I’m the new outdoors editor for the BDN

By Susan Bard, Bangor Daily News Staff

The first thing I ever shot was a hen wood duck. 

I was an 18-year-old college student in Unity, and I had just started hunting with friends. It was my first introduction to a world I didn’t realize existed, one that I was perturbed to have missed out on during my childhood.

That wood duck set me on a path over the past 20 years that included ptarmigan hunting in Alaska, walleye fishing in Lake Erie and quartering an elk by myself in the darkening New Mexico mountains as coyotes yipped in the background. I have worked as a wildlife biologist and as a registered Maine Guide, helping others to fulfill their dreams of shooting a Maine black bear or a bobcat. 

What drives me to hunt and fish is complex: it’s the challenge, skill, experience and the meat. My day is immediately enhanced by seeing a bobcat, hearing a rare bird call or just watching a watercolor sunset. It’s also incredibly rewarding to be able to create a meal from something I harvested, and to share the food with others. 

My background is in wildlife biology, having worked for many agencies across the country on various research and management projects. I am a registered Maine hunting, fishing and recreation guide, and I love finding shed antlers, hunting with dogs, experimenting with new game recipes, foraging for mushrooms and hiking. I’d rather be in the woods or on the water any day of the week, and I take pride in growing my skill and experience with every trip. 

A greenhorn fresh out of undergrad, I learned to trap black bears as part of the Maine bear crew. I used these skills during my master’s research in New Mexico, and today I guide hunters using the same aldrich foot snares. 

While working on a mountain lion project in southwest Colorado I learned to age and sex wildlife tracks in various conditions. Every morning I would ride a 4-wheeler through the snow, searching for these elusive predators. When a fresh track was located, our team used hounds to tree and radio collar these animals. This position led me to working for an outfitter in New Mexico where I fell in love with hounds and the chase.  

My pursuits across the country in the natural resources field during the last 20 years have introduced me to new methods, techniques and knowledge that bolstered my experience as a biologist, hunter and outdoorswoman. 

For years I’ve wanted an outlet to share these stories, and working for the Bangor Daily News seemed a perfect opportunity to do so. From Pete Warner’s moving profiles to John Holyoke’s dispatches from bear dens and Julie Harris’ reporting on outdoors issues, the stories of Maine’s woods and waters have always intrigued me. I hope that future outdoor contributions will do the same for you. 

I look forward to sharing stories of mine and the public’s that ignite a passion for the outdoors, and those that inspire and engage. If you have a story to share, email me at sbard@bangordailynews.com.