Deer are on the edge

Deer seem to be spread out, finally, with all of the water we just received. Many years when it is dry, you really have to concentrate on river basins and such.

This fall I think they will be frequenting the “edge” areas that we all expect them to. That is, the edge of the clear cuts, edge of the hardwood ridges or cedar swamps. I like black growth (deer yard) edge hunting because of the quiet walking, but that is getting harder and harder to find since the budworm cuts destroyed most of them. Thank God companies like Irving, Fraser, and Seven Islands are getting together with biologists and saving some of this important winter habitat in their cooperative deer yards.

Beechnuts are few and far between in the North Maine Woods this fall and oak is just something people make tables out of as far as we know, no acorns or oaks up here. We have been watching deer feeding on young of the year poplar and maple, raspberry tips and colt’s foot leaves. When the frost and snows come later in the month you really need to watch the blowdowns since the deer will be feeding on “old man’s beard” then (as they hide from the blaze orange).

Matt Libby, owner, Libby’s Camps in T8, R9

Camp coffee on a fire

How about making camp coffee on a fire? Mix an eggshell in with the coffee grinds, then add to boiling water. The egg cooks, holding the grinds together and, some say, making the coffee less bitter.

The trick is to make sure all the coffee grounds are wet with egg before you dump it into the boiling water. That assures that as the egg cooks, all the grounds are held together. Let it roll on the edge of the fire until desired strength is obtained.

Jeff McEvoy, owner, Weatherby’s in Grand Lake Stream