This blog has been retired

I'm sorry, but this blog has been mothballed.

I realized there was some outdated contact information on this blog and if someone is looking for me, I'd prefer they find me. The information on this site is quite possibly outdated.

You can do that at:

www.DarrenMarcy.com



My nonfiction writing and editing site is:

www.DarrenMarcyWriter.com



My outdoor writing website is:

www.DarrenMarcyOutdoors.com


Please look me up there.

Best,
Darren

Club celebrates 100 years of Long Trail

The Green Mountain Club held a celebration last week to honor 100 years of its existence and 100 years of the Long Trail, the country's first long-distance hiking trail.

Someone on Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy's press staff earned the honor for best line in a press release when they sent a notice that began: "What birthday present do you give to a trail that has everything - drop-dead scenery, border-to-border expanse, and a rich 100-year history?"

While the trail is rightly the focus of the celebration, the Green Mountain Club is celebrating itself as well. It's the GMC, after all, that shepherded the trail into existence and has built and maintained the path, its shelters, signage, bridges and other features for the last century.

But the nation's first long-distance hiking trail deserves more than a single day to be feted so there will be events scattered throughout the summer honoring the path through the wilderness.

On May 7, a fundraiser will be held at the Trapp Family Lodge. A reflection on 100 years of memories and accomplishments will be held May 22 at the GMC headquarters in Waterbury Center. The Killington Section will celebrate 100 years of the GMC at a fundraiser June 5. A barn dance is slated in southern Vermont June 16 to kick off four-plus weeks of guided day hikes on the Long Trail that begin the next day. More about these events can be found online at www.greenmountainclub.org.

In addition, more than 900 Long Trail photos have been made available online from the Special Collection archive at the University of Vermont Library. The archive can be viewed by logging on to cdi.uvm.edu. A link is also available from the GMC Web site.

Read all about the celebration on OutdoorsVT.

Contact Darren by e-mail at darren@darrenmarcyoutdoors.com or through his Web site at www.DarrenMarcyOutdoors.com.

Kids and the Outdoors

Read my most recent column about how a chance encounter with a memorial stone led me to thinking about kids and the outdoors.

The memorial -- for local angler who grew up fishing a pond and went on to be a successful bass tournament fisherman -- made me think a lot more about how introducing a kid to the outdoors at a young age can pay dividends down the road.

The column is particularly timely because the National Wildlife Federation is holding its National Wildlife Week beginning Monday to help parents get their kids outdoors.

Read the column at OutdoorsVT.

NWTF names new board chair

The National Wild Turkey Federation National Board of Directors has named Peggy Anne Vallery as the board's new chairman and president.

Read the full press release at the link below.

National Wild Turkey Federation

U.S. Fish and Wildlife chief dies

U.S. Fish and Wildlife chief Samuel Hamilton died Feb. 20 while skiing in Colorado.

Hamilton apparently died of a heart condition, based on the preliminary medical reports.

Hamilton was appointed to head up the F&W agency last September.

Here's an article about Hamilton's death in the Denver Post.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife chief dies

Great Backyard Bird Count

Don't miss a chance to stretch your wings this weekeend (Feb. 12-15).

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a chance for "citizen scientists" to count birds in their area and report the results via the Internet to capture a snapshot of the continent's bird population.

My column covers the GBBC.

Here's an excerpt from my column:

Beginning today, people are encouraged to participate in the 13th annual
Great Backyard Bird Count.

The four-day event runs today through Monday giving people a chance to
participate in a grand social experiment.

Participants simply count birds in their own backyards, park or any other
area where birds can be found, then report their findings online at www.birdcount.org.

You can read the entire column at OutdoorsVT.

Ariz. Game And Fish responds to jaguar report

The Arizona Game and Fish Department has responded to a report the Department of Interior's Inspector General issued about the death of Mach0 B, the jaguar that died after being handled by the department.

The department is responding to a redacted report, which leaves many details missing. It's clear, however, the department isn't thrilled with the DOI's involvement when there is already a federal investigation into the death underway.

Read about the response from Outdoor News Daily.

Arizona Game And Fish Responds To IG Report On Jaguar

Column: Safety key when learning to ski

Slope safety

'Let go of the rope,' and other warning ski tales

I'm a walking poster for ski safety and the perfect example of why helmets should be firmly affixed atop all noggins while on the slopes.

So, as we get ready to observe National Safety Awareness Week beginning Saturday through Jan. 22, I share a few reasons I can personally attest that safety is a worthwhile goal on the slopes.

It all started with my first trip to a mountain some 27 years ago.

