Time Spent In The Wild With Family Provides Lifetime Memories

Moore Outdoors

Oct 20

By Gary Moore

Will Staats is a retired New Hampshire Fish and Game wildlife biologist and lifelong outdoorsman from Victory, Vermont. The Vermont native is well known throughout the Northeast as an antler shed hunter and an avid hiker, hunter and explorer of the far north.

I have known Will since he started his wildlife career with the then Vermont Fish and Game Department in 1980.

He was hired as a temporary to assist the late Charlie Willey with the bear project. They tranquilized bears around the Northeast Kingdom and weighed, examined and tagged them before release to learn about their movements and habitat needs. I was on the Fish and Game Board at the time and frequently helped in the early morning operations, getting to know Will and Charlie.

Will grew up in Middlebury where he learned to hunt, fish and trap. He said he was, “Always drawn to the outdoors. I was fascinated by wildlife”

After high school, he spent a year in a 9x11 cabin on the side of a mountain trying to make a living as a trapper.

Family and friends encouraged him to go to UVM which he did, graduating with a degree in wildlife biology.

Eventually he was hired by New Hampshire Fish and Game for a full time job as a wildlife biologist and spent his career assigned to the Lancaster office from which he retired.

I have long known of the wilderness canoe trips to Maine, northern Quebec and Labrador that Will has taken with his family and it is those experiences that we talked about and the memories and connections with family that they created.

He said, “My wife Melanie and I did short canoeing trips to Canada taking the kids at a very young age.

“We did a canoe trip on a river emptying into Hudson Bay and we took our kids together on a river that goes into James Bay as well, both of theses trips in northern Quebec. The kids have done other rivers in Quebec besides all the trips to Labrador.

“Starting when my son was age five, I took him and his cousin on an annual canoe trip to the St. Croix on the Maine/New Brunswick border.”

For many of the Quebec trips they take a train headed north to Shefferville and are dropped off for a two week period far from civilization before making it back to the tracks to be picked up after their adventure.

His son Galen is now 32 and lives in Oregon and his daughter Avery 28 lives in Lyndonville. He continues to take remote canoe trips with them creating more memories and bonding.

I asked about his favorite trips and of course they were the ones with his children. “My home away from home is Labrador” he stated emphatically.

Will has had a lifelong interest in how the indigenous people lived and traveled and also how the early explorers, trappers and settlers operated and canoes were a big part of that.

He stated, “I love the canoe as a craft in and of itself.”

Poling a canoe versus paddling is something he excels at as did those in previous centuries. It is a way to move loads upstream with ease while standing erect, allowing one to view the river from a better prospective.

It is an activity we have in common and one I learned some thirty years ago and engage in more than paddling.

Will is known throughout New England as an antler shed hunter. He spends countless hours bushwhacking mountains and swamps in search of moose and deer shed antlers. He sells them to a dealer by the pound and makes enough he says to pay for the remote trips.

It is something he and his dog do together in most cases.

He is the subject of a short video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5XveiPCr_k, I have seen that nicely shows his antler shed collecting and was featured in a Boston paper. That is a story for another time.

Will has climbed just over 100 peaks this summer, many in search of antlers but others just so to visit the summits. It seems every time I call him he is on his way or just back from a climb in Vermont or New Hampshire often summiting two or three in a day.

Now most of his time in the woods is spent bird hunting with his dog as was the case when I texted him to verify a point I was trying to make when writing this column.

Will is one of, if not the most, dedicated outdoorsman I know and the most knowledgeable. He has made wonderful memories sharing the outdoors with his children and encourages others to do the same.

If you missed the live broadcast of my interview with Will, you can listen to it at: https://www.wykr.com/what-happens-when-you-take-the-kids-off-the-map.

For a good podcast landing page: https://outdooredge.podbean.com/.

Hikers Applaud Efforts To Protect A Favorite Trail And To Make Fire Towers Safer.

There Is good news for hikers this fall as we learn that the Brousseau Mountain Trail is permanently protected and that the Spruce Mountain and Elmore Mountain fire towers are being refurbished to make them safe for us to use.

I am one of those who loves Norton’s Brousseau Mountain Trail and the spectacular views it offers of Little Averill Lake and much of Essex County and beyond to the White Mountains.

The North Star Monthly reported that Ann Sage and Victor Peters sold a parcel holding a key unprotected section of the Brousseau Mountain Trail to the Town of Norton and the town conserved it with the Vermont Land Trust and the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.

The couple has allowed the trail to cross their property for decades and, over several years, they worked with the land trust, the town and other partners to secure formal protections for the trail and permanently conserve the land.

The trail will be managed by the NorthWoods Stewardship Center, based in East Charleston, which has maintained the Brousseau Mountain Trail for years.

We owe the couple and all those who worked to make it all happen so that future generations can enjoy what many of us have for years.

