Author Archives: Gary Sanderson

A South Deerfield, Mass., native, Gary was the longtime sports editor at the Greenfield Recorder, a daily newspaper in Greenfield, Mass., where he retired in June 2018, having worked parts of five decades over 39 years. A senior-active, nearly 40-year member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America, his Thursday column "On The Trail" ran for nearly 40 years, ostensibly focusing on fish and wildlife, conservation and issues pertaining to them in the Connecticut Valley, where his roots reach deep into its oldest burial grounds. He and wife Joanne live in a historic Greenfield Meadows tavern today known as Old Tavern Farm, which has a rich history dating back to the mid-18th century. The home, which became a National-Register-of-Historic-Places building on his watch, served as a small, seasonal bed and breakfast from 1999-2015. Gary's other interests include history, anthropology, archaeology, literature, genealogy, Americana, country auctions, and early-American architecture and landscapes, as well as hunting, fishing and especially reading. His primary focus is the Pioneer Valley, its people, places and critters.

Myth Debunking

OK, time to correct the record. Uhm … well … let’s just say set it straight as can be expected, because, you know how hypothese can change. I’m not here to apologize, and, frankly, have no regrets. It’s just that, having read and pondered and listened and spoken to scholars and authors and experts of […]

Lucifer’s Loop

I’m coming down the homestretch toward my annual December vacation, scurrying to tie up loose ends and button down fall chores on the home front before Thanksgiving while joyously following the dogs daily through alders, cattails and thorny clumps that’ll put a careless man flat on his face before he knows what hit him. Only […]

Adjustments

The grandsons were in town over the weekend, bringing with them a nasty, contagious, Vermont elementary school virus my immune system couldn’t fight off. Thus I’m a little under the weather yet maintaining my regular routine, sort of, with the help of Alka-Seltzer Plus. It’s Wednesday. I just left the dogs out in the kennel, […]

Deer Friend

Old friend Tom White of Northfield says the time is now for deer hunters to get in the woods, and the man has meat in the freezer to prove it. He took care of the familiar butchering chores Tuesday, intending when I spoke to him on the phone that morning to skin out the 8-point, […]

Another Fine Covert Bites The Dust

It’s pheasant season, the ringnecks are cackling and flying and life is good; yet, sadly, some of my favorite coverts — thick, thorny, productive tangles I’ve plowed through regularly for 40 years — have become inundated with unfamiliar hunters, many from far away, a relatively new development. It’s perfectly alright that “outsiders” find their way […]

Drydock Blues

I’m starting to feel guilty. The dogs know. I can sense it, see it in their step, their demeanor. Hunting season is here. They know. Problem is I’m getting off to a late start because I procrastinated on a few key matters down the stretch. Here’s the checklist: 1. Purchase hunting license (done); 2. Purchase […]

New Sheriff In Town?

More than half my cordwood’s in the shed, the Full Hunters Moon is building to a brilliant climax and green stocking trucks are rolling for Saturday’s opening day of pheasant season. Yes, the bird-hunting season is upon us and here I sit in a familiar seat, still procrastinating about purchasing my hunting license online. Imagine […]

More Paleo Patter

Does anyone else have problems getting their head around small encampments of Paleo-Indian hunters spearing to death migrating caribou funneled through a tight ravine at the base of Sugarloaf some 12,350 years ago? Yes, mind boggling indeed, yet quite real. I suppose what makes it all so unfathomable is the sad fact that the typical […]

Unearthing Issues

I’ve found that most things happen for a reason. Take, for instance, Wednesday morning’s incoming mail. Having heard the white USPS jeep pass a half-hour earlier while reading, I pulled my truck up alongside the mailbox to retrieve the mail on my way out of the yard to run the dogs. The first item to […]

Seeing Is Believing

Tiny red rose hips are aflame and alluring as cornfields brown and swamps glow their familiar purple/yellow hue with the autumnal equinox and Harvest Moon behind us, the waning half-moon reduced to a faint, ghostly mid-morning spy in the clear blue western sky. You may have noticed my absence the past two weeks. I was […]

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