A herd of us from my junior high advanced (yes, advanced) PE class rode the yellow weenie to Purgatory - now known as Durango Mountain Resort - in southwest Colorado.

A half day of lessons were required before we were turned loose to terrorize other skiers the rest of the day.

I didn't even wait for the ski school to end before I started the destruction.

My first trip on the rope tow should have been reason enough for the instructor to send me back to the bus.

We were half way up the bunny hill when I lost my balance. But instead of falling over and scampering out of the way of other skiers, I held on, trying to regain my balance.

I ended up falling anyway, pulling the rope with me just enough to knock over another dozen skiers as well. They had to stop the rope tow until everybody could collect themselves.

At the top our group instructor just looked at me and shook his head as he said, "that's one I've never seen before."

We spent the rest of the morning mastering the snowplow - or at least trying to. We snowplowed our way down the hill over and over, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't snowplow my way into a stop.

I could turn, and if I turned far enough, I'd end up going uphill, which would bring me to some semblance of a stop, but I couldn't bring myself to a controlled stop without a fall.

The one thing I mastered that first morning on the snow was falling down. I couldn't even get up very well but when it came to falling, I was a master.

I began to use a controlled fall as my own personal method of stopping, despite the instructors constant yelling to turn, turn, turn; pressure on this ski, pressure on that ski, blah, blah, blah.

It would always end up the same.

Fall down, dig skis, pole grips, fingers, everything into the snow until the sliding stopped. Then I had to figure out how to get up.

That worked for the most part until, late in the morning as my confidence grew, I zoomed down the slope - top to bottom without falling - turning back and forth to control my speed.

But then it hit me.

The rope tow line was too close and I didn't have enough room to fall and slide to a stop.

I threw myself down in a panic and slid frantically toward the group of people whose eyes grew wider as they tried to scramble out of the way.

I went into the crowd like a bowling ball and pins exploded in an array of skis, poles, goggles and who knows how many body parts.

I've heard it described as a yard sale on the snow.

It took five minutes for people to gather their gear as people traded poles looking for a matched set.

I was done for the morning.

Through a combination of shame, peer pressure and a little bit of a formal recommendation from my instructor, I slunk off toward lunch.

The second half of the day went much smoother.

An experienced skiing friend took a handful of us to the top and pointed down. "Let's go," he said, and took off down the slope.

He kept us on green and easy blue runs, but it was still a little more difficult than the bunny slope on which we had been.

The "tough love" ski lesson worked. Soon, we were all making clean runs - except when it came time to stop and I slid toward my friends who would scramble out of the way while hurling insults.

Still, I was in relative control, maintaining my speed and changing direction as necessary. I even began to keep my skis parallel for stretches, snowplowing only when necessary.

But I still couldn't stop.

That became an issue when we tackled a more difficult intermediate trail and I found myself skiing back and forth across the run to control my speed.

However, in one area I started going too fast and hit an ice spot.

I tried to turn, but my skis chattered across the ice.

Panicked, I threw myself down into an "emergency stop" slide, but I just kept sliding downhill toward the trees at the edge of the run.

When I hit the powder at the side of the trail, my body flipped around and I went into a tree backwards.

My upper body thumped against the tree as my butt settled deep into the tree well.

My feet - with skis still attached - were in front of me and about head high. I couldn't move.

I had hung on to my poles during the train wreck, but they were of little use.

I tried rolling over, but the depth of the powder and the fact I was wedged against the tree, kept me from being able to wiggle into a position to get up.

Because I was always the last in the group - so I would know where to slide to a stop - my friends were long gone and nobody else was coming by.

And because I was buried in the powder and the branches of the tree hung nearly to the top of the snow, I doubt I could be seen.

I must have sat under that tree for nearly a half an hour before I was able to use my ski poles to release my ski bindings and free my feet.

I tossed my skis out onto the trail and was able to finally wiggle myself into a position to crawl out of the hole and back into the daylight.

Fortunately, eventually, I learned how to stop and slowly taught myself to ski with some measure of skill and style. Well, skill, anyway.

Darren Marcy is a local outdoor enthusiast. Contact him through his Web site at www.DarrenMarcyOutdoors.com.

There's an app for that

Audubon has release iPhone and iPod Touch apps featuring the Birds of New England.

Read here for more details.

A funny FTC disclosure

The Federal Trade Commission has decided you're too stupid to know when someone is blowing smoke up your backside. They're worried that bloggers, tweeters, Facebook friends and others might mislead you about a product endorsement without revealing whether or not they have been compensated or received incentive to say nice things about the product.

