Outdoors folk in Maine have always had a knack for reading, and that’s allowed for a strong outdoor writing presence throughout the history of Maine’s print media. Writers sprung up around this demand for prose on the Maine woods and waters, but few stood taller than Bud Leavitt.
You can’t have a serious discussion about outdoor newspapermen without mentioning Leavitt’s name. He stood, I’m told, a giant among men, with a booming voice and biting wit. For over 40 years, his daily outdoors column informed and entertained readers of the Bangor Daily News. Half of those 40 years, he hosted a Saturday night outdoors show on television. He fished and hunted with celebrities, politicians and famous athletes, including the great Ted Williams. But most importantly, he could connect with the average Maine sportsman on a personal level.
I don’t have the experience or the history necessary to do Leavitt justice in describing his impact. I’ll leave that to those who knew him far better than I ever could. But folks who didn’t have the pleasure of experiencing Bud Leavitt’s outdoors can get a taste of it by reading his book, “Twelve Months in Maine”.
Published in 1977, “Twelve Months in Maine” is a compilation of short pieces of Leavitt’s writing covering all facets of the outdoors. Fishing takes a prominent place in the book, with several articles on fishing in general, and others on specific species like pickerel, smelt and salmon and smallmouth bass. Leavitt also told of memorable fishing trips with common folk, Maine guides and, of course, his longtime fishing partner and Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams.
Williams wasn’t the only famous person Leavitt mentioned in his book. In addition to including pictures of basketball stars like Bob Cousy on fishing trips to northern Maine, Bud devoted a section of the book to describing Maine as a “mecca for famous sports persons”, including three U.S. presidents.
“Twelve Months in Maine” also contains some humorous depictions of Maine guides, and special pieces on parts of the outdoor environment that make Maine unique, like blackflies in summer and long, hard, tough-weather winters.
Since Maine has always been a bit of a destination for recreationists in the Northeast and beyond, Leavitt included a section of the book detailing some of the best spots for hiking, fishing, hunting, skiing, and even golfing.
For the trophy-minded sportsperson, the book features a list of Maine’s state record fish from each species category from 1966-1975, and records of the heaviest bucks harvested in Maine from 1967-1975. The records include location of catch and the individual record holder.
The end of the book reflects Bud’s love for cooking wild game, with the last 50 or so pages dedicated to game recipes. These include recipes submitted by folks from all over the state, with many funny and interesting back stories. Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention the beautiful illustrations by Tom Hennessey which are featured throughout the book.
Overall, “Twelve Months in Maine” is a smattering of the Maine outdoors covering the entire range of sporting topics, and I think it provides a good summary of Bud Leavitt’s writing style as a whole. It also shows why he was so popular. Throughout his career, Leavitt displayed a unique ability to sense just what readers wanted to know – his writing was generalized for a wide audience yet written to entertain even the most savvy outdoorsman. Heck, with over 13,000 columns under his belt, he had to be doing something right!
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