Sad news from Noho, where Dave Warren is closing the doors to Dave’s Pioneer Sporting Center on the south side of Damon Road. Tell me, is there a less likely location for a successful gun and tackle shop than Northampton, the politically correct capital of our Happy Valley? No sir. But that’s not what killed […]

I found retiring, longtime state Bear Project Leader Jim Cardoza at his desk Tuesday (Oct. 6, 2009), just after noon, at Westborough’s MassWildlife Field Headquarters, where he’s kept his office during my entire Recorder tenure; more than 30 years, almost unimaginable to me, the South Deerfield bad boy who told many a teacher and coach […]

So, what should we make of last week’s antlerless-deer-permit drawing, strictly from a western Franklin/Hampshire perspective? Again, we wound up with the short straw, and some natives are restless. Once the bastion of Bay State deer hunting, western Franklin County hilltowns like Whately, Conway, Ashfield, Shelburne, Buckland, Colrain and Leyden are now among the toughest, […]

The 2009 Massachusetts spring turkey harvest did indeed break 3,000 for the first time on record. The final harvest of 3,072 includes 45 during the inaugural pre-season Youth Hunt. The preliminary harvest released in early June was 3,090, 43 by youths. Discrepancies between preliminary and official harvest are common. The preliminary figure is the fruit […]

If you want to find out where you stand physically, try following two enthusiastic English Springer Spaniels through dense, wet, tangled cover for the first few days of the pheasant season. It’ll put you in you place fast if you’ve made your living sitting behind a desk for any length of time. So I guess […]

The joy of bird hunting —free-wheeling through dense, wet, thorny cover behind an enthusiastic dog or dogs — is often preceded by the drudgery of preparation, something no hunter looks forward to. But a man is only good as his gear, which, unfortunately, requires consistent maintenance. Boots and bibs need regular cleaning and dressing, shotguns […]

Head to the barber shop, newsstand or corner greasy-spoon and you’re bound to hear discussion about coyotes — a hybrid wild canine that appeared on the local scene some 40 years ago, when loggers, hunters and farmers occasionally encountered what was then referred to as “wild dogs,” believing German shepherd-mix strays had adapted to the […]

May 2006 An alarming news release arrived in my Inbox. The headline read: “New Data Shows Brook Trout Imperiled Throughout Entire Eastern Range: Massachusetts Brook Trout Populations Threatened by Dams and Roads.” Troubling. We’re not talking here about the stocked hatchery brookies anglers have been catching in small streams this spring. No. We’re talking about […]

There’s an undercurrent among longtime hunters and trained observers here in Massachusetts’ upper Connecticut Valley that the deer herd is not what it’s cracked up to be. So let’s examine the issue briefly. If you believe MassWildlife’s deer-management team, the local deer herd has never been better. But talk to witnesses who’ve hunted the same […]

Interesting how, now that my hunting gear is squirreled away till next year, my sparse venison supply long ago consumed, Mother Nature has dropped two perfect snowstorms for deer hunting in less than a week. The old hag must be looking out for the deer in my neighborhood; at least that’s how it appears on […]