If you're a blogger running a small site without a ton of traffic, and little to no income, you might be tempted to say, "so what." But the FTC, like other government agencies without enough to do, has put some teeth into the law. Big teeth.

So most bloggers and other social media types are trying to take the new law seriously and comply.

One outdoor company, Deneki Outdoors, decided to have a little fun with its FTC compliance disclosure and I think they've done a great job with it.

Read Deneki Outdoors' FTC disclosure here.

Official: Largemouth bass ties record

It's official, the 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass caught on Lake Biwa in Japan has tied the record for the the biggest bass ever caught.

Manabu Kurita caught the monster on 25-pound test line with a blue gill July 2.

Six months later, on Jan. 8, the record was confirmed by The International Game Fish Association.

Kurita's fish ties the record that George Perry set on Montgomery Lake in Georgia June 2, 1932.

Jaguar decision expected from feds

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to issue a decision soon on whether to develop a recovery plan for the jaguar in the Southwest.

The feds are bound by a court order to issue a decision on managing jaguars and the case is seen as a test by conservationists as to whether the government will work to protect a species that ranges across United State's borders.

The big cats range is primarily south of New Mexico and Arizona into Mexico and Central and South America. They once ranged into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Once believed to be extirpated in the United States, a hunter running mountain lions in New Mexico treed a jaguar and took photos of the big cat. That spurred a study that has resulted in two cats being identified.

One of the cats, Macho B, was captured in a snare in southern Arizona, but died shortly after being tranquilized.

The Outdoors World Loses a Legend

The Outdoors World Loses a Legend in Charlie Meyers Field & Stream

I ran across this Field & Stream notice this morning about the death of Charlie Meyers, longtime outdoor writer at the Denver Post.

The outdoor writing world is missing a little piece of itself this morning.

Reporter fired for questioning Vail's snow total ethics

Some of you might remember a story about a Dartmouth College study on how snow totals reported by ski areas don't always jive with snowfall totals reported at nearby weather stations.

Of course the ski areas defended their accuracy and denied stretching the truth, err, snow.
Still, it was something many people think probably happens -- at least to some extent -- at most resorts.

So, I found it interesting to find this article about a reporter in Colorado that was fired for what he claims was writing a column calling a major resort -- Vail -- on the carpet for what he perceived as misleading claims about snow.

You can read the article here.

New Blog Site

I have launched my new outdoor writing and photography blog site.

Check it out at: darrenmarcyoutdoors.typepad.com.

You can also take a look at my Outdoors Vermont blog at rutlandherald.typepad.com/outdoorsvermont

I'll still be posting things here about outdoor writing and photography and the general outdoors.

Don't forget my new Web site address at www.DarrenMarcyOutdoors.com.

New Year's Column

Check out my New Year's column.

At some of the worst moments in my life, it was the outdoors that helped me hold it all together. And during some of the best points in my life, it is the memories of the outdoors that really stand out as being among the best.

Read the column here.

www.DarrenMarcyOutdoors.com

There are some big changes happening with Darren Marcy Outdoors.

The biggest is the change in my Web site's address thanks to problems with Microsoft and the company it uses to register domain names, MelbourneIT.

Despite the fact my domain wasn't suppose to expire until Nov. 19, the Web site was shut down Nov. 15. When I tried to renew it, Microsoft said it was Melbourne's fault. Melbourne won't return e-mails or requests for help. I tried to switch my domain to another company, but it won't let me because e-mails to an old address, which no longer exists, contain the information I need to make it happen.

So, I've changed my domain name to www.DarrenMarcyOutdoors.com.

The old address was www.DarrenMarcy.com.

At some point, I'll reclaim my old address, but I'll keep my new domain name for my outdoor Web site.

I'm also switching my blog to another site. This site will soon become a placeholder to direct people to the new sites.

Please check out my new Web site at: www.DarrenMarcyOutdoors.com.

Vt. man wants "legal permits" to kill hunters

The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press ran a letter by a man that calls for the killing of hunters.

In his letter, Ethan A.H. Sims of Shelburne, writes about the opening of moose season in Vermont. Then he writes, "I suggest that before the next annual killing season, other residents be awarded legal permits to kill hunters who will be out to kill these beautiful, non-destructive animals. Or the government could just rule out of all this primitive killing."

Everybody has the right to his or her opinion and I certainly don't hold it against Mr. Sims for being an anti-hunter. I think he's misguided and we are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to our beliefs on hunting, but he still has a right to his opinion.

What floors me, however, is that the Free Press chose to run this letter. Granted they issued an apology online and the letter has been removed from the paper's Web site. But how did it make the page in the first place?

