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.

Bruin’s Nest

I finally got the whole story from the horse’s mouth — a bear tale that comes at an opportune time, bear season less than two weeks away. I would probably still be in the dark had not a green military helicopter disturbed my peaceful Upper Meadows neighborhood last week. Word has it that a State […]

Summer’s Slipping Away

Two large Japanese maples stand just inside the southern point of my property, providing three-season privacy from oncoming traffic headed north to the Colrain/Green River roads fork. These ornamental trees bud in pastel red and grow brilliant scarlet leaves that fade to a soft, olive-green before bursting into their brightest fall cardinal-red. They then shed […]

News Snooze

Dog daze and cabin fever are afflictions on opposite sides of the calendar that infect a man like me. So here I sit suffering from the former, sweating profusely, thirsty, wellspring of hunting and fishing news dried up, little to write about before the first shots of autumn are fired. Nonetheless, I can usually dig […]

Common Ground

Sporting the white, cotton, “Old Hawley Common” T-shirt with red letters that I bought Sunday at the common’s unveiling—hint of bear scent wafting through cool, clear mountain air—inspired inquiries from some folks I bumped into this week in my travels. “Oh, you went to that?” was a question by some who had seen the event […]

Expert Witness

I was entertained by a Saturday-morning conversation over coffee with a guest as we sat in the breakfast nook at the south end of my kitchen, sunlight illuminating the oval, walnut tabletop through parted, blue, Whig-Rose curtains on the double-hung window. Although the distinguished gent, nearly 70 and “semi-retired,” had stayed with us before, I […]

Early Signs

Dabs of fall color are already popping up along the roadside, a jostling reminder that the cold months will soon be coming to a theater near you. Although the soft marsh maples have not yet started to sport their fall hues, the wetland purples and yellows are out, the red sumac fruit appeared weeks ago, […]

Wild Carrots

Another Sunken-Meadow trek, a new sweet aroma to spin my wheels. Fine start to column day. A warm, light rain fell through gray, dense air, so heavy you needed a sharp machete to bust through it. I was exercising the dogs, peds saturated after a few easy steps through ankle-high grass, alluring scent lifting my […]

Meadow Magic

The air was cool and refreshing, the yard shaded, tiny splashes of sun here and there, lawn wet with gray, misty dew. High white clouds appeared motionless in the pale blue sky, almost hiding a higher half-moon smiling down from the heavens like a ghost peering around a doorjamb. The previous day had surpassed 90 […]

Painful Truth

July is here and with it all the manmade anadromous-fish passageways on Connecticut Valley dams will soon be closed, signaling the end of another disappointing spring spawning run. How else to assess the 2010 migratory-fish numbers, which, through Monday, showed 167,486 American shad, 49 Atlantic salmon and a not-even-worth-reporting 92 blueback herring? Imagine that, 92 […]

Lessons Leaned

I’m closed into my study, air-conditioner purring, sun trying to poke through dense gray skies and break up the muggy air. My older son is crafting a new song in the room at my back and, me, I’m hoping to find enough time to mow later, wondering where this weekly writing journey will take me. […]

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