I am meaning not to ridicule the author of a piece found in the Gloucester Times about the upcoming deer hunting seasons across New England. I have been a writer and blogger for going on ten years now and I’ve had my share of typos, misspells and outright wrong use of a word and it’s definition. But then again, 99% of what I write I am my own editor and things do get by me.
In the above referenced article, the author writes:
No matter where you hunt, in the wiles of Maine or the tight woods of the North Shore, the same basic question has to be asked. Where are the deer?
I think the author meant the “wilds” of Maine but then again, perhaps he was talking about going to Augusta and hunting. The dictionary tells us that wiles is defined as:
1. a trick, artifice, or stratagem meant to fool, trap, or entice; device.
2. wiles, artful or beguiling behavior.
3. deceitful cunning; trickery.
Now doesn’t that more accurately describe what goes on in Augusta in the Halls of the Legislature, roaming office buildings and at the Blaine House?
But then again, maybe the author meant “while”. If he has hunted Maine in the last decade or so, he must be familiar with sitting or stalking the woods “while” you try to have some patience because there are no deer. Or you sit in your favorite tree stand and do what a famous outdoor writer for the Bangor Daily News did and write a book, “WHILE” you hope a deer might pass by. And then there’s the “while” of the average Maine hunter, who sits patiently at home, reading my blog and waiting “while” the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife bobs and weaves over doing nothing constructive about saving a deer herd; themselves hoping “while” they wait patiently for more global warming.
Maine has all three; wild forests (not so much wild life), wiles that go on in Augusta and whiling away time, wishing and wanting.
