Celebrate Winter with Dog-Sledding, Ice Fishing and Snowmobiling … and the State of Maine Sportsman’s Show!
Dog-sledding has been around for thousands of years. Inuits have historically used dog sleds for travel, trade and hunting. Over time, successive generations of dogs developed the ability to process oxygen like elite athletes, and to survive and thrive on a high-fat diet – such as the sustenance provided by seal blubber.
Today, adventurers here in Maine can appreciate that history – as well as experiencing the thrill of a lifetime – by taking a turn driving a sled behind a team of dogs. That’s what Christi Elliott did last winter, and she not only provided our cover photo, but also contributed a column for the March issue (page 32), describing the two 8-dog teams run by Piper Ashley and her family of Fort Kent. Christi reveals the trials and tribulations of trying to keep a speeding sled upright while traversing up and down steep hills, and around sharp corners.
Before continuing with the March issue, let’s deal with a matter of pressing importance: the State of Maine Sportsman’s Show is coming right up – March 28 – 30. Make plans now to attend, and enjoy more than 100 exhibits, seminars each day, a 14-foot fiberglass brook trout, turkey calling, a game camera contest, and an indoor archery range. Email Carol Lund at Carol@MaineSportsman.com for information, or to volunteer to assist in putting on this extravaganza at the Augusta Civic Center.
And now, let’s return to the matter at hand – the March issue of The Sportsman.
Our winter sports coverage continues on page 29, with Steve Carpenteri’s “Riding in Aroostook” piece, celebrating all that The County has to offer snowmobilers. These attractions include the Ghost Trains of the Allagash; Number 9 Mountain; International View (where riders can gaze across the St. John River into New Brunswick); and Loring Air Force Base.
Riders will also enjoy a true-life detective story, starring the Maine Warden Service, in Doug Tibbetts’ tale, “My Snowmobile is Gone!” (page 63), as wardens try to solve a mysterious case of sled-theft.
This issue of The Sportsman also celebrates the steady, cold temperatures of mid-winter, that make possible Maine’s ice-fishing tradition, with Tom Seymour’s special section, “Sunny Days Entice Ice-Anglers,” Bill Graves’ “The County” column (page 35) focusing on brown trout, whitefish and musky, and Tom Roth’s “Sebago Region” column (page 57), listing the area’s best cusk waters and tactics.
This issue also includes the ever-popular, ever-growing “Bait Dealers Directory,” listing 24 sources of live baitfish, from Auburn and Bridgton to Ellsworth, Greenville and Shapleigh.
You want coverage of sporting firearms? Rob Kilcollins, owner of the flat-shooting Winchester that was used to drop Maine’s largest “Biggest Bucks” patch club deer in 2024 (261 lbs.) from a distance of 540 yards, tells all in his Guest Column, “My Winchester .264” (page 48). Retired Colonel JC Allard covers a favorite woods rifle in his piece about the .44 Ruger Magnum Carbine (page 52), and Bill Sheldon describes what he calls a “timeless classic”: the Winchester Model 42 shotgun in .410 (p. 47).
We cover a wide range of additional topics this month, including:
- Classic saltwater “Bay Boats” (by Bob Humphrey, p. 19)
- Rabbit hounds (“The Way They Run,” Jim Fahey, p. 54)
- Coyote-calling (“Guide Talk,” John LaMarca, p. 120), and
- Privacy challenges in the deep woods (“An Invasive Woods Encounter,” in which our intrepid columnists finds himself being surveilled by cellular game cameras, p. 68).
So enjoy the March mid-winter issue of The Sportsman, make plans to attend the State of Maine Sportsman’s Show, get out there for snowmobiling, smelting and snowshoeing, and continue to make the best of this awesome winter.
Questions? Contact the editor at Will@MaineSportsman.com or the business manager at Carol@MaineSportsman.com. And call (207) 622-4242 to renew your subscription or give a birthday or anniversary gift subscription to deserving relatives or friends.
Will Lund, Editor
The Maine Sportsman magazine
