The Good Life – Movie Trailer From Gray Ghost Productions

Our friends at Gray Ghost Productions are at it again. Hang on for the March 27, 2010 release dates followed by screening scheduled for April. The Good Life is fishing from Florida to Labrador and stops in between.

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Hunting Dog Decoy

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Black Bear Visits Father And Son Tree Stand During Elk Hunting Season

I was sent this short video by a reader from Idaho. Here’s his caption:

“Tom,
Thought you might like this short video my 16 year old son took on his cell phone during the archery elk season. Don’t worry about the bear population up in North Idaho, we saw 3 different bears out of this stand in just two days. Guess we’re going to have to start eating bear meat. By the way there is no bear bait out in the area I just have a lot of choke cherries and elderberries on my property.”

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Kids Just Can’t Stay Out Of Mud Puddles

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Elk Rutting In Downtown Estes Park, Colorado

Also take notice of the number of people who are clueless about how dangerous elk can be during a rut.

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Late Season Florida Osceola Turkey Hunt With Scott Ellis

This is a late season, public land Osceola hunt. Behind the gun is Scott Ellis (contributing writer for U.S. Hunting Today). Videographer: John Applewhite. This bird goes away from us at first but after moving into his “personal zone” things quickly start to move in our favor. Watch as we are able to tease this gobbler into gun range with some sweet talk. Lots of gobblin! What a movie star! (More videos!)

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Dean Martin And “The Duke” On Values

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Addictive Outdoor Productions Movie Trailer

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Dolphins Forever Blowing Bubbles

This is a cool video a reader sent me the link to. I’d never seen anything quite like it.

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NATGEO’s “Alaska State Troopers”

National Geographic Channel takes you behind the first lines of defense on the Last Frontier.

One of the toughest law enforcement agencies in the nation, they patrol the rugged terrain of America’s largest state, where anyone they encounter could be armed. “… When we go on patrol, when we contact people we know a few things. We know that they will have guns, they will have knives, and they’ll know how to use them.” ? Wildlife Trooper Sgt. Scott Quist

On October 14, 2009, Wednesday, “Alaska State Troopers” will air on the National Geographic Channel. This is a new series that will air at 10 p.m.

They are the first line of defense on the last frontier, the roughly 400 state troopers who patrol the rugged and unforgiving terrain of America’s largest state — Alaska. One of the toughest law enforcement agencies in the nation, these officers often travel hundreds of miles in piercing subzero temperatures to uphold the law. Responding by land, air and sea — with backup sometimes days away — they face danger to protect the people and wildlife of Alaska.

National Geographic Channel (NGC) gained rare access to this elite law enforcement agency for the new series Alaska State Troopers, airing on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT beginning October 14, 2009. Filmed over 10 months, the series captures a mixture of raw nature and criminal activity throughout the Alaskan wilderness and its remote villages. NGC follows state troopers from two divisions within the storied organization: the “blue shirt” Alaska State Troopers, who police the towns and villages, as well as the “brown shirt” Alaska Wildlife Troopers, who enforce fish and game regulations for both commercial and sport activities.

In each episode, we’ll meet these brave men and women to share “a day-in-the-life” of an Alaska State Trooper. The vast distances, rugged terrain and brutal weather require officers to respond via snowmobiles, boats, planes and helicopters to handle any and every scenario. While out on the graveyard shift, a trooper comes to the aid of an injured “truck-tuber” (a person on an inner tube pulled by a truck along a snow-covered road). Drama unfolds when 13 troopers are tasked with keeping the peace among an estimated 10,000 people at Alaska’s version of “spring break.” Travel to isolated Native communities — where alcohol fuels more than 95 percent of all crime — to enforce a prohibition ban.

In a state where just about every resident is armed, any scenario a trooper confronts could be fatal. Wildlife Trooper Sgt. Scott Quist explains what it’s like approaching hunters: “One thing that’s a little bit different about our version of law enforcement is that when we go on patrol, when we contact people we know a few things. We know that they will have guns, they will have knives, and they’ll know how to use them.”

Whether performing search and rescue missions on a frozen river or arresting a snowmobiler for a DUI, the challenges an Alaska State Trooper faces are diverse, but one thing is for sure — these are not your average cops.

Here is a sample of some of the video shot for this upcoming series.

“Alaskan Moosicide”

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Environmental Success Story Once Big Government Is Removed

Government basically screws up everything it touches its hand to and in addition to that it costs taxpayers bundles more than it ever should have. So what else is new? This is a success story, one that you won’t hear a lot about because it really only happened after the big and powerful government backed off.

It was only last March that I did a review on a brand new DVD production of Carter Davidson’s of Gray Ghost Productions, LLC called East by Northeast.

