NON-FICTION
A LIFETIME OF HUNTING & FISHING
by George Smith
by George Smith
After a lifetime of hunting and fishing, and a career advocating for wildlife, hunters, and anglers, including 18 years at the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, 13 years as a TV show host, and 40 years as an outdoor writer, George Smith is ready to share his very best stories with you – with lots of Maine adventures (including hunting with his dad Ezra Smith for 53 years) and others from Montana to Alaska to northern Quebec to Labrador.
George A. Smith of Mount Vernon has done a lot of things in his life, from writing comprehensive plans for rural Maine towns to managing statewide referendum campaigns. He served as executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine for 18 years, growing the membership from 4,000 to 14,000 and making it one of the state’s most influential organizations. George left SAM at the end of 2010 to write full time.
He writes an outdoor news blog posted on his website and the website of the Bangor Daily News, which was cited by the Maine Press Association in 2014 as the state’s best sports blog. He has written a weekly editorial column published in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel of Waterville for 27 years, columns for The Maine Sportsman magazine since 1977, and special columns for the newsletters of various Maine organizations. In 2014, Islandport Press in Yarmouth published A Life Lived Outdoors, a book of George’s favorite columns about home, camp, family, faith, travel, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. You can access much of George’s writing on his website: georgesmithmaine.com. George and his wife Linda, a recently retired first grade teacher, have written a weekly travel column for the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel for five years, focused on Maine inns, restaurants, events and activities. Islandport Press published George and Linda’s Maine travel book featuring their favorite inns and restaurants in 2016. George also wrote a book about Maine sporting camps, which was published by Down East Books in 2016. For 13 years, George and his friend Harry Vanderweide hosted a unique television talk show called Wildfire focused on hunting, fishing, conservation and environmental issues. George was part of the management team that successfully defended Maine’s moose hunt in a 1983 referendum, and he managed a successful campaign in 1992 that placed the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in the Maine Constitution and protected its revenues. He also led a successful campaign in 2004 to defeat a referendum that sought to end Maine’s bear hunt. Among his many ideas, Smith conceived the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, financed by a Maine State Lottery instant ticket game, that has provided more than $18 million for wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation programs in Maine. George is a Winthrop, Maine, native, a graduate of the University of Maine, and has lived in Mount Vernon for 39 years. He and Linda have three children and four grandchildren. George served five years on the Winthrop Town Council, three terms as Mount Vernon selectman, one term as Kennebec County commissioner, seven years on the Mount Vernon Planning Board, and 38 years as a trustee of the Dr. Shaw Memorial Library. At the state level, George served on the Forest Legacy Advisory Committee, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund Board, Commission to Study Trespass Laws, Hatchery Commission, Submerged Lands Task Force, Great Ponds Task Force, and many other task forces and study groups. George Smith 34 Blake Hill Road Mount Vernon, ME 04352 207-293-2661 [email protected] www.georgesmithmaine.com |
|