I sometimes joke that I’ll be the first to admit when I’m wrong, if that should ever happen. It finally did, and I must humbly disclose that I owe the snowshoe hare an apology.

Ice fishermen might not like it, and anglers in general may roll their eyes at another set of regulations, but if Maine grows more wild brook trout waters with the proposed fishing regulations, how can this be bad?

GORHAM — A lightly attended meeting Thursday on Maine’s request for a federal permit for a trapping program was an anticlimactic chapter in the long effort.

On one recent afternoon, Bill Woodward of Monmouth was telling me about his commercial bait-fishing experiences that morning, and his excitement resembled a little kid, talking about Christmas.

They come on whistling wings in the gray light of dawn, inundating the estuaries and rocky coastline from central Maine to Cape Cod. The redlegs are coming.

There are a number of things you can do to ensure that your first trip on the sled is a safe, legal and fun one.

It’s serendipitous that New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, given the Maine State Park’s newly announced push to get folks outside and recreating on the first day of the year.

The regular firearms deer season is over, and for some it means the end of another hunting season. But many who still haven’t filled their tags will put away the deer rifle and dust off the old smokepole for the two-week muzzleloader season.