A sampling of the fish caught from McGrath Pond in a few hours of fishing on Sunday/Staff photo by Travis Barrett

Scott Horne said it wasn't what he'd call a "typical" weekend for ice fisherman at his Wild Things bait shop in Oakland. But he did say that, considering it was the final weekend of March, business was good.

Most of that business came before the weekend even started.

Horne said that on Friday he fielded calls from across the state from anglers looking for bait -- from as far away as Portland, Lewiston and Wiscasset.

"People just can't find bait," Horne said.

At this time of year, it's not surprising. It's also not surprising that some bait dealers still have plenty of smelts to sell.

"The last weekend last year, I couldn't get any smelts for the last 3 days of the season," Horne said. "This year, I'm still driving my truck on the ice to get them."

I asked him how far north he was traveling.

"I'm not," he said. "The lake's in Augusta."

And that anecdote pretty much sums up everything we needed to know about the ice fishing season this year. We were fishing on opening day, and we were fishing on the final day of the season. We couldn't always say that in recent years.

"It's been a good year," Horne said.

-- TB

JOE ALBEE AND DOG, SPECK/Staff photo by Travis Barrett

Why is it that I walk away feeling like I'm the one who needs the medicine, like I'm the one who needs to find a way to make myself feel better?

A few hours with Joe Albee will do that to a person.

Albee, 21, lives in Vassalboro. He's bound to a wheelchair -- having endured 22 surgeries in his life to try and alleviate the stress on his body from spina bifida. The disease, resulting from an incomplete closure of the spine, is as debilitating as they come.

Just don't tell Joe.

He's too busy fishing, 4-wheeling and racing down ski slopes to care. And too busy to tell people that things can't be done.

He does more most winters than I could ever dream of. Simply put, I learned one giant lesson from Joe this week. Don't take it for granted.

Don't ever take it for granted.

Read about an extraordinary person in today's Kennebec Journal.

TED NASSIVERA SR./Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Ted Nassivera Jr. certainly has an understanding wife.

He assembles turkey calls in his computer room in the afternoon. Deliberately, he puts pieces of glass and metal inside a black ring and glues them together. Once he's done that, it's off to the dining room, where he lays them out one by one on the dinner table before heading off to find his wife.

"And then I tell her, 'It looks like we're eating in front of the TV again tonight!'"

Nassivera said on Friday afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center, where he and his father, Ted Nassivera Sr., were plying their wares at the 28th annual State of Maine Sportsman's Show. "My dad will tell you, I don't even have a basement to work in."

But Ted Sr. does, and he spends hours upon hours crafting calls for spring turkey hunting -- latex calls that fit into your mouth and round calls fitted with metal that you strike a small stick against. No fancy machinery to speed the process and, best of all, no corporate America telling them how to build a better mousetrap.

Or, in this case, a better turkey call.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.

You know, it's a big, big state out there. I know because I went to the State of Maine Sportsman's Show on Friday at the Augusta Civic Center — and there were a lot more exhibitors than people there.

Crazy, huh?

Snow likely kept some people away. Long hours on Saturday — from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. — probably did, too. Why go on Friday after work when you can pick and choose your time over the weekend?

Besides, you've got me to fill you in on what went down on Day 1...

* News flash: The economy's bad. We know this because all indications are that people aren't booking as many trips for next year with guide and lodge services.

One local outfitter told me Friday that where he usually fields some 2 dozen inquries at the Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show in Wilton prior to the Augusta stop, he had less than a half-dozen this year.

"Fuel prices," he said, dejectedly. "People are finally starting to figure out that it's getting out of hand."

* Taxidermy interests me for reasons that I myself do not understand.

* Denise Murchison of Silverton Sporting Ranch in Canaan gave me a great piece of info.

We always say that central Maine is a great place to live, and apparently people on the outside agree. Skowhegan ranks No. 122 on "Outdoor Life" magazine's list of the 200 best towns in America for the outdoorsman.

Cumberland led Maine at No. 37, while Presque Isle was No. 77.

