BANGOR, Maine — John Holyoke has been writing for the Bangor Daily News for more than 26 years. As a sports columnist, he loved his job and everything he got to do for it.
"My executive editor asked me about my fly fishing trip I had just been on, and I had had an interesting conversation with a man who was not pleased with what the Bangor Daily News was doing in its outdoor coverage, and he wanted us to have an outdoor columnist again." Holyoke was just passing along what he was told; his editor said, "He's right. You should do it."
"At that point I pointed out that I had never hunted before and while I liked to fish, I didn't catch many fish," laughs Holyoke. His editor saw something within that, though. He wanted Holyoke to make mistakes in the field, sort of an "every man of the outdoors." While Holyoke isn't a master of the outside, what he is good at is telling stories; and there's something about sharing a boat or a patch of field with someone that draws those stories out.
From a beaver stealing a teenager's hunting rifle, to a member of the state's bear den crew pulling her helicopter pilot to help after a crash; Holyoke says the stories are inspiring, sometimes sad, and sometimes funny.
You can read just a small collection of his columns in "Evergreens."
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