Two honored for lifetime outdoor achievements

Each year, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife honors one or more Mainers for lives well-lived in the outdoors. This year’s winners of the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Awards: Carole Dyer of Bowdoinham and Gabriel “Gabby” Giguere of Lewiston.

Chandler Woodcock, commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, poses with Lifetime Outdoor Achievement award winner Carole Dyer of Bowdoinham. (Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife photo)

Both winners were honored during brief ceremonies in front of family and friends at the annual Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine banquet in Augusta on Saturday.

The award, according to the DIF&W, is designed to honor a lifetime of achievement and mentoring in Maine’s outdoors.

Dyer is the first female recipient of the award. She was recognized for 40 years of outdoor achievement, including her tireless work teaching outdoor skills to others. She has been an instructor at the state’s Becoming an Outdoors Woman clinics, and served boards for the Land For Maine’s Future, the Forest Society of Maine and the Durham Rod and Gun Club. She is also active in the Ruffed Grouse Society.

Chandler Woodcock, commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, poses with Lifetime Outdoor Achievement award winner Gabriel “Gabby”
Giguere of Lewiston.
(Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife photo)

Giguere, 87, was born in the Allagash region and developed his love for the outdoors as a child, hunting and fishing with his brothers and tending a trap line with his father. Giguere still fishes in the North Maine Woods, and has built fly rods for 10 of his 12 grandchildren.

Congrats to both for their well-deserved honors!

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.