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For years I have admired the paintings and written word of Tom Hennessey. A couple of years ago he became a regular guest for spring fishing. Well this led to a conversation of a painting of the Camp Pool in mid to late May- my favorite time to fish it. At the Eastern Maine Sportsman’s Show Tom delivered this painting. The picture really doesn’t do the painting justice. It’s certainly a keeper and something I will cherish for years to come.
Jim
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Munsungan Hunting & Fishing Club is located on the headwaters of the Aroostook River in T 8, R 9 at the outlet of Little Munsungan Lake. It's in the North Maine Woods approximately 30 miles North of the peak of Mount Katahdin (Baxter State Park) and just East of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. The area is surrounded by streams, high ridges, and many ponds including Big Reed Pond Preserve, the largest area of old growth forest East of the Mississippi and a Nature Conservancy Preserve.
This area has been famous in the sporting world since the last part of the nineteen-century when it was opened by Will Akins. Prior to this the camp area was a favorite camping area for those early sportsman that were traveling though the area following streams. Both Thomas Steele and Teddy Roosevelt wrote of camping there in the 1870’s. Teddy Roosevelt in his late teens, wrote an early account of traveling up Munsungan Stream in a dug out canoe to fish for Atlantic Salmon in what’s now the Camp Pool. Munsungan Lake has long been famous as one of the top lakes in the State of Maine for fishing. It produces Landlocked Salmon, Brook Trout and Lake Trout (Togue). The area surrounding Munsungan Hunting & Fishing Club has long been a great hunting area for Whitetail Deer, Moose & upland game birds (Grouse and Woodcock).
My father and six of his friends started Munsungan Hunting & Fishing Club in 1938. They had hunted together for many years in the area down river from the camp. Over the years they kept finding great hunting around the outlet and the ridges that surround it; thus the club was formed. After WWII spring and summer trips were made into the area both for fishing and just relaxing. It has been said that the camp's location is one of the best in the State; it sits under two ridges, at a lake outlet by the mouth of a brook. One can rise in the morning and cast a fly in a great pool, while enjoying watching wildlife at a natural crossing. And the best part of it is that you haven't left the camp yard.
Munsungan Hunting & Fishing Club is now being operated as a small sporting camp where the guest "call the shots". The meal times and daily activities are determined by you the guest, like having your own camp with the benefits of the American Plan.
The camps are of all log construction, made with hand cut spruce and fur logs. The sleeping camps have full bath (well showers) great beds and are light and airy. They are heated by wood stoves and propane lights provide light. All bedding and towels etc. are furnished; you just bring your personal items.
Meals are served family style in the main camp with pies and other items made daily. I also maintain a small orchard and garden for fresh produce in season, and I have started a fairly large asparagus bed (nothing like fresh asparagus and brook trout for lunch). This is added to the rhubarb patch, fresh native berries and orchard, the source of many pies.
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My Munsungan
SOME THOUGHTS FOR OUR GUESTS
It’s been well over fifty years since I made my first trip to Munsungan, yet when thinking back it almost seems like yesterday. As a small child growing up I had heard many stories from my Father about his many trips there. Yet I didn’t get to go till I was twelve years old. Dad started me out on trips where our destination was easier to reach all the time teaching me the ways of traveling by canoe, woods camp behavior, and most of all those little skills that one learns when entering Maine’s North Woods. Thus after several trips on the Aroostook in Washburn, running the river from Portage to other camps he had a share in at Fish Lake and many weekends hunting out of friends closer camps I made my first trip there in 1953.
It was the start of a life long relationship to a very special place. In those early days I would dream prior to the trips of the BIG fish to be caught and later the Bucks that would fall to my well placed shots. Like many starting out it was all about the fish and game available, and very little about the place. Of coarse the 29 mile trip up river was always fun, even those times when in the upper river we dragged the canoes as much as motored and poled. And there was that special joy one felt when Munsungan Falls appeared before us and I knew after a carry we were only a mile from camps. That was years ago now and many many trips to camp, now I realize I have changed. The fact is I have spent time there every year since except 1965, when Uncle Sam had other ideas for a brand new Second Louie. This has only made me become more aware of the natural beauty on this special place I now call home,
Now, what many times was a long day trip coming up river from Oxbow, or a forty five mile flight from Portage, is a pleasant thirty eight mile drive in from Ashland. And yet with the improved access the country is still as wild as it was on those first trips. Yes the woods have been cut a few times, the roads have arrived, yet now many of the trees are now larger. Today see Moose daily, back then it was an occasion to take note of. We now have martin, fisher and just lately lynx, in my earlier years none of these animals very common, a signing was a very rare event if it happened at all. In other words the area has changed with the time, but in many ways it’s got better. And I can honestly say that the fishing and hunting is as good as it ever was.
What has changed is my attitude and my reasons for being there. Oh yes, there still good fishing and hunting, but I now want to be where the fish and game live. Due to the camps location at a natural game crossing, I find that watching wildlife, seeing changes in seasons, watching sun raises and sunsets and most of all experiencing the dynamics of the natural world is my real reason for being there.
So if you chose to come to Munsungan Hunting and Fishing Club; fish, hunt, enjoy the outdoors till your heart is content, but also take time relax and to just look around you, take in the smells and sounds and spend a little time in reflection, then you will understand my love affair with this very special place.
Jim Carter March 2007
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