Sportsman’s Corner: A bright idea

Published: 11-02-2023 5:00 PM

By Mike Roche

Recent conversations with fellow sportsmen convinced me that we all have at least one thing in common. That is the fact that we all have at least one “dead” Maglite. We also prefer the Maglite flashlights, from the Mini Maglite that takes two AA batteries to the full-size that take three or four D batteries and are a really rugged flashlight. Most of us have a story about Maglite products. My favorite is that of a Canadian fishing guide who went over his waders and dropped his Maglite in a deep pool. They recovered it the following morning, still shining bright!

The lights are well-made and hold up to hard use. They come with an extra bulb stored inside and last forever unless you forget and leave the batteries in too long and they, as batteries do, corrode. Corrosion is caused by a common chemical reaction due to hydrogen gas building pressure and ultimately needing to escape from inside a battery. Batteries (especially alkaline batteries) have a tendency to leak with age and other factors, such as humidity. So, we end up with dead, stuck batteries. There are remedies posted in videos on YouTube but sometimes, the corrosion has gone too far. My collection includes three AA Mini Maglites and a three D cell full-sized flashlights.

Last week the matter finally got me to act and there was a visit to the Maglite web page, Ultimately, the batteries were packaged up (after a last-ditch attempt to do my own repair). An email to the company produced a quick and complete response. In a nutshell, “If your lights are not operational due to battery corrosion, you may trade them in using our Trade-In Program.” Included is special pricing for replacements and you may replace with a light of the same or lesser value. When looking at the product list, the number of rechargeable models was impressive. That would take care of the corrosion problem for sure! The number of packages that include kits and combo packs really offered handy items for every user.

For this sportsman, two Mini Maglites (one handy for home use and one in the truck) and a full-size flashlight (for exploring what is going on in the backyard) will be ordered and my “dead” Maglite issue will have a happy ending. Most important for me and everybody else to remember is that you need to check your batteries in the light every six months or less.

As this column is being written, the forecast of the first snow seems to be another false alarm. A trip to the Berkshires is on tap and they may have a covering as that region is considerably higher in elevation. Hopefully the woodcock will still be around and maybe we might catch some flight activity. That would be fun, but locally we were still finding a few birds in each cover earlier this week. My experiment of using the newly-acquired Franchi 20 gauge over/under started well, but shooting as of late has been dismal. Granted, hunting over a pointing dog solo in the thick covers where woodcock roost during the day is always a challenge and the understory and miserable vegetation like bittersweet, raspberries and brambles make fighting through it hard enough without trying to get a shot off. Time to go back to the Ruger Red Label 28 gauge!

Fortunately, my upland clothing is high quality and the L. L. Bean Gore-Tex upland pants shed the briars and my Bob Allen shooting gloves keep the backs of my hands from bleeding. If there was a way to keep my hat from coming off it would help because woodcock can sense when you are reaching for it as the perfect time to fly. Although I rarely upland hunt in rainy conditions, the partner L. L. Bean Gore-Tex Upland coat is the best coat this writer has seen in the years of guiding when you had to venture out in wet conditions.

Listening to a number of local deer hunters has been interesting. The incredibly warm spell made bow hunting unproductive as deer are wearing their ‘winter clothes.’ The deer grow a winter coat of hair that insulates better than the summer coat and is darker brown or gray, so it absorbs heat from the sun better. This limits activity when it is warm, and they are already nocturnal in most activities so the movement at dawn and dusk were affected. Anecdotally, this upland hunter has not noticed as much buck sign in local covers. Usually in late October rubs on saplings are common and ground scrapes start to appear as bucks mark territory as the breeding season, or rut, commences.

It remains to be seen if all the predictors like the Farmer’s Almanac, the height of wasp nests, and the coloration of wooly worm caterpillars are harbingers of a severe or warm winter. My prediction is that we will get some snow, have some warm spells, have “cold snaps” and that will be followed by spring. You heard it here first!

Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the MaharFish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, has been a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.