Davidson, through his generosity, took a section from his movie and made it into a short film, about 8 minutes in length. This film talks of the history of the Androscoggin River in Maine, once one of the 10 most polluted rivers in America. Not a title you really strive for. The films depicts some of what the river has become today.

The video can be viewed below but I thought I would share with readers my own personal knowledge about the river and the effort to clean it up.

In the video below, the narrator mentions the efforts of the federally mandated Clean Water Restoration Act, an act often tagged with the name of Senator Edmund Muskie, a resident of Rumford, Maine, located just a few miles downstream from my hometown of Bethel.

While the CWRA was responsible for cleaning up a lot of rivers and water bodies, it was not the end all solution to dirty water. Strong-arming the companies and municipalities along the river could only go so far. In attempts to keep the effort going to clean up the river, taxing and regulating could only go so far.

Essentially, the stiff arm of government forced paper companies and towns along the river to take care of the majority of their wastes and pollutants they were dumping in the river. That was the easy part. Taking care of the last 5-10% of the waste became very costly. Efforts stalled.

That was only part of the problem. What about all the private landowners and farmers along the river corridor? Was the government going to force them to stop spreading manure and fertilizers? Where they going to make landowners clean up old garbage dump sites, many of which the current landowner never participated in?

The effort to clean up the river seemed to come to a grinding halt. Opposition grew to the tactics being used by government and environmentalists. Let’s face it, you can only push Mainers so far before they balk.

Speaking specifically about the Upper Androscoggin River, the effort wasn’t quite dead yet. The actions taken so far were beginning to return life to the river. Ducks returned to some degree, fish were jumping and a few brave soles were paddling their canoes as well. Ospreys soon were seen overhead and occasionally a bald eagle.

I will give the Maine Environmental Protection Agency credit for one thing. Someone thought it might be worth the effort to try a different approach. Something other than force and bullying. I’ll have to go try to verify my history but if memory serves me, this effort might have been initiated, at least to some degree, by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s director at the time, Bucky Owens. I do know that Bucky loved the Upper Andro and during his tenure at MDIFW he had a vision to turn the Upper Andro into a trophy fishing mecca.

I knock came at my door one day. Someone from the EPA was looking for a location to have a meeting and help getting volunteers to attend a meeting. I had the meeting space and drawing from a few members of the Friends of the Androscoggin, we rounded up a few volunteers.

Our newly formed group thought that if we could convince the locals, that included me, that the river was clean and stayed clean all the time, perhaps we could begin a process of deprogramming these people about the past and get the years and years of dirty, nasty images of the river out of their heads. This was a huge chore.

A friend, Walter Hatch, and I volunteered to do sampling of the water once a week for the summer. We had five sampling stations spread out from New Hampshire to just below the Bethel village and the confluence of the Androscoggin and Sunday Rivers. We were all surprised at how well the water tested and how consistent those tests were.

That was 15 years or so ago and as they say a lot of water under the bridge. What makes this story such a success and one that I wish others would model is that the real long lasting clean up effort never happened until after big government butted out and local residents took ownership.

Industry, along with careless and thoughtless use and abuse of the river snatched it away from the people. Government tried to take it back. Once we could convince the people that there really was something there of value, something they could own and participate in caring for, then we knew the river could be safely returned to the people.

Enjoy the video. In it are many of my friends. I recognize most of the spots that you will see along the river and I can personally attest to how dirty it was and how clean it is now. I also want to take a moment and pay special notice to my good friend Rocky Freda, who appears in this movie. Rocky passed away just this summer and I miss him. His name will be forever etched into the Upper Androscoggin River for his efforts and tireless dedication to keep the effort alive.

Tom Remington

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Playing With Lions Not Recommended!

Hat tip to reader “jes” who sent me this link and questioned, “I wonder how long this chap will live?”

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Obama May Not Be Lying. He Just Might Be That Uninformed

I put together a video this morning. Please excuse any problems with it. I have tried various sources to broadcast and create videos for readers and am constantly frustrated. This time I opted to make the recording using my own video equipment and edit it using my own software. I then uploaded it to You Tube and am embedding it here. I have to figure out how to make the audio quality better.

Tom Remington

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Remember Me?

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Ed Wardle Abandons Wilderness Adventure

I just received an email from Minjae Ormes, a spokesperson for National Geographic Channel informing me that Ed Wardle’s wilderness trek has been cut short.

I wanted to let you know that Ed’s stay in the Yukon Territory has been shortened due to concerns over his health

Ormes also said that NGC will be “continuing to update folks in the coming weeks with videos leading up to Ed’s early departure, culminating in the September broadcast of the entire journey on National Geographic Channel.”

We certainly hope Ed has no serious health problems and wish him a speedy recovery.

Tom Remington

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