Site Discussions

I was diagnosed in July 2012. I did not have any rash that I know of. I was bit by a tick when I was on vacation in Gettysburg, PA. I became very lethargic and my joints, especially my neck was hurting, some flu-like symptoms. My doctor checked EBV, Mono and Lyme. Lyme was positive. Tried 21-days of Doxy. Felt a little better, but then the bottom dropped out. Retested by PCR and positive. I was on 30-days of IV Rocephin. I felt better, but still had bad days, so I decided to start on a Natural Lyme Formula treatment protocol from Organic Herbal Clinic (www. organicherbalclinic. com), the treatment effectively treated my Lyme disease condition. The stiffness, fatigue and joint/muscle/body pains has subsided, I feel better overall than I have felt in years. 3 months after the treatment, I made an appointment with a rheumatologist in Houston, after examining me, she looked at me and told me I did not have Lyme disease because all the usual Lyme symptoms had stopped. Its almost like a miracle!

David, we still have golden eagles migrating through in small numbers - Todd Katzner with USGS and his team have done some fascinating work mapping the birds’ paths and behaviors. In terms of resident birds in the US Northeast, I’m not aware of any current efforts to restore a breeding population.

I had no idea that the golden eagles were once in this area.  Is there, or will there be, an effort to restore them?

Meghan wrote a wonderful article that captures the skill and beauty of these incredible raptors. However there are a couple statistics that aren’t quite right. In 2018, NH tallied 25 territorial pairs of peregrines, with 23 pairs documented incubating eggs, and 17 pairs that were successful, producing a total of 43 young.

My family and I just moved to a new home in a wooded area, and we want to hang up a bird feeder on our porch. Your article had great tips for taking care of a feeder like this, and I liked how you said to get a feeder with screens place around it as this keeps out squirrels and large birds such as blue jays that make a mess. Thanks; we’ll keep this in mind when getting a bird feeder.

In early May 2019 I spotted a fox with red and black (mostly black) coat in Kingston, NH.  I had never seen one like that before.  I had to look it up and learned that it is a rare color variation.

I was diagnosed with Lyme disease by a Lyme aware doctor in November 2018 and also have a co-infection. I have trouble walking and use a walker but walk slowly! More research definitely needs to be done pertaining to Lyme. I worked in the out of doors as an interpretive naturalist since 1983. I have always been a healthy person.

Why isn’t there a salt block that could have meds in it like we put on dogs or cats.

What is the primary diet of the shad or do they stop eating once they begin their journey up river to spawn?

The winter tick life cycle has nothing to do with mice.  It lives entirely on moose.

Possums don’t live that far north, or if they do, they’re just getting there.
I’d go with turkeys…

I read about mange and then lo and behold, the neighborhood fox showed up looking terrible. This was fall of 2018. Fast forward to spring 2019. He is still alive. I made a batch of meatballs (no spices). He/she walks through my yard every morning between 10 and 11. He gets four meatballs every day, today was the third day. Right now I am being aggresive withe the Ivermectin. He took off with one meatball today. Maybe he took it to his mate. I just want him feeling better.

Maybe it’s time to bring in the opossums? Big tick eaters…

Are we making the connection with mice & other small rodents, ticks, and the invasive Japanese barberry plant?

I have lived in Maine my whole life (I’m 17 but that’s besides the point) and I am an avid bear baiter. It’s not quite as simple as everyone is so quick to make it.

For 7 years I’ve been hunting bear over bait and have never even had one come while I was hunting. Granted, I usually only hunt on Friday and/or Saturday but still. And the food doesn’t affect their diet like a lot of people claims it does. Bears would much rather eat fruit or a decomposing carcass over the bait but every now and then it’s a good way to get a few extra calories in before Winter hits, especially for smaller or older bears who can’t compete with bears in their prime.

Morality aside, bear baiting counts for roughly 70% of the annual bear harvest after hunting season. In 2014, the number of bears estimated to be in the State of Maine was 36,000 and all indications point to that number slowly increasing each year. In places such as Caribou or Presque Isle, the bear population has reached it’s maximum. So, baiting is extremely important to maintain bear populations and honestly, we should be considering making the limit 2-3 bear per year at least in some of the northern hunting zones where bears are more abundant.

I apologize for being 5 years late to this conversation but I felt I needed to share a few more facts with people so that maybe we can be a little more open minded about baiting if another poll ever does come back, which is likely to occur in another decade or so. It’s a lot less unethical than some people may think but I do agree stalking bears would be ideal. However, of the dozens and dozens of people I know, only 1 has ever had the opportunity to shoot a bear under natural circumstances.

I also wanted to say that yes, bears are not as violent as we tend to think. In fact, I’ve been within inches of a wild bear before it ran past me while I carried 2 buckets of bait. It didn’t attack even though I had roughly 10 pounds of food with me. But, bears are still dangerous and we need to respect that fact. Bears, especially sows with their cubs, could charge or attack in an instant and I think we all know how bad that usually turns out. No one wants to be mauled in their backyard which is why baiting, trapping, and hunting with dogs needs to remain prominent methods of hunting in Maine.

If you’d like to discuss this with me personally, my email is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Please consult with veterinarians to add information as to the incidence of tick prevalence in the NE as thy are the tip of the iceberg.  They’ve been screaming about this for the past 10 years.

I remember back in 1973,delivering mink,rabbit,and deer hides to an old tannery in Gloversville.Inside were huge wooden vessels and machinery that looked like it was from the 1800’s.The smell was of hides and chemicals was unbearable.This in January or February.I couldn’t imagine how rough it must have been in the summer.It was not for the faint of heart!

Been reading quite a few of the comments above and I’m amazed by how many people actually prefer using a regular axe as opposed to a maul axe for splitting wood.  But, as one poster wrote, it all depends on what suits you best as regards what type of axe you use.
Here in South Africa we don’t have those long cold winters as in Europe or North America, so many people - even in remote farming areas - are happy to heat their homes using gas or electricity. However, due to the spiralling cost of electricity here, more and more homeowners are installing wood burners in their homes.  Living in an urban area, I don’t have access to trees growing in my immediate vicinity, so whenever I hear the sound of a chainsaw, or see tree fellers in action, I will ask the person for wood which I then would load up and then when I get home, cut logs to size using my Stihl M390.  These logs would then weather for a year, then they would meet my 3kg maul axe.  At first I used an ordinary 1.5kg axe, but it was tough going, and it became a real chore to get anywhere, but then I discovered a maul axe, and , for me it was just great - made all the difference !  We have lots of Australian Bluegum here, which is great fire wood, but the best of all are some African hardwoods - mahogany is the best, and it burns forever with a great heat, but it’s really, really hard to split.  Ok, I’m 77, so maybe it would have been easier for me a few years ago. Who knows…
Good luck, All.

We have six young ones and Mom behind our house in Cumberland Maine and have been watching them with binoculars and a game cam

I was waiting for this, love seeing this numbers discussion. I just tap a few trees out back for hobby sugaring. Last year I tapped on March 10th and the buckets over flowing for 3 solid weeks, all done by April 1st. This year I tapped on March 11th and basically got nothing for 2 weeks, the first week of April they flowed nicely, the next week just average and was all done by the 13th. In the end both years ended up to be very similar in sap flow, the trees just went about it a bit differently.

Amazing to be able to witness fox family life through these photos - thank you!