* Don't throw out your ice fishing lawbooks from this year.

They're good for 2 years, and the state plans on printing fewer (or none at all!) next year.

-- TB

There are 3 days left in the 2008 ice fishing season, and there's still a lot of ice covering many area bodies of water.

But that doesn't mean they're all safe.

According to the acting colonel of the Maine Warden Service, Greg Sanborn, it may look like winter but that doesn't necessarily mean it is.

“Several snowfalls blanketed what was thin ice early in the season and for a while that created a danger for ice anglers and snowmobilers,” Sanborn said. “But as winter progressed and temperatures fell below freezing, layers of ice formed on top of the snow making the lakes and ponds useable. Now as temperatures warm, those early snowfalls have become problematic again. Ice that looks thick could actually be thin and unsafe because of that snow.”

People should be cautious, particularly around inlets and outlets because most of them have open water and they should be careful around obstacles that retain heat, such as rocks.

Ice is thinning all around us.

Like I've said before (see the March 20th entry...), if ever a winter called for a few sportsman's shows, it was this one.

A few fresh inches of the white stuff and a couple of feet of ice on some local bodies of water. So what?

The State of Maine Sportsman Show kicks off today, the first of 3 days of seminars, exhibits and chatter. Read about it in today's Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel.

See you at the show...

One of my favorite "rite of spring" passages is a trip into the woods in Rome.

The hike up Mount Philip is great on snowshoes in the winter, but I prefer to make the trip in a pair of sturdy hiking boots. Two reasons -- the weather is a little warmer, obviously, so some of the snow melts, and once the trees start to bud, it's a gentle reminder of the promise of life which spring holds.

Timing is everything when it comes to this short, family-friendly jaunt.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel.

Image courtesy of Cabela's

I get a lot of this stuff as it floats across my desk. It's the usual, too — press releases, photo opportunities, calendar listings. To be completely honest, most of it looks the same.

But my eyes jumped about 4 inches wide when I saw the press packet from Cabela's, the outdoors outfitter that's opening its newest store on May 15 in Scarborough. I'm wondering if the folks down at the Sidney, Neb., headquarters have ever seen Maine.

Or read about it.

"Millions of people could visit the Scarborough store annually," the advance release reads, "making (Cabela's) one of the top tourist attractions in the state."

Yep, look out Baxter State Park. Mount Katahdin? You've got nothing on a store with a stuffed bighorn sheep in the middle.

Acadia National Park isn't safe, either. Coastal tent sites? Pluh-eeze. Not when you can shop 'til you drop, babe.

Lobster shacks, the village of Freeport, white-water rafting in The Forks. You've got nothing on a superstore. Absolutely no game at all.

Cabela's will certainly inject life into the local economy, and it may in short order rival L.L. Bean in terms of interest from outdoor enthusiasts in need of gear. But suggesting that it will blossom into one of the top tourist attractions in Maine is ludicrous. After all, this isn't Illinois, Idaho or Nevada.

We've got plenty of outdoor pursuits -- real ones -- to keep us occupied.

TB

Staff photos by Jim Evans
NOT BIRD FISHING: Al Smith steadies a live bird before working with hunting dogs during a demonstration by the Sebasticook Chapter of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association Saturday at the Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show in Wilton. The show continues Sunday, March 23, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As the bird is flushed, Rick Thompson's puppy breaks during the demonstration led by Peter Wade. The dog is supposed to stay still. Al Smith controls the live bird.

Gage goes on point as both dog and bird freeze.

Dog Greta shows calmness around game when a live bird is placed on top of her.

LOOK AT THIS: Darin Douin, a shark teeth fan, makes a point with his dad, Joe, of New Sharon, as they look at animal teeth and bone creations at the Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show in Wilton.

To order reprints of photos, click here.

WILTON -- As they say in Grand Lake Stream, he's just living the dream.
There was no life-altering moment, no soul-searching discovery that opened it all up as easily as the pages in a well-worn book, telling Paul Laney that he would make his living as a Maine guide. But at 32 years old, Laney finds himself following his calling and doing just that.

