Comments on: Stepping Up To Help Maine’s Deer Herd Could Get Bogged Down In Politics

By: Jamie Eck

Jamie Eck — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:05:21 +0000

I do not feel there is any reason to get the state involved in anything. I feel it is the same old story….” Someone needs to do something” let me be the fist to tell you that The “SOMEONE” is going to be you. I did not get a buck this year either. Was the reason due to lack of deer? Was the reason to many coyote`s? I could put the blame on that if I wanted to put blame on some thing other then myself. Truth of the matter is I was not good enough to get the big buck. I saw the sign and I saw the tracks, not alot of it, but enough to keep me in the game. Last year I sat some place in what I thought was a good place to sit. I shot a nice 6 pointer that went 185#. So I sat there this season expecting the same results. The few deer that there is, was coming in at night . After sulking for the remainder of rifle season, I was glad it snowed for the Muzzle loader season. I did ended up tracking some, and found out where some deer where living, lucky for them I did not have a any deer permit, for I did track down a huge doe and her fawn. ( yes I need more practice SEXING TRACKS) I spotted them not 30 yards in they`re beds. Yes, Buckless but not hopeless. If you want to improve your hunting area take up hunting them dam dogs, and take up trapping the YOTES!! I do feel that there is not just one reason the deer numbers are down. I feel it is ALL THE REASONS!!! The one thing we can control is the coyote! I am willing to learn, are you????

By: Tom Remington

Tom Remington — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:50:07 +0000

Well said, Richard! More on Smith’s “Finding Facts” ideas will be posted soon.

I agree with your analogy of “the system worked”. I discussed with one “Mainer” about this issue and he said he would put his faith in what IFW wants to do. And of course you know my response – “How’s that working out?”

If Maine opts to go the route of merging IFW into a larger natural resources department, you can only expect the love fest between IFW and anti-hunters to grow. It will become like most all the rest, just a giant environmental club of rights stealers.

By: Richard Paradis

Richard Paradis — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:04:58 +0000

Tom, as usual, you are the best source of useful material on outdoor issues in Maine. FIRSTest with the MOSTest. Please keep it up.

Hunters have to do their part but SAM has got to get IF&W to publish informative and useful information on how we get our deer herd back. Give them a spine. Without deer hunters the state’s outdoor industry will go broke and IF&W with it.

The Napolitano response to the Christmas Day failed Pants Bomber has a parallel here:
…..Napolitano said that the system worked because some individual took matters into his own hands.
…..Now that we have lost a very large number of our deer up north the biologists responsible for the state’s hunting economy now say that hunters need to do what the biologists failed to do – they need to take matters into their own hands.

The IF&W response for the past decades that there is nothing that can be done about the coyote and it isn’t much of a problem anyway. So…hunters have to take care of the Coyote because IF&W is at the mercy of the anti-hunting lot. It is hard to tell the difference in the public stance of IF&W and the anti’s regarding deer management and predator control in Maine.

I suspect the basic plan will be to stall and hope that a string of several moderate winters will allow the deer population to come back up north. It will be successful anyway because several years will have gone by and hunters will lose faith and stop hunting up north. Now to stop the wood harvesting….

The express highway to the Northwoods National Park? I suspect so. Humbug!!!