What for a man to do? It’s mid March, cabin fever fading, that of spring ascending like sweet sap from deep-seated roots, yet winter still, snow too deep to drive or even park off-road, comfortable walking for snowshoers and snowmobile-trail hikers only. Soon, annoying mud will appear. But I guess we all have our ways […]

The roars of March, brought by our first hard rains in months, emanated from my backyard early this week — one a constant, soothing roar, the other sudden, violent and threatening, like a bear trying to chase off Old Man Winter; one welcoming spring, the other expelling winter. The continuous roar was the brook that […]

“An army’s bravest men are its cowards. The death which they would not meet at the hands of the enemy, they will meet at the hands of their officers, with never a flinching. Ambrose Bierce, Civil War hero/author; from “What I Saw of Shiloh.”   Monday, final day of our shortest month, a long, cold, […]

After a long, frigid, snowy winter, spring is peeking over partially exposed stonewalls poking through snow beneath naked hardwoods gathering bright midday sun on southern slopes. Soon, on these same sun-splashed hillsides, the first maple sap will flow freely as dense deer yards break up and scatter hither and yon. In fact, sap buckets are […]

Deer, snow, coyotes and, um, a hilltown homer, that’s where we’re headed today. Yes, more interesting feedback, most of it concerning last week’s column about icy snow spelling deer doom. One respondent was a state cop, another a kid I once coached in South Deerfield, the third an old Hampshire League ballplayer who recalled an […]

Our snow-cover got more dangerous for deer this week, just as we enter the most vulnerable time of year for the hoofed creatures. I can evaluate snow conditions when observing my dogs on their daily routine, which has been dramatically altered the past few weeks, deep, crusty snow complicating matters. When I daily open the […]

Seems I just can’t abandon the topic of oak trees, red and white, how to differentiate. This week I will share comments from a wildlife biologist, an arborist and my own brother-in-law, with whom I quite spontaneously broached the subject on the phone Wednesday morning. He, the owner of a large, paradisiacal retirement spread in […]

Wow! Quite a reaction to last week’s piece about my difficulties identifying by sight the different oaks in our forest. Criticism, advice and gracious hands-on offers to teach me proper recognition of red, white and chestnut oaks came my way in rapid fashion. The feedback came from hunters and gatherers, hikers and foresters, ladies and men. Clearly, it’s high […]

A six-foot snow bank at a dead end marked the beginning of our quarter-mile trek through deep, fluffy, toe-dragging snow. We skirted the pile and followed a convenient foot-wide deer path down the wooded trail into a peaceful hollow before ascending to the crest of a gentle hill long ago cleared by and named after […]

Last week’s “What deer?” column drew reader comments, some written, another phoned, all throwing in their two-cents’ worth about the status of our Franklin County deer herd. Not one painted a rosy picture. The freshest response came by cell phone Tuesday evening around 5. It was Phil Phillips, an old chum from my hometown of […]