We had quite the field trip in mid-February. My longtime friend K got a deal on a lodging, food, and guided snowshoe expedition package at the Silverton Sporting Ranch in Canaan, Maine. K’s husband couldn’t make it, the place is dog-friendly, and I was lucky enough to get invited.

The ranch is close to 400 acres in size, with widely varied terrain, well suited to any number of outdoor pursuits. We walked in the woods, saw eagles and ate good food, but the owner, Denise Murchison, is a registered Maine Guide and many of her clients are hunters. Denise is a renaissance woman. She guides hunters, manages her land to promote wildlife health and diversity, cooks for guests, participates in business organizations, does the PR for the ranch, makes and promotes a line of game marinades, raises Labrador Retrievers AND she has time to put on make-up every morning.*

The promotion that K responded to was designed to expand the client base of the ranch. Hunting has peak seasons and this land is beautiful year round. There are ponds and trails and woods, there’s as much land as a nearby state park, comfy family-friendly cabins, great home cooking – it’s a wonderful place that non-hunters can also enjoy and it’s smart of Denise Murchison to capitalize on that.

The ranch has a lodge where Denise and her helper Kyle live and a number of cabins located far enough from the lodge (and each other) to give a feeling of privacy.

Here's Chico outside our little cabin. Something is happening over to his right, something much more interesting than having his picture taken.

With the outdoor, messy, nature of hunting, these cabins are decorated to be cozy and still easy to clean.

Chico on his sheepskin, hanging out in our cabin's living room.

We arrived Friday night and got to know Denise over a dinner of baby back ribs, salads and baked beans. She’s warm and open and immediately finds something in common with everyone. Chico was a jerk to her house dog, Sport, and Denise kindly put Sport in her crate.**

On Saturday morning, after eggs and ham for breakfast, we grabbed our stuff from the cabin and went to see eagles.

The four dark spots on the branches of that dead pine tree are bald eagles. We sat in the car and watched the trees through binoculars for about 20 minutes. In that time, we saw ten or fifteen eagles, both immature and mature, white-headed, ones.

The next activity was our guided snowshoe walk. Stay tuned for Silverton Sporting Ranch, part 2, coming soon.

*If you know me, you’ll understand my sense of awe at that. If you don’t, let me me try to explain by saying that I wear earrings I can sleep in because if I have to take them out at night, it can be days before I remember to take the time to put them back in. Mascara is practically an occasion. I have a “drip dry” hairstyle.

**On Sunday morning we tried bringing the dogs together again and while Chico wasn’t friendly (sigh), he could agree to stay by me while Sport agreed to stay in the next room. Not exactly what I want, but at least he could be civil and neutral at a distance.