Although my wife will mock me and guffaw when she reads this, when it comes to hunting and fishing equipment I am not a “gear hound.” Just ignore her scoffing. I really don’t buy a lot of new stuff, honest. Whether it is a fly rod, a shotgun or a pair of chest waders, I customarily make do.

On April 26 the Dexter girls finished fifth among six schools during a Penobscot Valley Conference meet at Bucksport. The Tigers scored 32 points.

Downtown Monson looks much different compared to several years ago through the efforts of the Libra Foundation, and a portion of West Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft is also undergoing a transformation thanks to the Portland-based organization.

Nominees are being sought for the second class of the Piscataquis Community High School Athletic Hall of Fame, established to honor those have starred on the playing fields, coached on the sidelines and/or contributed to athletics programs at PCHS, previous secondary institutions and the towns making up SAD 4.

Penquis Valley High School senior Cymeria Robshaw is one six members of the Class of 2019 from across the state being honored by the Maine Sports Hall of Fame with a $5,000 Scholar-Athlete Award. Robshaw and the other five will be recognized during the 44th Maine Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday, May 19 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland.

Ritchie, of Greenville, was a slugging outfielder for the Guilford Advertisers, one of Maine’s storied semi-pro teams during the heyday of town team baseball.

Maine has not had a spring bear hunt for many years. Although a re-institution of a spring bear hunt in the Pine Tree State has been talked about on and off as a way of dealing with our ever-increasing population of bears, many stakeholders – including bear guides and outfitters – have opposed the spring hunt for a host of reasons.

Again in 2019 runners and walkers will be able to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans with Dover-Foxcroft American Legion Post 29’s second annual five kilometer (3.1 miles) Warrior Race & Fun Run at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 25.

Want to frustrate anyone involved in reclassifying Maine’s high school sports teams every two years? Mention “enrollment differential.”

The 47th annual Piscataquis River Race, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft, is scheduled for Saturday, April 27. Canoeists and kayakers will start from King Cummings Park in Guilford and paddle approximately 10 miles down river to the shore across West Main Street from Foxcroft Academy campus.

The Foxcroft Academy and Dexter Regional High School outdoor track and field teams opened the 2019 season at an April 18 Penobscot Valley Conference meet at the Brewer Community School. The Ponies scored 46 points to place fourth among seven schools and Dexter picked up 14 points to place seventh.

Two runners with ties to the region were among the more than 30,000 entrants in the 123rd Boston Marathon on April 15.

Construction of the new $5.5 million Piscataquis County Ice Arena (PCIA) in is taking shape on the interior of the building. Work started last summer and has continued through the snow and cold of the winter months, pouring concrete, adding walls, and now, leveling the area that will be the playing surface.

High school football classification may look different in many parts of the state next fall with various programs moving up and down classes and the addition of a pair of eight-man divisions. The schedule for Foxcroft Academy and Dexter Regional High School (which has been a cooperative with Piscataquis Community High School in recent seasons) should not vary too much under a proposal given unanimous support April 8 by two Maine Principals’ Association committees.

The State Award of Merit, awarded by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, was presented to Archer by his oldest son Cameron, who is an athletic administrator at SeDoMoCha Middle School in Dover-Foxcroft.

More than a half dozen runners with ties to the region took part in the Bridge the Gap 3-Miler and 10-Miler on April 6 in Prospect and Bucksport.

Nothing conjures up visions of the Maine wilderness experience like mentioning Allagash Lake. It’s a special place for many of us. I made my first trek to this remote lake with my uncle while I was in high school.

The Foxcroft Youth SeDoMoCha Middle School wrestling teams competed at the Marshwood Youth New England Classic on Saturday, March 30 at the Cross Insurance Arena. Over 1,000 wrestlers from all six New England states attended this very competitive event. The local teams had 16 wrestlers attend this event and eight of them placed in their weight classes.