When the phone rang in late June, Maine and Lakewood Camps were not even on my radar. Certainly, I had thought about someday taking a road trip to the Pine Tree State to explore both bird covers and cold-water outflows and ponds, but that was in the future, not the present. The offer to enjoy the camp's brook trout and landlocked Atlantic salmon fishery the last couple days of September when the big fish are inclined to eat flies more than piqued my interest. I asked about extending my stay to experience a couple days of the ruffed grouse and woodcock season. The resounding answer was "Certainly." The only uncertainty was my wife's views toward this "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," as she has endured me using that phrase regarding sporting trips for 30 plus years. As I told her of the call, she simply rolled her eyes, interrupting me with two simple questions: "When?" and "How long are you gone?" The next "once-in-a-lifetime sporting trip" was in the works.
A phone call with Scott Oehrlein, the head wing shooting guide at Lakewood Camps, came next. Oehrlein, a retired business executive, is a Registered Maine Guide as his second career. His passion for ruffed grouse, woodcock, English setters and the covers of Maine exudes in a comfortable manner in his dialogue, yet the overtones of a C-suite executive resonated. Not in an over-the-top fashion, only one that cares enough that he makes sure the "I's are dotted and T's crossed" to the best of his ability.
We discussed logistics and as much as I wanted this journey to be a road trip in my truck, my dogs and all my gear, time constraints and previous obligations dictated otherwise. When he graciously entrusted me the convenience of one of his 28-bores and shells, our dates were confirmed. As you cannot hunt in Maine on Sundays, and Oct. 1 was a Sunday, I would fish Sept. 29 and 30, and we would follow bird dogs on Oct. 2 and 3.
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Tail feathers - STANDARDS AND PRACTICES
\"An armed society is a polite society,\" the NRA says in one of its dicta, cribbed from Robert A. Heinlein, a 20th-century American science fiction writer.
Day's End - IN PRAISE OF FENCEROWS
Driving north along the Hudson River, I gazed at a pastoral autumn scene: sere fields of faded yellow harvested corn, stubbly and broken amongst the clods of black earth, almost smooth from my vantage point. Spiky brown veins of wild growth marked barriers between plots. Occasionally, the gray bones of a mature oak rose among the brown shrubs to stand over the yellow fields. A sentry, keeping silent watch as white frost crystals slowly melted into invisibility.
That Time of Year Again
Without doubt. The most idyllic form of hunting in Ohio is seeking the woodcock. - Merrill Gilfallan, Moods of the Ohio Moons: An Outdoorsman's Almanac (1991)
I Don't Wanna'!
I'm an old hand at being retired, though - have been practicing for 25 years.
Hunting the Huns: Alberta's Big Sky Country
The prairies of southern Alberta are vast, beautiful and full of prime bird habitat. Crop fields are interspersed with abandoned farms, rolling hills are intersected by coulees and creek beds, and Hungarian partridge and sharptailed grouse occupy some of the best and most picturesque habitat on the continent.
Side Dish - End of Season
Sporting trips are not only about sport, as many other experiences are discovered alongside. And my trip to Lakewood Camps in Maine was certainly just that.
AN EXTENDED STAY
There is no reason to leave Michigan in the fall unless the opportunity of a cast and blast adventure at a historic sporting lodge in Maine comes calling.
KEEP IT HANDY
If you think shooting a ruffed grouse on the wing with a shotgun is tough, try shooting one in flight with a still camera.
A Longtime Love Affair
It's possible to hunt your favorite birds in a lot of different places, I suppose, but I don't do that.
Profile of an Artist: Harley Bartlett
Harley Bartlett was born in 1959 near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. However, having lived in Rhode Island for most of his life he considers himself a Rhode Islander.
