Deer pie, bear meatloaf, duck kebabs and moose sausage are not unusual snacks to find at a Maine camp or rod and gun club potluck dinner.

One thing all winter sports enthusiasts learned this winter is that Mother Nature is a fickle friend, and she’ll occasionally let us down.

Spring birding in Maine is phenomenal. Many birds, like warblers and flycatchers, return to Maine from more southerly wintering areas to nest. Other birds, like most sandpipers and plovers, are passage migrants; we get to enjoy them briefly as they migrate through Maine to more northerly breeding grounds.

Going into the winter of 2011-12, the Farmer’s Almanac predicted a wickedly cold and snowy season for New England. “Clime and punishment” was in the forecast, with above-average snowfall and below-average temperatures on deck.

In April 2010, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) liberalized both ice and open-water fishing laws in lakes and ponds in the bottom third of the state by allowing year-round angling in most of them.

On the World Cup freestyle mogul skiing circuit, Dave and Alison Digravio of Farmington and Jeremy Cota of Greenville are putting in an incredible season. In March, Bethel native Simon Dumont, one of the world’s best freestyle skiers, returns to Sunday River to host the Dumont Cup. Though two-time Olympic snowboardcross gold medalist (and Farmington native) Seth Wescott is sidelined for the season, Straton’s Alex Tuttle is competing well. The list goes on and on.