s.
• The fallen price of fox fur pretty much had ended hunting this canine then, often done with a trusty fox hound in those days.
• Coastal winter smelting attracted a handful of folks, but it didn’t hit full swing until the mid or late 1970s when entrepreneurs started smelting businesses in places such as Bowdoinham and Dresden.
• Muzzle-loading for December deer started in the early 1980s.
• Rabbit hunting was indeed as popular as it is now, maybe a little more, but serious hare enthusiasts needed to invest in a hound or two. Many folks lacked this commitment – then and now.
• Snowmobilers got out as soon as snow flew around their homes, but traveling north for sledding would develop in the 1980s.
• Serious photography started in the 1970s with the advent of big box stores selling discount SLR 35mm cameras and all the lenses and filters. Shooting color transparencies really took off then because box stores sold a 36-exposure roll of slides for a tad more than $1 and charged about $2 to develop them. Folks could burn lots of film – and did – at that price.
Wow, has that changed! December can wear a strong man or woman down now with all that the 12th month offers the outdoors crowd.
• We can now fish for trout and salmon in December, and a public-relation’s man who answers the 207-287-8000 number for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife recently assured this writer that we could kill our daily limit of salmonids this month. If I were you, though, I’d run this past a game warden. I’m betting it really is illegal now.
• Coyote-and-fox hunting with predator calls and even bait and hounds have become quite popular as soon as snow flies in December.
• Fly-fishing this month is booming as more and more waters open to open-water fishing. Until shell ice blocks folks from wading into rivers, crowds actually gather at places such as Payson Park on the St. George River and Shawmut section of the Kennebec River.
• Depending on the year, one out of eight to 12 Maine deer hunters in the regular firearms season shoots a deer. The other seven to 11, upwards to 20,000 now, can buy a muzzle-loader permit to hunt these ungulates in the black-powder season at the tail end of November and into December. In the bottom two-thirds of the state, that season lasts two full weeks in cold weather, often with snow. In fact, muzzle-loaders after deer now outnumber October bow hunters. Black-powder enthusiasts now eclipse this group, so it’s about time DIF&W catered more to the more popular of the sports.
• Snowmobilers really take off in the North Country this month, and lodgings fill every weekend. This has become a crucial part of the rural economy in the northern half of the state.
• Digital photography has really spurred this hobby. It’s inexpensive and folks do a better job of shooting photos with digital as opposed to film because they instantly see the mistakes and prizes. A quick perusal of Internet bulletin boards shows how good the average photographer has become in the last five years.
The difference between December 1970 and December 2009 could spawn a book. It really is astounding how this month has become so active for outdoors people in this state.
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**TIPS OF THE MONTH**
–Fueling the Body–
When people in the outdoors are exercising heavily in such sports as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, bicycling, backpacking, hiking steep terrain, rock-climbing and similar activities that may burn 400 to 600 calories per hour, nutrition and particularly hydration become crucial.
They should drink 22 ounces of fluids per hour, and water works great but diluted fruit drinks and commercial sports drinks prove better, according to recent research on athletes in Le Tour de France.
The body uses carbohydrates (natural compounds known as starches and sugar) and stores it as glycogen (body fuel) in muscles and liver, so before a day of rambling, high-carb foods such as fruit (bananas are great for their electrolytes), brown rice, potatoes, whole-wheat pasta and bread, and vegetables give the body energy for high-impact workouts. During the day of exercising, energy bars, bananas and other fruits keep stoking the inner furnace.
The last rule of thumb includes these tips: 1) Drink before feeling thirsty and 2) eat before being hungry. The body will thank the practitioner of this cautionary advice by allowing an adequate performance for the day rather than having the undernourished, thirsty person bonk.
–Squirrel Heaven Begins Here–
A great December hotspot for hunting gray squirrels includes two favorite foods for this rodent – acorns and corn. Corn crops growing adjacent to oak groves guarantee that bushy tails lurk nearby.
Squirrels fed heavily on corn in September as soon as it ripened, and after the harvest, plenty of grain kept them returning to the field. Acorns also drew them into the woods for heavy feeding, so every squirrel in the vast neighborhood moved to the food-rich area for the dual crop.
