March 2012 Almanac
Here Come the First Timid Steps of Spring!
Each March in the South Country, the month begins like winter, though astute observers notice a hint of spring on morning breezes. By mid-March, though, spring starts with enough zeal so even casual onlookers get the message.
Those south winds blow with a spring smell, including rotten-vegetation odor, particularly along open fields and clear-cuts on southern exposures. Yes, March offers happy smells.
Rabbit hunters and ice-anglers try to crowd in as many outings as possible now before the new seasons begin, and of course, snowmobilers in the populated bottom of the state head north now because winter still thrives up there. On weekends in particular, it may be difficult to get lodging without a reservation. …Maybe even in mid-week, too.
Make no mistake, folks. Winter has a strangle-hold on the North Country, and snowmobile crowds underscore that fact. Days of near equal daylight and dark, lots of snow and sun and mobs of sledders force people to confront the obvious – and small businesses flourish because of it.
As the month slides toward April, but before the run-off starts, one small but tenacious group heads to rivers and large streams to cast flies or ultra-light lures. Most of this action occurs in the bottom third of the state. Check the S-regs for details.
White-water canoeists wait for rivers and large streams to rise, and then, they go at it with wild rides between snow-covered banks. This sport never feels crowded but always attracts a handful.
Wildlife photographers, landscape specialists, backpackers, hikers, bicyclists and runners also get out a lot in March, particularly on warming days.
This writer lives near a large state highway that attracts legions of bicyclists, runners and walkers, and on sunny days with little wind, calling them a crowd is but a small exaggeration.
“Tie, tie, tie” is the mantra of the month as folks refill fly boxes in time to be ready for April’s onslaught.
It’s a great month, so go for it!
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~ TIPS OF THE MONTH ~
Good Fishing Is Available Before Run-off
True baby-boomers remember when open-water fishing began April 1, and in fact, some anglers recall the old April 15 opening in the 1950s.
Many of us watched waters flowing at perfect levels through March, until rains flooded them over the banks. Today, we can fish open water in March – someplace anyway – so we have a crack at early season action.
In short, we have good March angling until waters rage because of rain and spring melt. April fishing can stink, but life looks good to brook, stream and river fishers for much of March. So folks should go for it.
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White-water Protection Crucial
Many baby-boomers, particularly true baby-boomers born in 1946 and 1947, have run hundreds and hundreds of miles of March and early April white-water when rivers and large streams rage, and they did it wearing woolen clothing and life preservers.
However, it really is crucial to wear wetsuits or similar designs to protect the body in water that runs from 34 to 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Without this step, death from hypothermia or drowning is a distinct possibility
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~ WHERE THE ACTION IS ~
Winning Choices for Running White-Water
From where the Sheepscot River goes under Route 17 in Coopers Mills all the way to Head Tide, white-water canoeists and kayakers can find excellent sport on this river in March and early April.
White-water canoeists and kayakers can orient themselves by checking DeLorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (MAG), Map 13, C-3 to E-2. Many parking areas are by bridges at each place a road crosses the Sheepscot.
The best white-water stretch plunges downhill for seven miles from Kings Mills to Head Tide. Check MAG, Map 13, 2-E.
A fun place to pole goes from Puddle Dock in Alna upstream to Head Tide, also Map 13, E-2. This pole works better in mid- to late May when currents subside.
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March Early Spring Fishing
Before spring run-off kicks off in the Midcoast, the St. George River draws open-water anglers from near and far to fish for browns and brookies. Early spring anglers are often fly rodders or ultra-light spin fishers, and they head to the outlet of Sennebec Pond (MAG, Map 14, between C-1 and D-1) and Payson Park in Warren (Map 14, E-1).
Any spot on the St. George can offer action, but the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife stocks both the locations mentioned above. Before the spring run-off, folks can do well.
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North Country Snowmobiling Booms Now
Snowmobiling still goes strong in the Jackman Region (MAG, Map 39, B-4), where convenience stores, restaurants, lodgings and other tourism related businesses make snowmobilers comfortable. Jackman lies 110 miles from Augusta, a scenic 2 1/2- to 3-hour drive in good road conditions. Snow in this region is a guarantee, and Jackman offers gateways to the Moosehead Region (MAG, Map 41, A-1 and D-2), Eustis-Stratton (Map 29, B-2 and C-2) and Rangeley (Map 28, E-5) – all close shots from mid-Maine.
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~ NEWS & TIDBITS ~
Trees Do Photosynthesis Without Any Leaves
After trees such as quaking aspen and striped maple lose their leaves, they still continue to photosynthesize through the bark whenever the temperature rises to 27 degrees Fahrenheit or above. This explains why the bark has a green tint on these two species and other trees in that same category. Photosynthesis continues despite the absence of leaves.