For bobcat, bear or lake trout, the Gardiner native is your man, and as the show coordinator for the Maine Professional Guides Association, he's putting his best foot forward this weekend at the 4th annual Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show. The show, featuring dozens upon dozens of exhibits and seminars, runs through Sunday.

"I grew up hunting and fishing with my father, as soon as I was old enough to do it," Laney said. "At some point I just decided that I wanted to make a living doing it. ... I'm pretty happy everyday I'm able to go out and do it and able to make a living at it.

"Everything I've ever done, I've just put my mind to it and I've done it. That's the way my mentality is -- I just go out and do things right."

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel.

You know, it occurs to me, there ought to be a song with the name "Wilton" in it. Couldn't find any, not even on GoldLyrics.com. Too bad — could have sung it on the way back from the 4th annual Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show this evening, which is being held in Wilton.

Nevertheless...

* Good news, all you open water fishermen. Seems that while we've been worrying about all this ice and snow and cold we're saddled with, some of the guys actually out there in the field aren't feeling quite so sorry for themselves.

According to Paul Laney, a Gardiner native who now guides out of Grand Lake Stream, ice out should happen right on schedule this year -- or pretty close to it.

"There's a lot of ice out there, but most of it is (iffy) ice," Laney said. "It's not going to take it that long to melt. Once it warms up."

Once it warms up. Of course... Granted, with extended forecast after extended forecast showing 30-degree day after 30-degree day, one's got to wonder if it ever actually IS going to warm up.

* Ran into the always good-natured Carroll Ware, one of the nicest outdoorsmen you'll ever meet over at the old Bass Shoe factory where the show is being held. He and his wife, Lila, run Fins and Furs Adventures.

Last fall, Carroll took me out on the upper Kennebec River to chase brown trout with fly rods. Long story short, Carroll left me to my own devices, and my devices snuck up on me and planted a size 16 right in my cheek.

Poor Carroll. He's probably apologized 237 times since, saying he felt bad for not acting as more of a guide and warning me about the pitfalls of leaving so much line out in a gusting wind. I told him that just because we went fishing together doesn't mean he has to be my guide, that he has reason to expect certain things from somebody who dubs himself an "outdoors" writer.

It's not his fault.

But that doesn't mean that when two prospective Fins and Furs customers turned away from the table I didn't take time to jab Carroll just a little.

"Did you remember to tell them about the free fly in the cheek with every trip?" I asked.

Thankfully, he laughed.

* After putting the show together themselves for the first three years, the people at the Bob Nichols Exposition Center have handed the reigns over the Vic Morin.

Morin now runs the Northwoods Sporting Journal, and, it should be noted, lives in Enfield.

That wasn't always the case. When I checked in at the booth upon my arrival on Friday, Vic was ecstatic.

"The Sentinel?!" he said. "I was born in Waterville."

Huh. Small world.

Vic expects between 8,000 and 10,000 people to visit the show on Saturday.

-- TB

Staff photo by Andy Molloy
Where cracks on the ice emerge each spring Hooded Mergansers descend.

The diving ducks move inland and north as the ice melts on lakes in Maine. The white crest adorning the head of drakes are easy to distinguish from their cousins, the Common Mergansers.

The males will be performing their courtship ritual this spring before mating. The drakes swim in circles around hens pumping their crests, tossing their heads and uttering calls that resemble a frog.

The birds nest in tree cavities like Wood Ducks along water ways.

To order reprints of photos, click here.

Well, looks like this outdoors-writer gig I've got is a detriment to my health. Made my second trip to the emergency room in the last 7 months today, after a stretch of more than 10 years where I didn't see the inside of a hospital on even one occasion.

So, thanks to this corneal abrasion I've managed to saddle myself with, I can barely see the monitor on my laptop in front of me. But, so much time in the proverbial dark has given me plenty of time to think...