Hunters who sit against a tree trunk on the woods edge will get plenty of shooting as squirrels move around on unseasonably warm, mid-to-late mornings in December. Waiting for feeding squirrels to work their way by produces shooting and more shooting.
–Rattle Up a Buck–
The black-powder season has started, but two months of straight deer hunting have spooked deer. So, muzzle-loader hunters need every trick they can muster.
Rattling antlers does give folks an edge for attracting a buck – and yes, does, too. But one caveat needs mention. In Maine, particularly in our North Country or Washington County, a hunter can rattle all day for a week, and with enough bad luck, no deer will be close enough to hear the commotion. (The same holds true for deer calls.)
Three tips help folks rattle better:
• Deer move into the wind, so when setting up, make sure to be pointing downwind toward the direction the deer will approach. It surely helps to be in a stand so the human odor drifts above the deer’s nose, too.
• Don’t rattle hard and aggressively at first, but rather, start softly and quietly, just tickling the tines together for 1 1/2-minutes. Wait five minutes and do it again more aggressively for two minutes.
• Then wait 30 minutes, but before rattling again, scrape the antlers against a tree (and rake the ground if the rattler is on the ground) to give the impression of deer moving around.
If deer are in hearing range, hunters can expect them to come for a look-see.
–Cleaning That Meat Grinder–
Many hunters invest in a meat grinder to make deer-burger and sausage out of wild game, which makes quite a mess of this gadget for cleaning.
Here’re two great tips to make a tiresome job infinitely easier:
• After grinding the fresh meat, it will leave fat, flesh particles and blood behind, so run a package of saltine crackers through the grinder, which will absorb pretty much all the residue.
• Then, wash the “cleaned” grinder parts with very hot, soapy water and rinse well with boiling water, which will sterilize the grinder.
–Weighted Flies Work–
In late season, fly rodders need weighted flies to get the offering down to the bottom at eye level to the waiting maws of salmonids, which do not move far to get a meal in frigid water. That makes weighted flies or split shot on the leader a must to provide every opportunity possible for a hook up.
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**WHERE THE ACTION IS**
–Lower Enchanted Road Varying hares–
After snow flies, varying-hare hunting starts in earnest, and a honey hole within a two-hour drive of the Augusta-Waterville Area holds enough bunnies to offer great sport, thanks to its ideal habitat. Try the woods adjacent to the Lower Enchanted Road and all the twitch roads off this main route to Grand Falls.
For access details, look at DeLorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (MAG), Map 40, E-2. This road begins at this coordinate off Route 201 north of The Forks, and then, potential visitors can find their way by looking at Map 40, 39 and 29.
–Eastern River Smelts–
The Eastern River in Dresden (MAG, Map 13, E-1) might freeze over by month’s end, and this place has catered to smelt anglers for over 50 years. Commercial operators there know how to keep folks happy. Check The Maine Sportsman ads and get a winter reservation. Novice smelters will have no problem because with the shack rental comes advice and tricks for fishing for these tasty treats.
–Hatchery Browns Provide ‘Sea-Run’ Fishery–
The St. George River (Map 14, E-1) in Warren, according to posters on bulletin boards, has a sea-run, brown-trout fishery that produces well in December, but no one should take the term “sea-run” seriously. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIF&W) has recently stocked these fish, but they fight well and look pretty, thanks to gravel rather than cement runs where DIF&W raises many of their browns.
Anglers flock to Payson Park, particularly on weekends, so novices to the St. George can study the veterans’ tactics and have an idea of what works. Mepps Spinners, Swedish Pimples and bright flies fool these hatchery fish as do flies and lures that imitate fish pellets.
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**NEWS AND TIDBITS**
–Southwest Hatchery Trout Worth What?–
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, every dollar spent in raising trout on Alchesay-Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery stocked on Indian lands in the Southwest generates $19 in retail sales.
–Tapply Passed Away Last July–
In July 2009, William “Bill” G. Tapply, a prolific, wonderful writer who had penned more than 40 books and thousands of magazine articles, died of leukemia at the age of 69. He was the son of H.G. Tapply who wrote “Tap’s Tips” from 1946 to 1966 in Field & Stream magazine where Bill had been contributing editor. Most of his books were mystery novels.