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Spring Peepers
Male peepers have dark throats and the female light, and males start singing when the air temperature hits 30 degrees. The most vocal peepers tend to mate more than the quieter ones. The breeding territory of a peeper is four to 16 inches in diameter – an incredibly small area.
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Law Enforcement Mistakes Costly
The Maine Sportsman 2011 Opinion Poll asked, “Should wardens be permitted to stop ATV operators on private property without probable cause if they believe a violation is being committed?”
Fifty percent said yes and 50 percent disagreed.
If survey participants knew worldwide statistics about law-enforcement searches with search warrants, then they’d be against allowing searches without probable cause. Law enforcement folks get into enough trouble with a warrant.
Following are two typical stats throughout the world:
In 2009 alone, British police with legal search warrants paid nearly $900,000 in damages for kicking in doors by mistake, and that money was just to repair doors! …Nearly $1 million.
…Which is not a new problem!
In 1998, the New York Police Department (NYPD) organized a special crew to replace and repair doors broken by mistake. In short, a whole group of workers for the NYPD made a full-time living, repairing doors mistakenly smashed by folks paid to protect the public.
Do we really want wardens messing with citizens without probable cause when law enforcement agencies worldwide make so many mistakes under close supervision?
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Constitutional Facts
Since 1789, 12,000 proposed amendments have ended with only 27 passing muster through the proposal process. Knowing this makes the Constitution feel more stable, particularly in regards to gun rights when a majority of Americans question some of our rights guaranteed in the document.
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Saving or Lifestyle
Do Maine people burn wood to save money in these times of high oil prices or do they do it for a lifestyle?
This question falls into one of this writer’s all-time pet peeves – either-or. I suspect most do it for both reasons, although newcomers came at it for the savings at first and then learned that wood heat creates more warmth in winter than a thermostat set at 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Speaking of Lifestyle
One group of Mainers tries living at least partially off the land, and the ones who burn wood also garden, shoot deer, catch fish, raise livestock and harvest wild plants and garden veggies. Many of them prefer living in the country to suburbs, villages or urban settings. It really is a lifestyle and hard work to plant, raise critters, successfully harvest animals and fish and work up wood – the latter a job that warms the doer three times:
• Cutting the trees.
• Working it up into manageable lengths.
• Lugging it into a house to burn in the trusty woodstove, furnace or fireplace.
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Red, Red Robin….
The American robin spends 93 percent of its time foraging for invertebrates such as earthworms and insects and 7 percent for fruit. Ornithologists surmise that a robin feeding on earthworms relies on sight more than sound – despite the head cocking. The robin looks at the wormhole in the ground with one eye and then the other before leaping forward and attempting the extraction with the bill.
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Global-Warming Positive?
Global warming has influenced one positive effect on New England and Maine. In the 1940s, global warming, fields reverting to forests and huge increase in birdfeeders with quality feed had drawn tufted titmice to our region in big numbers.
Right now, titmice ranks as the second most numerous species in this writer’s birdfeeders – beat only by black-capped chickadees. Sure, during some days, other flocking birds besides blackcaps outnumber titmice, but day after day, week after week, year after year, the titmice averages out to be the second most common visitor.
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Deer vs. Varying Hare
This time of year, deer and varying hare concentrate on twig ends for forage, and deer make a ragged snip straight across where hares make a more clean-cut at a 45-degree angle.
When woodland wanderers walk into a clear-cut and look at shoots clipped off on the end, it’s usually the work of these two species. Whitish-looking cuts are fresh. Gray to black cuts are old ones.
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~ BIRD OF THE MONTH ~
Visiting Snowy Owls Capture Our Souls
One March a dozen years ago, an adult snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca) perched on a stone wall in freshly burned blueberry barrens caught my eye – an exciting observation. This occurred on the Appleton Ridge Road in Appleton, and the sun shined brightly on the sprawling landscape and whiter than white bird.
A quick call to a federal wildlife biologist in Maine to report the observation generated an ho-hum response. Apparently, in some years, irruptions of this species occur in late winter, and they drop down from Canada into our state to give us a thrill. Their visits are irregular, though.
A first-year snowy owl has lots of dark-gray bars on its body, but a full-blown adult looks plenty white, particularly against charred ground and granite stone walls.
This species has a round head, distinctive yellow eyes and an overall appearance of white – though the adults do have dark bars that are fainter on some snowy owls than on others. The bars are indistinct from a distance, though.
And make no mistake. This owl looks big, even compared to a great horned owl. The snowy measures nearly two feet long, sports an incredible 52-inch wingspan and tips the scales at four pounds. A great horned is 22 inches long, has a 44-inch wingspan and weighs a tad over three pounds.
