Category Archives: Columns

Published pieces I’ve written, primarily in The Recorder, Greenfield, Mass.

Jan
05
2017

A Good Read By A Local Coauthor

by Gary Sanderson

There’s a little something for everyone — be they waterfowlers, anglers, paddlers, collectors, historians, anthropologists, designers, you name it — in the University of Minnesota Press’ recently published “Canoes: A Natural History in North America,” by Mark Neuzil and retired UMass/Amherst journalism professor Norman Sims, a familiar local whitewater enthusiast. This nice, sturdy, cloth hardcover […]

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Dec
28
2016

Close Encounter

by Gary Sanderson

It was the last day of shotgun deer season, a Saturday, half-past noon, and the glare of a low, bright sun in the blue southern sky was blinding, even when filtered through the skeletal, gray, naked, wetland forest bordering riverside meadows. I wasn’t hunting. Just walking the dogs on our daily route, where deer are […]

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Nov
22
2016

Carlson Responds To Her Salmon-Study’s Critics

by Gary Sanderson

What? An attack on the New England Atlantic salmon argument developed by archaeologist Catherine Carroll Carlson in her controversial 1992 UMass-Amherst Ph.D. dissertation: “The Atlantic salmon in New England prehistory and history: social and environmental implications?” You betcha! Dr. Carlson’s often-referred-to thesis has indeed been challenged. Which doesn’t mean Carlson is buying  the arguments of […]

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Nov
16
2016

Fire Warning, Chit-Chat From Orcutt Hill

by Gary Sanderson

Monday morning. The name Shirley Scott on my caller-ID. Hmmmmm? Who’s that? With preplanned Monday-morning chores to complete ahead of Tuesday’s impending soaking rains, I delayed the return call till dusk, around 4 p.m. Ms. Scott answered. I identified myself. “Oh, hi, thanks for returning my call,” she said with palpable friendliness in her voice. […]

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Nov
10
2016

Chat With A Hilltown Squire

by Gary Sanderson

Finally, after overnight temps in the 20s brought two straight killer frosts, the front-yard Japanese maples were shedding their bright red November leaves as the upland horizons changed from their yellow to copper splendor, pinpointing oak groves and potential deer-hunting hot spots when acorns are on the ground. Yes, it’s the time of year for […]

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Nov
02
2016

Big Conway Buck Bagged

by Gary Sanderson

It didn’t take Jimmy Recore, 54, long to score — and score big … real big — right in his Poland neighborhood of Conway during the ongoing archery deer season. Yes, there he was, opening day and getting dark with 6 p.m. quickly approaching, positioned 12 to 14 feet high in his portable tree stand, […]

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Oct
26
2016

Hunting Forward, Looking Back

by Gary Sanderson

Whew! With last week’s summer-like 80-degree weather behind us, let the pheasant season begin. Not that I’ve been pounding the coverts this week compared to days of old. No, not even close. But I did finally get out, did meet Frontier Regional School baseball coach Chris “Skinny” Williams for our first afternoon engagement, did give […]

posted in Columns, Grandkids, The Dogs | No Comments

Oct
19
2016

Claw Scars Stir Speculation

by Gary Sanderson

With bowhunters sitting in their treestands these days, one of them, Steven Curtis of East Colrain, pulled into my driveway noontime Saturday. Meeting for the first time, he wanted  to share color trail-camera photos of a claw-scarred deer other hunters in adjacent stands may soon become acquainted with …  pondering  the possibilities. This doe, probably […]

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Oct
12
2016

Mortality’s Knocking

by Gary Sanderson

The northern view through my tall west-parlor back windows now displays a line of brilliant, yellow-orange brookside maples slowly shedding leaves in autumn’s variable sunny breezes, before the overnight cold quickly turns them brown and crunchy underfoot. Sitting and watching the leaves drop like feathers to the ground Wednesday morning immediately pulled my thoughts to […]

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Oct
05
2016

Skinny Challenge

by Gary Sanderson

The challenge arrived last week in the form of a text message to the colleague I call Big Boiczyk, a young man who faces me daily from across our joined, rectangular Recorder desks. “Hey, you’ll get a kick out of this one,” he chuckled. “It’s Skinny Williams. He’s says he’s ready to go goose hunting […]

posted in Columns, South Deerfield, The Dogs | No Comments

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