–Salvelinus fontinalis Translates How?–
Salvelinus fontinalis, the Latin name for brook trout, translates roughly into “little salmon of the springs.” This name refers to this species’ dependence on clean, cold water.
–‘Skeet’ Means What!–
Grouse hunters in the 1920s invented a shotgunning game to improve their wing-shooting skills and called it “skeet,” borrowing this word from old Norse. It means “Close, but no horn of mead.”
–Accipiter vs. Buteo–
In the birding world, ornithologists call broad-winged, soaring hawks with short tails “buteos” and short-wing hawks with a long tail accipiters. Most people in English-speaking parts of the world call buteos “buzzards,” but in North America, we reserve the word “buzzard” for vultures.
–Bonaparte’s Gull Really a ‘Bonaparte’–
The Bonaparte’s gull occasionally drifts northward into Maine, a bird named after Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon and a renowned 19th century ornithologist in Europe and America.
–Doubly Unique Bird–
The ruby-throated hummingbird has two unique distinctions:
1) It’s the only hummingbird species in Maine.
2) It’s the only bird that can fly backwards.
–Bad Brown-Trout Strain?–
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has documented that the current strain of hatchery brown trout these days has bad genetics; however, in the Belgrade Lakes’ Great Pond where virtually no spawning or nursery habitat exists, those hatchery browns routinely grow to 4- to 8-pound weights and even show up in the double-digit category. Square Pond in York County also produces gigantic browns.
If the brown-trout strain is so bad, then why do they do well in these waters and a few others? Not only do anglers ask that question but also fisheries biologists at the Department as well. This contradictory data has DIF&W’s head biologists confused.
–DIF&W Deer Harvest Forecast–
This writer would like to make a prediction about the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s (DIF&W) 2009 deer-kill forecast of 19,476, which if correct would be the lowest harvest since 1984. However, in the last several years, DIF&W misses these forecasts by miles, and it’s always lower than the projected number. So, we suspect that’ll happen again this year.
Then, we’ll hear the same excuses – hunting weather was bad, hunters didn’t get out and other excuses ad nauseam. In the 1980s and early 1990s, DIF&W hit these predictions with uncanny accuracy despite hunting conditions and hunter numbers, but those days have ended. We hope we’re wrong with our forecast.
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**BIRD OF THE MONTH**
–Raven Has Five Distinctive Identifying Features–
Not long ago, in a rural Maine restaurant, a man within hearing distance of my table was telling his wife rather authoritatively that no one could mix up a common raven (Corvus corax) with an American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) because ravens were so much larger, which is true when comparing average sizes.
Indeed, an average raven measures 24 inches long, weighs over 2 1/2-pounds and has an impressive 53-inch wingspan well over four feet, while a typical crow has a 17 1/2-inch length, 1-pound weight and 39-inch wingspan closer to three feet. Even more telling, a small crow can be as runty as 17 inches long and a huge raven as large as 27 inches – nearly a foot difference.
However, a small raven can measure 22 inches long and a large crow 21 inches, so it would take an incredible eye for collateral scrutiny at a distance to distinguish one inch.
Size can be deceptive at distances, so the best way to distinguish between the two species requires observation of five features.
1) When ravens sit at rest, shaggy, goiter-like throat feathers are quite noticeable, even at a long distance compared to the more smooth-throated crow.
2) The heavier, Roman-like beak has a characteristic hump on it, but crows look more sleek and straight with an ever so slight downward curve.
3) The tail feathers spread out in flight have a wedge shape, but crow tail feathers look straighter across with a slight, smooth arc.
4) Ravens fly like a hawk by flapping and then gliding a lot.
5) The head feathers look more disheveled where a crow has a smoother, neater appearance, but the raven’s messy “hair-do” can be tough to see at times.
The first four characteristics really show up at a distance – far more accurate than fooling with sizes as the sole indicator.
The call of a raven sounds like a croaking, baritone bronk or c-r-ruck, but the crow makes a full-voiced caw or kahr. These sounds strike the ear as unmistakable, and even ornithologists largely agree on the phonetic translations, not always the case with many species.