Snowy owls usually make little noise, according to Peterson, but they do have a loud flight call that sounds like krow-ow repeated several times as well as a rick sound. According to Sibley, they also make a long, drawn-out scream.
Snowy owls lay three-to-seven white eggs in a tree cavity, an old bird’s nest or far more rarely cliff habitat. That option of seven eggs suggests this owl species has a high mortality rate. (Ken Allen)
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~ DO YOU KNOW? ~
Whitetail’s Peripheral Vision
Do you know how many degrees the peripheral vision of a whitetail includes? (We’ll give readers three choices to help – 210, 260 or 310 degrees.)
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~ BOOK OF THE MONTH ~
Science and Nature Writing Should Interest Outdoors Folks
Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt’s The Best American Science and Nature Writing has become quite a favorite annual event for this reviewer, and the latest effort – the 2010 version – pleased me greatly.
Mary Roach, editor of this book, chose “New Dog in Town” by Christopher Ketcham for this year’s edition. That article had appeared in Orion, and it sealed the deal for me that Roach’s effort was the best one ever in this series.
In the one rather short essay (short in comparison to others in the text), Ketcham covered more tidbits about coyotes than I have ever seen in much of my lifetime.
He began with the coyote’s origin in the Southwest 10 million years ago and continued to this canine’s present commonness in such urban cities as the Big Apple and Los Angeles. He also made several stops between in the last 10 million years.
Mr. Coyote is quite a dog! In fact, as many folks say, he is “God’s dog.”
The book has several essays, too, touching upon new trends in environmental issues dealing with nature, and they might shock conservative zealots who think of environmentalists as the enemy. The shock jocks might discover they have more in common with David Browers and Edward Abbeys than they do with their friends at the local conservative watering hole.
George Musser’s “Could Time End?” appeared in Scientific American, and the concepts within the essay blew this reviewer’s mind. The author asks us to contemplate a time after the universe ends.
Does time end?
What a radical thought…. Musser hints that the final answer ends with antimony, a word we associate with Immanuel Kant. In college philosophy, I thought Kant fell back on it to end a discussion when this great philosopher had nothing left to say. These days, I give old Immanuel more respect by far than that.
The paperback cost a mere $14.95. If readers have never read this annual anthology, it’s a perfect start to the adventure. (Ken Allen)
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~ ANSWERS TO “DO YOU KNOW?” ~
Whitetails Peripheral Vision
Whitetails have incredible peripheral vision, which starts with two monocular options. This deer’s large, round eyes sit high on the sides of a tapered head, and each one points in the opposite direction, giving this species a monocular view of both sides of its head. Then, directly in front of the animal, it has binocular vision, and the three add up to a whooping 310 degrees of vision.
This deer’s large range of vision – just 50 degrees less than seeing everything around it – gives predators fits when they try to approach across open cover.
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~ NEXT MONTH ~
It’s a Corny Refrain, But….
It’s a corny refrain, but on April Fool’s Day, it’s easy to think spring has sprung while lying in bed during the first gray light of dawn. A peek out the window reveals the truth, though. April 1 may feel like spring, but what about all the snow and ice? Where are the daffodils and tulips?
But snow is disappearing from fields in the South Country, and walks along woods edges with last year’s grass beneath our soles feels better than just good. And that sky sometimes has the soft blue of summer. Yes, it takes little change to make us think of warmer May days.
In the bottom third of Maine, the first 10 days of the month excite anglers the most, although “most” might even include white-water canoeists, hikers, backpackers and the like. But anglers do crowd places wherever open water exists for casting.
Hotspots like Grand Lake Stream, Kennebec River below Wyman Dam, Cobbossee Stream at the Cobbossee Lake outlet and Collins Mills, Sheepscot River by the Palermo Rearing Station just below Sheepscot Pond and The Spillway and Wings Mill Dam in Belgrade Lakes attract crowds – even mobs at times.
As the month moves along, brooks pick up, ponds and lakes shed ice and fishing honey holes open exponentially. By the end of April, open-water fishing generates excitement and more excitement – the topic at morning breakfast stops where folks drink coffee and munch on muffins and doughnuts.
Turkeys attract legions now, and folks scout hard in April before the main season that mostly takes place in May. Folks who once lived for spring trolling our South Country hatches now go ga-ga over wild turkeys. It’s easy to see the appeal.
Mood photographers love this month with the grays, browns, blacks and textures, and wildlife start producing baby critters. As the late Bill Silliker used to say, “Cute sells!” Photographers know that and get out now to record the event.
No one camps or backpacks much now, but hiking and bicycling really pick up. Action increases as the month rushes toward May.
Crow shooting excites a few, but this writer suspects that more folks kill coyotes than crows. The coyote dearth comes from lack of skill, but the crow-shooter shortage comes from apathy.
What the heck do you do with a crow after shooting it?
…Eat crow?