Regular readers know that I love fire towers and the views they provide. Learning that two of my favorites, Spruce Mountain and Elmore Mountain, are being repaired to make them safe for those of us who climb them was welcomed.

Vermont Public’s Abragael Giles reported that the first fire tower in Vermont was built in 1912 on Burke Mountain, according to the State Division of Historic Preservation and that roughly 16 fire towers remain in the state, of 38 built here since 1911.

Originally erected to protect from forest fires, the state stopped manning them in 1974 as there were cheaper and more efficient ways to monitor the forests.

The Department of Forest Parks and Recreation is replacing the wooden steps with durable metal ones and adding railings.

The Elmore and Spruce fire towers are two of eight towers the state plans to renovate over the next few years. Last year, renovations were completed on the Burke Mountain, Okemo and Allis towers. In their heyday, the towers were staffed by fire lookouts, a practice Vermont stopped in 1974.

Will Staats and Daughter Avery On A Canoe Trip in Labrador

Bits and Pieces

New Hampshire’s youth deer weekend is this Saturday and Sunday, October 24–25. Prospects for this year’s youth season are excellent, according to Becky Fuda, Deer Project Leader for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. “New Hampshire’s deer population is healthy and will provide excellent opportunities,” said Fuda. “Last year’s harvest was the highest on record, with 14,387 deer taken, and population numbers remain strong throughout the state.”

Hunters should remember to take proper care when handling wild game to minimize possible exposure to wildlife diseases. First and foremost, hunters should avoid shooting or handling any animal that appears sick. For more tips on safe handling of wild game please visit: https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/after-harvest/safe-handling-wild-game. For more about New Hampshire’s youth hunting weekends, visit https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/youth-hunting-new-hampshire.

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Deer Project Leader Becky said that, “New Hampshire’s 11–day muzzleloader season is favored by hunters because of its early timing, milder weather, and the high level of buck activity that happens leading up to the peak of the deer breeding period in mid- to late November. Many hunters also view the muzzleloader season as a way to scout the woods and get in shape for the approaching firearms season.”

It runs October 31 to November 10.

Hunters are reminded that online deer registration will be unavailable on the first 2 days of muzzleloader season, October 31 and November 1, and the first 3 days of firearms season, November 11, 12, and 13. Hunters must check in their deer in person on these dates.

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Vermont Fish and Wildlife tells us the onset of fall sends bats into motion, which makes it an important time for conservation-minded Vermonters to learn about, and help conserve, our nine native bat species.

If you have noticed bats roosting in your attic, barn or office over the summer, fall and spring are the perfect times to safely evict these uninvited guests from your property. Bats migrate between winter and summer roosts during the fall and spring and do not have vulnerable young at these times. You can learn how to safely evict bats from your building at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s best management practices page, https://vtfishandwildlife.com/sites/fishandwildlife/files/documents/Learn More/Living with Wildlife/Bats/Excluding_for_bats.pdf.

You can also help bat conservation efforts by reporting large colonies of bats living in structures to the department’s website, https://vtfishandwildlife.com/.

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Vermont DEC has posted the draft 5-year update to the Ompompanoosuc, Stevens, Wells, and Waits Rivers Tactical Basin Plan for public review and comment. Basin plans summarize existing surface water quality conditions, identify water quality concerns, and describe strategies for improving water quality, aquatic habitat, and watershed resilience. The public can review and comment on the draft plan through November 11.

Visit the Watershed Planning Program website https://dec.vermont.gov/water-investment/watershed-planning/basins-and-planners/basin14.

For any questions, comments, or input you may have contact Keith Fritschie, at 802-490-6176, Keith.Fritschie@Vermont.gov.

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Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s colorful 2027 calendar is now available.

The calendar includes beautiful photography of Vermont species along with hunting, fishing and trapping season dates for each month, making it the perfect gift for anyone who loves the outdoors.

It is available for $15 from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department with a printable free-shipping mail-in order form on Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s website.

Proceeds from calendar sales contribute to the department’s Habitat Stamp Fund, which helps buy and manage land for Vermont’s wildlife.

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Mark Breen reports in the Fairbanks Museum's Skywatch Almanac that on October 25, 1820: “8 inches of snow in Burlington brings sleighs out early, up to twelve inches in the hills east toward Underhill.”

Parting Shots

Why do I have to press one for English when you're just going to transfer me to someone I can't understand anyway?

I spent three and a half hours one day last week trying to resolve an issue regarding a $22,000 bill from the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center where Linda was hospitalized last month. I went back and forth between the hospital, Medicare and HealthSpring, our insurance company. It was frustrating having to repeatedly go through long menus before getting to talk to a real person, who barely spoke English. One could not understand me or the woman who kept asking her to transfer us to her supervisor.

It was very frustrating. Just let me talk to a real person who understands English.