Comments on: Maine Hunters Are Mad And Justly So……..For Many Reasons

By: john saporita

john saporita — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:04:45 +0000

i am an out of state hunter and have hunted deer in the state of maine for 55 yrs without missing a year, but in the last few years the hunting fees have been going up & up.This was ok until the year 2009 when it went up again and also removed bear tags. this was the last straw. MY fellow hunters & i will never hunt in Maine again. Disapointed John.

By: Steven Allen

Steven Allen — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:52:48 +0000

we need to join together and start telling the state how we want them to spend our money. Lets put the days of mismanagement and nonmanagement behiend us. If deer yards are the problem lets start purchasing deer yards so they can be managed properley. If coyotes are the problem lets remove them at any cost. We cant prevent severe winters but we can start supplemental feeding programs. Deer getting hit in roadways lets install speed bumps and enforce speed at known deer crossings. Sound like drastic measures yes, but we have no other choice. The time and place to start managing our deer herd is now and here. Deer are what makes Maine the way life should be,they are important to the economy. lets make a change and be able to someday say proudley ,that Maine is the place to hunt before it’s to late. Can we blame anyone for going to illinois, kansas and several other well manged places to hunt ? Other states have realized the great profit potential of well managed hunting lets not be ashamed to follow.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:18:23 +0000

Started hunting in allagash, ME about 18 years ago. I knew that the deer population was not as high as my home state of MASS but wanted to expeirience “big woods hunting”. Met the nicest people ever and i return annually more to visit them than to bag a big buck (would be nice though). I hunt the week of Thanksgiving because snow usually aids my hunting party in tracking deer. Antlerless tags have NEVER been available during the years that i have hunted in allagash. Although bad winters may be the primary reason for a much smaller deer herd (i feel coyotes are the primary reason), i have seen the yarding areas become clear-cuts in many areas (with the past couple of extreme winters this must really hurt the herd). But in 1991 i saw a total of 53 deer (11 bucks) and one coyote/wolf (must have been60-70lbs), in 9 days of hunting. Each year following i have seen the deer count that i see get lower and the coyote count get higher. In 2009 i only hunted 4 days in the same location i saw 1 doe and 7 coyotes. when the winters are as bad as the past couple the deer herd becomes easy prey for the growing numbers of coyotes/wolfs. We can not control mother nature but we can control how the lumber industry treats areas that deer yard and we must control the ever expanding coyote population. I love the state I love the local people & I love the north maine woods but i do not know if i will be returning anytime soon because the deer population needs a rest. not that i have made a dent (one very nice buck in 18 years). I may shoot small spikes at home in mass. but would not shoot an immature deer up in the allagash. sorry to ramble like this i just felt the need to vent.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:42:41 +0000

One more thing to think about…….The deer kill has never been so low, as the last 10 years. Why do I say that………Because MIFW is using seventy’s and eighty as a low count….with todays recorded kill . which is not true. I’m not sure of the year, they use, I think it’s 1985 or 1986 that MIFW uses to compare as one of the lowes years. But the kill was still over 19000. What they are not saying is we only had NOV to hunt, 26 days. Today, they are using 4 months of deer season…..to get a little over 20,000. the seasons are expanded acrhy sept, archy oct, rife nov. black power dec………To compare lets just use Nov for the last 10 years with their game management progam……I think they would be lucky to get 10,000 in Nov. So the seventy and eighty wasn’t that bad……you need to see the whole picture, not half to get the real truth. With our deer herd declining, MIFW JUST KEEPS ADDING MORE SEASONS TO KEEP YEARLY DEER KILL UP!!!!! Does anyone remember when we use to kill does weighting 170 and 180, today lucky to get one weighting 130. I guess so days are gone!!!!! less deer , health herd or more deer , health herd….Whats going to happen when us old woodsman are gone , who really knows when we are being lied to by MIFW. The young people are so easy to lie too.( They don’t have an idea of what is going on.) The time of the real woodsman is gone like the deer.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:00:29 +0000

I’m tried of hearing about what MIFW should be doing , and coyotes killing off our deer…..The question is, what are you the hunter doing to protect our deer herd ,for our kids. I’ll tell you what…….(nothing) you cry and bell-ache and kill off all the does and lambs like there is plenty deer. At less I did take some responsible and stop killing does and lambs 15 years ago. If all the deer hunters did this, would there be more deer,maybe!!!!!! At less there would be a chance of a sustainable popution for the future. Face it,we the hunters are part of the problem to the decline in the deer popution….Yes, MIFW has make uncoventional and careless dicision which has resulted in a dramatic and quite possibly an unsustainable decline in our deer herd. But havn’t you the hunter been doing the same for years, don’t tell me as a woodsmen if you are just a weekend hunter, that you havn’t seen the decline in the deer popution in the last 10 years and did nothing. alot of you….just didn’t care as long as you could kill a deer. tell me the truth did ever think about the future of hunting when you was killing off, the does and lambs or the future of hunting for our kids. its time for the hunter to take some of blame and do something about it. BE responsible for the sport of hunting ……if you don’t care,MIFW sure ain’t……they showed that by give out 45,000 antless permits this year 2009

By: jes

jes — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:29:09 +0000

Kurt, these “animal rights enthusiasts” like Paul, always take the label of “hunter” to try and get other hunters to notice them, that way they can cause division and distention, and as the old adage goes, the way they can win is to “divide and conquer”…Just ask them a question any hunter could answer, and you will have them in the cold lurch…(that’s like the blind staggers…)

We have found the truth about the “wildlife biologists”, and the truth is, is they are politically motivated, much the same as most science that is funded by politically influenced funds…..So, basically, the only way to make an influence felt is to “motivate” the politicians… by petitions, picketing, and rallys that show them the power of the people. It’s a shame we have to in order to preserve our heritage, but unless we adopt the same tactics that the animal rights groups do, we risk loosing that RIGHT….

By: Kurt Lane

Kurt Lane — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:03:37 +0000

Paul is an avid hunter? I don’t think so. Complete WAM propaganda.
While it is true that hunters need to be more proactive in regards to predation,our State refuses to allow us to use the tools needed to be effective.
Only when we rise up and make more noise than the animal rights groups will we win them. We need to change what is politicaly correct when it comes to our wildlife management.

By: Tom Remington

Tom Remington — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:19:06 +0000

And how’s that all working out for you?

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:02:00 +0000

As an avid hunter, I must take issue with your perception of our sport. Hunting is a privilege and used to manage wildlife populations. What you are suggesting is that we possess a right to hunt deer (or other animals). This simply isn’t the case. We take the excess after weather, predation, etc. have been accounted for. This is not your private game preserve, and the coyotes are an important part of the ecosystem. This is all about checks and balances. We need to whole picture (hunters included) and not just one aspect of it.

Your skewed perspective is why we have biologists manage this. We need people who have an understanding of the whole picture and not just one aspect of it. Lets just leave the management to the experts, who have been doing a great job and hope that we have some more mild winters to help boost herd numbers.

By: Jeremiah Wood

Jeremiah Wood — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:47:37 +0000

Tom,
This is a great post. Thanks for keeping the process of deer management in northern Maine on the forefront of our minds. There is no question that we need to kill more coyotes, but this will not occur during the necessary time periods without changes in trapping regulations and more financial incentive to kill predators. I also believe that more farming activity (which has been decreasing over the past 40 or so years) would help our deer population in northern Maine.

I am sure glad that I currently live in an area in Montana where deer populations are through the roof, but hope to see increased deer populations when I return to Maine someday.