* It's outdoor show season, which is a mixed blessings. Because it's snowing as I write this late on a Thursday afternoon, a chance to at least think about open-water fishing, black lab pups bounding in a field and a hunting trip or two is more than welcome.

The 4th edition of the Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show at the old Bass Shoe factory in Wilton runs this Friday through Sunday and has quickly grown into a well-respected show. Now in its 3rd decade, the State of Maine Sportsman's Show is next weekend at the Augusta Civic Center.

Typically, I'm not high on spending a couple of weekend days inside of an exhibition hall -- particularly in a year like last year, where spring came early and there was plenty of outdoors stuff that could be done -- gasp! -- outdoors. This time around, however, heading to a show over the next couple of weekends simply serves as an excuse to clear off the front porch.

Wilton opens its doors today from noon to 7 p.m.

* What is this world coming to?

Got a text message from a fishing buddy of mine this week, reporting -- sadly -- that his buddy's ice fishing shack had been purposely burned down. The Maine Warden Service as well as the local fire marshal were involved in sorting through the particulars.

Apparently, somebody had threatened to do it before and -- at least from the looks of things -- they finally carried through on the threat. Sadly, in doing so, they did more than get even with a grown man they were upset with. They also robbed a 9-year-old boy of his "winter home," the place where he looked forward to spending weekend days with his dad in one of the greatest forms of male bonding I can think of.

Where does fishing turn so ugly that we're burning down shacks on frozen lakes?

I repeat: What is this world coming to?

* We're a couple of weeks from opening day of the open-water fishing season, which is an almost laughable annual happening. At most, we're lucky to have only a few spots with open water on April 1st each year.

Sure, the hardiest among us will venture out and fish for an hour or two and then call it quits -- happy to say they did. I certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone that chance, nor would I ever suggest the state change such a date.

Just know this: Given the choice, I'm probably not going to fish opening day myself. There's just something about ice in my rod guides that makes me cringe. Winter's already been long enough.

-- TB

I can think of something that's far, far worse than deer starving in winter -- a perfectly healthy animal dying in less than 24 hours from a violent illness, the kind of illness brought on because we simply toss a bag of deer feed out into our backyard while under the dangerous impression that we're doing "the right thing."

There are two diseases most closely associated with people feeding deer, and they have the complicated and not-easy-to-pronounce names of "acidosis" and "enterotoxemia."

In both cases, they result of a significant shift in an individual deer's eating habits.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel.

Maybe it's the nurturer in all of us. We see something that's cold, weak and hungry, and our instinct is to help.

By throwing food its way.

But when it comes to deer, the decision to feed them during a harsh winter can be a lethal one.

I've fielded more than a few calls and e-mails in recent weeks from people eager to show off photos of their backyards — backyards teeming with deer, deer that they've been feeding. Wondering whether or not we should be encouraging such behavior in the pages of our newspaper (and blogosphere), I called up local wildlife biologist Keel Kemper.

"We should absolutely discourage it," Kemper told me.

From the risk of life-threatening disease to the risky act of domestication, we should remember that deer — no matter how serene they appear — are still wild animals, after all. And, as you can read more about in Wednesday's "Outdoors Journal," wild animals should stay wild.

It's like being at the zoo: Don't feed the animals.

Photo by Jim Evans
Nate and Ben Libby make the most of a frozen brook behind their home Waterville in 2004. Their father, Steve, said that during his youth large sections of the brook were frozen which made for excellent skating when early freezes hit without snowfall.

"I had been keeping an eye on a spot near where I live where some Waterville kids skated. There was a big snowfall and I noticed they were down there skating, and it made a very picturesque scene.

Kids skating on a frozen brook spoke to some of the Maine experience. Especially because their father had skated in that same gully."

To order reprints of photos, click here.

It's the middle of winter. It's bitterly cold. The ice and snow are more than a foot deep in places. Winds promise to approach hurricane force.

Why on earth would a group of central Mainers want to climb Mount Washington under such conditions, anyway?