Editorial page editor Aki Soga wrote on the Free Press' Web site, "that violates the standards of the Free Press by advocating for violence against hunters. The letter has been taken down. We apologize for our error in judgement."

Wow!

OutdoorsVT 6-12-09

Why can't we be friends?

Sharing the trails starts with compromise

Motorized and nonmotorized. Access versus preservation. Foot-power or pedal-power. Greens versus plaids.

Can't we all just get along?

Outdoor users groups continue to butt heads and as long as we battle, everybody will lose to some degree.

It's no wonder some sections of our outdoor recreation groups are decreasing in numbers and funding for trails projects and infrastructure maintenance is lagging.

We can't even agree on who's allowed to use a section of trail, so how do you expect us to get along when it comes to asking for money or getting a kid involved in the outdoors?

The battleground isn't new as all-terrain vehicle riders find themselves facing off against recreation advocates who are against ATVs on the trails.

The conflict surrounding ATVs is nearly as old as the machines themselves and has grown steadily as more and more people buy and ride them.

In recent years land-management agencies have tried to catch up on the debate and referee the brawl, pushing the battle to a fevered pitch. The resulting rule-making has only intensified as both sides scratch and claw to gain the upper hand.

Nonmotorized folks try to push the machines off the trails and the ATVers seek more access.

You'd think there would have been some compromise by now, or at least they would have run out of trails over which to argue.

That would be easy and when it comes to ATVs, the discussion is never easy.

Camps from both sides of the issue too often exhibit the standard "me, me, me" attitude that pervades this and many other issues.

At some point, we have to get away from the "This is what I want," and look more at "This would be best for the largest number of people."

Don't get me wrong.

I'm pretty much a middle of the two-track guy here.

I don't own or ride ATVs, but I have nothing against the legal and ethical operation of the machines.

An ATV isn't my cup of tea. Although I would definitely ride an ATV at times and would find great fun in using an ATV, I personally would rather use my feet and, for the most part, would prefer to hike than ride an ATV.

But, my opinion doesn't - and shouldn't - dictate what others are able to do.

What I think shouldn't weigh an ounce more than what an ATV rider wants. My view is no more important than what someone who is against ATVs thinks.

That's the level of respect that is missing from this debate. Just because I don't ride an ATV doesn't mean I want to keep them off the trails.

There are, however, places they shouldn't be due to the risk of trail damage, erosion, and other potential impacts.

Where the trails are capable of handling ATV traffic, they should be allowed.

I've known many, many ATV owners who are great people, respectful of others and careful in their riding.

They stay on trails, don't ride when trails are muddy, ride at safe and sane speeds, keep their rigs muffled and tuned to prevent excessive exhaust, and whatever else goes into being a good steward of the land.

As with any other group, there are the outlaws.

It doesn't matter what outdoor activity you pick, there are idiots.

There are poachers who call themselves hunters, although I'll never mix the two words.

There are hikers who tromp down muddy trails and circle mud holes, there are anglers who don't obey limits or size restrictions, skiers and boarders who go under the ropes and ski out of bounds and mountain bikers who bomb downhill without regard for anybody else who might be on the trail.

There's just a certain percentage of people who won't follow the rules and there are ATVers who, right now, fall into this category.

You can close, or refuse to open, all the trails you want and you'll still have rogue ATVers on those trails.

You can't manage for the 2-percenters. You have to manage for the resource and access that best serves the most people. All user groups deserve places to play.

Space is not always a luxury and we're going to have to share the trails. Finding the right balance won't be easy. But it needs to be done.

Maybe, just maybe, we can all get along.

Darren Marcy is a local outdoor enthusiast. His Web site is http://www.darrenmarcy.com/. E-mail him at darren@darrenmarcy.com.

Turkey hunter faces manslaughter charges

Vermont State Police have filed manslaughter charges against the man accused of killing his son while turkey hunting.


Following a joint investigation by the Vermont State Police and Vermont Game Wardens, Kevin Kadamus, 44, was charged with manslaughter today.


He was processed at the State Police Barracks in St. Johnsbury and released pending an arraignment that is scheduled for July 6 at the Caledonia County Courthouse.


Kadamus is accused of shooting and killing his son, Jacob Kadamus, 18, while the pair were turkey hunting on the opening day of the Vermont turkey season May 1.


Jacob Kadamus reported was hunting in a different area, but moved into the area where his father was hunting when he was shot.


He died at the scene.


See my original blog post for more details on this turkey hunting incident by clicking here.