It’s difficult to mention ravens without bringing up Edgar Allen Poe, who wrote “The Raven” in 1845 four years before his death at age 40. This poem made 19th century denizens more aware of the big black bird and perhaps defamed it a little by making it symbolic of evil.
Poe’s poem made such an impression on American culture that we now have a football team named the Ravens, and they come from Baltimore where Poe lived in his adult life.
Ravens build a nest built with myriad sticks on the edge of a cliff or in a tall conifer and line the cavity with mosses, furs and lichens. Then, the female lays four to seven, dull-green eggs with brown spots – wonderful camouflage.
Humans have persecuted this bird for millennia, but as a general rule, ravens scavenge for food so really bother no one – farmers, livestock owners and the like. This species one shortcoming that gives it a bad reputation involves its penchant for raiding shorebird nests in spring. (Ken Allen)
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**DO YOU KNOW**
–The Christmas Bird’s Measurements–
Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) have become synonymous with Christmas, thanks to holiday cards depicting the species. Do you know which of the following three birds averages the largest size, a northern cardinal, American robin (Turdus migratorius) or blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata)?
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**BOOK CORNER**
–A Good Maine Novel About The Outdoors–
Readers familiar with the mountains of Western Maine and the Rangeley Region in particular will get that “I know that place” feeling in the first few pages of Robert J. Romano’s North of Easie (Birch Book Press, Delhi, New York), encouraging them to push onward.
Likewise, anglers or anyone who has spent time in and around the waterways of the Rangeley Lakes Region will feel at home in Romano’s pages. Even if readers have never visited the spots he alludes to in the fictional town of Easie, the story and plot will keep folks as wound up as a well-tied hackle.
The cast of characters, some with names intentionally similar to locals, runs the gamut from store clerk to former Mafia don to punk rock singer. The fictional town of Easie, depictions of angling and the descriptions of the sights and smells of the region will strike a chord in anyone who has lived or frequented this Western Maine Area.
After writing a major American novel, one of the main characters, Salvatore D’Amico, falls off the grid and hides out in a cabin in Maine, ultimately becoming a fly-fishing guide.
Living with a black Lab named Buck, Sal spends his days on the water and nights with books until a younger woman, Christine Buckley, appears in the town of Easie, sporting a black eye and a mysterious past. Romano adds a cast of fascinating characters, treating readers to a fond and at times tense close up of life in Western Maine.
Even for those people unfamiliar with the Rangeley Region or with fly fishing, Romano’s tale grabs readers and pulls them from one chapter to the next in anticipation of what the well-developed characters will do next.
Romano’s mix includes romance, humor and even the tensions that present themselves for those of us who choose to live a rural existence. The draw that Romano’s characters invoke is so strong that that if left on a table, a non-sporting spouse or significant other may well grab it and notput it back until finished.
While North of Easie is his first novel, Romano is no stranger to the written word, having published Shadows in the Stream, a non-fiction book about fly fishing in Western Maine, and the philosophical Fishing With Faeries, both published by Birch Brook Press.
North of Easie will be available in leading bookstores and on several book-selling websites such as Amazon.com and Alibris.com. Buyers can also get it from the publisher directly by calling 607-746-7453, checking online at www.birchbrookpress.info, or by mailing Birch Brook Press, P.O. Box 81, Delhi, NY 13753.
North of Easie comes in a trade soft cover edition (ISBN 9780978997465) and cost $20 plus $3.50 shipping. (Tom Roth)
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**INNOCENT BYSTANDER**
–Transplants Add Much to the State’s Quality–
In September, a conversation with recently retired fisheries biologist, William “Bill” Woodward, made me feel as if I had stepped into a Tim Sample or “Bert and I” skit with a crusty old Maine native. Interestingly, Woodward grew up in Connecticut but has lived in Maine for 44 years, which apparently has Maine-ized him.
Woodward told me that he had been busy since retiring the previous month, and one chore that had kept him running as of late was digging iris roots.
“What are you digging iris roots for?” I asked.
“To dry ‘em.”
“For what? Are you going to plant them later?”
“Oh, no.”
I waited for an explanation that did not come so asked, “What are you drying them for?”