"There's that question again, 'Why?' " says Craig Nelson of Starks and avid hiker who has done the Appalachian Trail. "Well, why not?"

Some of among us choose to curse Ol' Man Winter. Others, like Nelson, Dan Larochelle and Craig Bennett choose to run headlong into it. Why?

In Saturday's outdoors section, these guys challenge to you to respond to "Why not?"

Staff photo by David Leaming
A giant jigsaw puzzle of ice is broken up and moved along below the Fairfield-Benton bridges on the Kennebec River in March of 2003.

Mike McRae of the Maine Department of Transportation said the support piers of the old and new bridge contributed to inhibiting the ice downstream. Work was being done to remove the old piers.

Ice jams and flooding are again a worry this spring due to the heavy snowfalls.

To order reprints of photos, click here.

Photo by Jim Evans, chief photographer

There are beach people and skiing people, but there are very few skiing beach people.

But it made perfect sense on a cold, clear day in coastal Ogunquit when dog walkers, beach combers and nordic skiers, yes, skiers shared the sand and snow. This winter's heavy snow has made the smooth shoreline a good place to take a Sunday schuss. No swimmers were in sight.

The Algonquin Indians named this area "Ogunquit," which means "beautiful place by the sea."

A Ring-billed Gull laughs while feeding with a mob on the Kennebec River in Gardiner. The misnomer "seagull" is often used for the prolific bird. In fact, the gull breeds and resides primarily inland.

By Andy Molloy, staff photographer

Gulls in Maine are like Elvis in Las Vegas.

Diving in the sky, swimming on the water and scavenging in dumpsters. But Elvis is easier to identify except for those gulls with sideburns.

The gull photo worked visually. But not without the identity of the species. This was a job for the Great One. I enlisted Jeff Wells.

If Elvis is the King, Jeff Wells is the Great One. He is the Senior Scientist for the Boreal Birdsong Initiative. Regarded, worldwide, as an authority on birds and biological conservation, Wells maintains an office in Gardiner. And he promptly returns my emails.

This is an excerpt from my message: "Oh Great One: Herring Gull?

Wells immediately wrote back: "I love the photo! But it is actually a Ring-billed Gull."

So why is he the Great One? That is Jeff's exclamation point following the words love photo.

Unlike me, Jeff is profoundly modest. Go to his blog (www.borealbirds.org/blog) and give the Great One a shout out.

I know I will soon. Unless birds grow sideburns.

To order reprints of photos, click here.

Male Downy, left, and Hairy Woodpeckers feed at a suet station Wednesday in Hallowell. The birds have similar plumage but a few key distinctions. The Downy is smaller while the Hairy has a longer beak and fewer white flakes on its wings.

Side by side comparison makes differences apparent

Story and photo by Andy Molloy, staff photographer

Photographing at feeders is fast, easy and convenient, which is why I love it. But is bait and wait natural? Visually, at least, encountering critters in their environment, not ours, is always more rewarding. And woodpeckers pecking wood is particularly bountiful.

Out photographing the wild stuff over the last month, I endeavored to illustrate the distinction between Hairy and Downy woodpeckers. Pecking wood, of course. They are the most common of the avian species heard rattling trees in Maine (http://www.mainebirding.net/birds/Woodpeckers).

To my untrained eyes, they are almost indistinguishable. I discovered a Hairy smacking a maple in Monmouth and a Downy rapping away in Vassalboro. I think. With Hairys and Downys, size matters. The Hairys are larger. Scrutinizing the photos, however, I was unable to make the measure. The subjects in each photo appeared to be the same size. The beautiful birds were photographed hitting the wood, but I was stumped.

Wednesday I pulled over after seeing double. A male Downy and Hairy were assaulting the same slug of suet at a feeder. The difference between the species could not be clearer. The face off furnished a fast, easy and convenient guide. Here's another: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/woodpeckerIDtable.htm

To order reprints of photos, click here.

