One of this job’s many pleasures is getting the chance to catch up with some of the state’s more colorful characters for periodic outdoor updates.

Those characters are generally smart, funny folks who love being outdoors … whether they get much opportunity to go outdoors or not.

That’s certainly the case with Kurt Cressey, the … umm … friendly … proprietor of Pine Tree Store in Grand Lake Stream.

Forgive me for struggling to find the proper word to describe Cressey … but understand that I’ve got my reasons.

The last time I settled on what I thought was a perfectly proper adjective, you see, I quickly found out that “proper” is entirely in the eye of the beholder.

Shortly after that day’s editions showed up in green boxes across the state, one of Cressey’s regular customers sauntered into the store and began quizzing him.

“You’re selling the store?” was the first (and only) question Cressey had to hear.

Turns out the reader had learned that nugget of information from … from … me.

Well, almost.

After looking more closely at the paper, the reader and Cressey enjoyed a laugh.

The phrase in question: “Cressey, the outgoing proprietor …”

For the record, Cressey isn’t going anywhere. Or if he is, he’s not telling. But he’d be glad to share any information about Grand Lake Stream that you might need.

A few solicited tidbits:

. “The bear hunt’s going about average,” Cressey said on Friday, admitting that he’d only tagged five bears thus far, but is hoping to top the 30 he tagged a year ago before September is over.

“One of the guides has 52 [bait] sites and before the hunters got here, 48 of them were being hit,” he said. “They also have trail cameras out and some of [the bears] are ranging from [200] to 400 pounds. There’s a lot of big bears around, so now it’s up to the hunters.”

. “I’m kind of excited about the weather we’re having. The last couple years it’s been beautiful, actually too warm,” said Cressey, who hopes that the recent string of cool nights continues.

That, he says, would rejuvenate the fishing in Grand Lake Stream earlier.

“If it continues to be cool, we expect the fish to be coming back into the stream the third or fourth week of September,” he said.

. Not that there aren’t fish to be found. You just have to be on the water at the right time.

“It’s productive, but I wouldn’t over blow it,” he said. “There’s still salmon in the stream, but we’re finding you’ll put in a lot of time during the day to catch one or two.”

That’s during the day. And that’s the hard way to fish, according to Cressey.

“But if you’re here at sundown, you’ll realize how many fish there are in the stream, because they’re rising everywhere,” he said. “You want to be fishing when the bats come out.”

. And as the cool evenings continue, Cressey’s willing to think ahead to October, and bird season.

“I think partridge season’s going to be average,” he said. “It ought to be better than it was last year. It was pretty desperate. But a lot of guys come up here for woodcock, and we’re seeing a lot of them.”

With Grand Lake Stream and West Grand Lake open to angling until Oct. 20, outdoors enthusiasts can hedge their bets and enjoy all kinds of action, Cressey said.

“The month of October is what we call ‘cast and blast,'” he said.

DU banquet looming

Back in 1971, a group of local conservationists got together and formed the Bangor Chapter of Ducks Unlimited.

When that fledgling chapter held its first banquet, organizers knew they wanted to make a big splash … and that’s exactly what they did.

Bud Leavitt, the outdoor voice of this newspaper at the time, was the master of ceremonies, and one of his pals – TV sportscaster and outdoorsman Curt Gowdy – came to Bangor as the guest speaker.

According to Ernie Boynton, who started the chapter, that single event “put Bangor on the DU map.”

It has remained there ever since, thanks to a large group of generous conservationists who care deeply about wildlife and their sport.

Nowadays, Boynton is preparing to scale back his DU activities a bit, but did take time out to tell me that this year’s banquet promises to be another fantastic evening … and he’d like you to attend.

The 35th banquet of the Down-East Chapter of DU will be held on Thursday, Sept. 21 at the Bangor Banquet & Conference Center on Hogan Road.

The doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and a buffet dinner will be served at 6:30. And as always, a live auction and raffle will follow.

Ticket prices: $50 for a single, $70 for a couple, and $30 for a “greenwing” under the age of 18. For more information on tickets, call Tom Duff at 989-2609 or David Poll at 884-4592.

The annual DU banquet is one of the top sporting fundraising events of the year in these parts, and chapter members are always willing to talk about ducks and duck hunting with newcomers.

One word of caution, however: Clear a bit of wall space from your study before you attend; once you see the collection of wildlife art that’s always available at auction, it’s going to be awful tough to keep your checkbook in your pocket … which is just as it should be at such worthwhile functions.

Just figure: Since its founding in 1937, DU has raised more than $2.3 billion nationwide, which has contributed to the conservation of more than 11.6 million acres of prime wildlife habitat in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces, and in key areas of Mexico.

Any-deer permit drawing set

If you’re one of the hopeful hunters who applied for an any-deer permit this year (otherwise known as a “doe tag” to many Mainers), you’ll find out how you fared on Friday.

That’s the date of the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s annual lottery for the coveted permits.

Those who don’t receive a doe permit will be forced to focus on bucks during the fall deer hunt.

As state lotteries go, this one is very user-friendly: 80,765 hunters applied for the doe permits this year, and 79 percent of those applicants will receive permits. A total of 67,725 permits are available.

According to the DIF&W, 60 percent of this year’s applicants chose to apply via the Internet. That percentage continues to rise each year: In 2005, 57 percent applied on-line, while 48 percent used that option in 2004 and 42 percent tapped into the Web for an application in 2003.

Due to the number of permits being issued (and due to the fact that instead of simply listing the last two digits of a hunter’s license number, as was done some years back, full names are now drawn), we at the NEWS will be unable to print the full list of successful permit-holders.

Results will be available from the DIF&W, however, by 3 p.m. on Friday. The department’s Web site can be accessed at www.mefishwildlife.com.

Good luck!

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.