“They’re for homeopathic medicine.”
“Medicine? For what ailment?”
“Arthritis.”
“Oh…do you have arthritis?”
“No.”
“So who does? …Your wife?”
“People in Europe….”
“Europe?”
“Yeah, I’m sellin’ it to a buyer there and hope they pay me well because this week I’ve put 35 hours into diggin’ and cleanin’ ‘em.”
He paused for a few moments and then said, “Say, you’re askin’ a lot of questions.”
The conversation reminded me once again that Maine has jillions of transplants that have added to the state. They often become advocates in a sane, non-pushy way, and even better, they turn into genuine characters.
This thought of what transplants add to the state crosses my mind at the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine’s Sportsman’s Congress because at this influential meeting, a vast majority in attendance has moved here from other states.
What impresses me the most about these people is this:
Participants at the Congress are a who’s who of Maine leaders in the outdoors sporting world, and they get involved in politics because they saw the outdoors go to hell in states from which they moved. These folks are trying to head off problems here before Maine turns into southern New England.
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**NEXT MONTH**
–Life Slows Little In Maine’s Coldest Month–
The general trout and salmon fishing seasons kick off Jan. 1, and ice anglers get plenty serious about hitting the ice. In fact, for the next 10 days, anglers catch many of the trophy salmon and trout that wind up in The One That Didn’t Get Away Club. This period and ice-out in the spring produce the bulk of the fish in this prestigious club.
Snow falls from Kittery to Fort Kent, so snowmobiling rocks now. Folks hit trails at every opportunity as do cross-country skiers, downhill skiers and snowshoers. Rural hamlets in the North and South Country see a spur in restaurant and convenience-store businesses, catering to the sledding crowd.
Rabbit and canine hunters like snow to help get their sports booming, and now, they have it in spades, sometimes too much. Rabbit enthusiasts like a crusting on the main base with a dusting of light, fluffy snow to help tracking. That aids fox and coyote hunters, too, who like the snow to make their quarry more visible as they set up on the edge of fields, lakes and power lines and call on predator devices. The fox and coyote come from long distances, easy to see against a white background.
Smelting really takes off on coastal rivers because ice is a gimme’ in such a cold month. This sport attracts folks who do not fish for any other species. It offers action and sociability to wile away a winter evening. It really does have everything to recommend it for everyone but say purist fly rodders, who would never pass up a plate of fried smelt.
Photographers succeed now with winter wonderlands when shooting scenics. They cannot go wrong with such a picturesque landscape laden with snow.
Wildlife photographers do well with bald eagles, waterfowl and songbirds now. Also, folks feed deer all over Maine, which attracts big bucks this month that may still sport antlers early in the month.
Fly tying hits full swing as folks replenish boxes or construct hot, new patterns that everyone is talking about across the state. Serious fly fishers put in plenty of time now, keeping their boxes full.
Winter means time to read, too, and great books have hit stores this year. Titles run the gamut from how-to to why-to to where-to, and folks can choose their medicine. Older, meditative types love why-to, but younger folks more interested in killing choose how-to and particularly where-to.
It’s a great month…one of the best in the Pine Tree State.
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**ANSWER TO “DO YOU KNOW”**
–Cardinal Looks Bigger–
All birds with large heads – say Atlantic puffins and many parrots – look bigger than their actual size because of the chunky head. That’s the case with a cardinal, too, because many people think this beautiful red bird grows larger than a robin, but the head makes the Christmas bird look like the bully of the two.
Northern cardinals are 8 3/4-inches long, have a 12-inch wingspan and weigh a little over 1 1/2-ounces, but the American robin has a 10-inch length, sports a 17-inch wingspan and tips the scales at over 2 1/2-ounces – considerably larger than the cardinal.
Blue jays win the size battle between the three because this species measures 11 inches, possesses a 16-inch wingspan and weighs three full ounces. The robin beats the jay in wingspan, but that’s it.
While we are talking about bird sizes, many people think Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) grow much larger than their actual measurements because this bird has an ultra-large head. Some folks picture puffins as standing three feet tall.
However, puffins, on average, have a 12 1/2-inch length – that’s it! …Barely longer than a blue jay.