Bo Willoughby of Winslow pulls up a salmon while ice fishing with Jeremy Burbank of Clinton on Wyman Lake in Moscow on Monday. The salmon, around 12-inches long, was the only fish they caught. At far left is Burbank's seven-year-old son Caleb.

Slow fishing wasn't a problem

Story and photos by Jeff Pouland, staff photographer
I have to admit that I have an addiction to downhill skiing. So, when a friend of mine asked me to go ice fishing on a day I was going to go to Sugarloaf, something had to have gone wrong in my mind to say yes.

During the ride from Jeremy Burbank’s house in Clinton to Wyman Lake in Moscow last Monday my eyes were constantly picking lines through the trees along U.S. Route 201 especially as we drove north of Bingham to our fishing spot on Wyman Lake in Moscow.

We arrived in Moscow around 7 a.m.. drilled our holes , set our traps and were eating deer steaks for breakfast around 9 am. Slowly my mind drifted from day dreaming about powder runs that were surely still fresh from Saturday’s storm atop Sugarloaf to hilarious stories told among friends on this frozen river.

In the end, the fishing was slow. We caught one fish all day, a 12-inch salmon, and spent more time looking for firewood and sledding down the steeps banks of Wyman Lake than we did resetting our traps. I came to realize why I said yes to ice fishing and no to skiing. Hanging out with friends can be more fun than riding a chairlift by yourself. I can’t wait to hit Sugarloaf next week, though.

Jeremy Burbank of Clinton, left, his seven-year-old son Caleb and Bo Willoughby of Winslow enjoy conversation and the warmth of a fire while ice fishing on Wyman Lake in Moscow on Monday.

Morning Sentinel photographer Jeff Pouland hangs on while sledding at Wyman Lake in Moscow on Monday. Pouland was ice fishing with Jeremy Burbank of Clinton, his seven-year-old son and Bo Willoughby of Clinton. The fishing was slow but the sledding was fast.

To order reprints of photos, click here.

Staff photos by Andy Molloy
BERRY BANDIT: A cedar waxwing snags a berry during a snowstorm in March 2005 in Augusta. Flocks of the birds descend on fruit trees as spring arrives.

BERRY GOOD: A Cedar Waxwing pops a winterberry down its beak while feeding with a flock in Oakland in 2007.

To order reprints of photos, click here.

A Pine Grosbeak collects a berry Tuesday from a tree in Augusta.

Foraging birds are the epicenter of my winter photos.

Words & photos by Andy Molloy, staff photographer

Robins and Cedar Waxwings are the native actors who always enter the visual stage to eat berries.

I spotted a huge flock of birds at dawn recently attached to a fruit tree.

I pulled over, put the camera over my shoulder and sprinted through the fresh snow.

A few yards from the tree, resonating with chirps, I focused the lens on a bird perched in a cluster of berries.

It was an avian freak show. They were neither Robins nor Waxwings.

The Canadians had invaded. The fruit munchers were Pine Grosbeaks who had come in large numbers from the boreal forest of Canada. A spectacular site encountered across Maine this winter.

I burned a 100 frames and returned to my truck. The flock rose, flew across Western Avenue and landed on a fruit tree in front of the Augusta Armory.

I gave chase. The tree, a mix of white snow and blood red berries, was irresistible. I pulled out the long, 500mm lens and started banging frames from inside my truck.

I turned to a knock on my passenger door. It was a soldier. He indicated I should roll down the window. "What are you up to?" h
e asked.

I explained that I was photographing the birds a few feet from us.

He studied the flock clucking with berry delight. He said it was all right if I stayed. He was just vigilant about intruders.

I said he found some airborne ones. From Canada. The tree was overrun. Hundreds had descended. They already conquered an apple tree across the road...

Have a nice day, he said, before abruptly walking back into the armory.

A male Pine Grosbeak eats the buds from a maple tree Thursday in Augusta. The boreal finch is native to Canada and the western United States. Bird watchers are reporting flocks of the birds feeding on fruit in Maine this winter.

To order reprints of photos, click here.