A Look at “Bill Green’s Maine”

By Thomas Remington

Fifty-two years is a long time. That’s one year longer than I’ve lived but that is how long Milton Inman and Vance Bacon of the West Paris, Maine region have been going to Milt’s hunting camp that’s nestled quietly in the foothills of western Maine.

Evidently that concept was interesting enough to Bill Green of the famed “Bill Green’s Maine”, to accept an invitation to camp for a day and put together a story about these two friend’s companionship and spending one week out of every year together for fifty-two consecutive years.

For those of you who may not know, Bill Green’s Maine airs on Saturday evenings at 7:00 P.M. on Portland, Maine’s WCSH-6 television and its affiliate WLBZ-2 in Bangor. His show delves into many aspects of Maine’s culture. During my most recent visit to Maine for part of the Maine hunting season and to visit family and friends, I was able to view two of his programs. The subject matter ranged from, fly fishing classes at L.L.Bean, the history of a native artist, Winslow Homer and of course the Milt and Vance hunting camp story. The program’s content reflects Bill Green it appears. He is a native of Bangor, Maine and he seems to have a sense of what is important to viewers or perhaps it is more of what he finds important and interesting and follows that sense until he has put together a story.

Before Bill arrived at the hunting camp, I had one major concern on my mind. Recently, my son and I wrote a book together-the title of which is The Legend of Grey Ghost and Other Tales From the Maine Woods. Many of the short stories and anecdotes written about in the book take place at this same hunting camp. I sent Bill a copy of the book ahead of time so he could of course enjoy the fine writing but more importantly to help him become familiar with where he was headed. Perhaps because of Bill’s unique style of capturing a story, he didn’t want to have preconceived notions of what he was going to see but I don’t think he read the book before he got there. I can only assume that now he has or at least is working on it.

My concern was not to in anyway detract from the story at hand. How many people do you know can claim to have spent fifty-two consecutive years at the same hunting camp with the same person? That in itself is a major milestone and one to be proud of. It was Milt’s and Vance’s day to shine. Both men and in particular Milt, have spent the better part of their lives giving to others in a way that few people could begin to understand. I didn’t want Bill to think I was attempting to upstage their story for the purpose of promoting my own book (although a plug would have been good, Bill).

 

I had never had the pleasure of meeting Bill Green before this fall and somehow I feel just a bit more enriched by our short time together. From the very first hand shake to the last goodbye, Bill seemed warm, sincere and knowledgeable as well. Sometimes writers and in particular those that have their own television shows can come across as a bit arrogant and many times are not in the know of the subject matter they are dealing with.

Immediately his years of journalism showed with a constant quizzing of everyone he had a chance to talk with. Like a giant sponge, he seemed to absorb vast amounts of information and it became clear that he was working diligently to get input on other subjects as well as those connected with the immediate story and lock it away in his brain for the future.

In the not so distant future, Bill was working on a story about the change in “end-of-the-day” hunting time. This year Maine extended the legal hunting to a full half hour after sunset; official sunset is based on that recorded in the eastern town of Bangor, Maine. He actually aired a couple of stories on the WCSH-6 News programs before the Saturday evening showing of Milt’s and Vance’s story. It became obvious to me that Bill’s work is ongoing and takes him down many paths of some real interesting subject matter.

One thing that amazed me during his visit that reflects his intelligence, he never took written notes. His story was put together from memory and of course audio and video clips taken by his extremely competent and able bodied taskmaster, Steve Sherburne (by the way Bill, if not for Steve we could have gotten a couple more shots of ginger brandy into you).

In short, I think that Bill and his photojournalist Steve did a great job. The only complaint that I can think is they didn’t stay long enough. Both men made you feel comfortable right from the onset and a longer visit without the cameras and microphones would have been a memorable opportunity to get to know the both of them better. There is one thing that I know to be fact. Bill Green and Steve Sherburne got an education as well. I’m sure they saw things and heard stories that will remain etched in their brains for many years to come. Bill may have been to some other hunting camps in Maine or other states, but you can bet your shirt tail that he has never been to one quite like this one.

Now that the episode of Bill Green’s Maine has come and gone and it is now just memories, with the aid of today’s technology of DVD’s and VHS, I can move on with the marketing of the book The Legend of Grey Ghost and Other Tales From the Maine Woods. Bill, I hope you have read or are reading the book. No, there will not be a quiz but I know you will find more than you may think in the book, especially where you have children of your own.

To Bill and Steve and everyone at WCSH-6 affiliated with Bill Green’s Maine, thank you for seeing your way clear to do a story about two men who have given so much to life and have been instrumental in enriching my life as well as many others. So until we meet again, read the book and then plug it for me every chance you can!