Photo from fOTOGLIF

The people at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife are claiming they are broke and are in need of funding, as much as doubling the current funding, according to Dr. Ken Elowe, Director of Resource Management for MDIFW.

You’ll get no argument from me that MDIFW is underfunded. What you will get are questions as to why and suggestions about the best way to deal with it. Let’s first address why the MDIFW is underfunded.

In the new issue of Maine Fish and Wildlife, MDIFW Commissioner Roland D. Martin, states that all the programs and responsibilities his department has to care for, brings back to the state of Maine some $2.4 billion annually. Maybe that amount could be more.

Dr. Elowe, in his article on who should fund MDIFW, also states that responsibilities to the department have grown out beyond fish and wildlife issues.

Over time, the Department’s mission has broadened significantly: It now manages whitewater rafting, registration of watercraft, snowmobiles, ATVs, hunter, trapper and recreational vehicle safety, conservation education, environmental permitting and other matters.

And that’s just scraping the surface. To this we should add search and rescue, law enforcement of recreational vehicles and all non game programs.

The major reason the MDIFW is underfunded is because it has been tasked to perform duties well beyond management of fish and wildlife. All of this has been done with essentially no additional funding. Presently the overwhelming majority of funding to MDIFW comes from license fees paid by hunters, fishers, trappers, and snowmobilers/ATVers.

I know of nobody who thinks MDIFW is properly funded. The problem now becomes what to do about it.

George Smith, Executive Director for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, is promoting funding to come from general taxation. He is proposing that a percentage of the tax revenue be designated to the MDIFW. In all honesty I haven’t heard anybody else make a specific proposal that doesn’t involve using tax money to fund the current composition of the MDIFW and it’s ever expanding non game services.

While this proposal may seem functional on the surface, I have to wonder if most sportsmen, the one’s who will still be the major fund providers for the Department, understand that with such a move opens the door for non hunting, non fishing interests to demand more and more input into the decisions and direction the MDIFW should take. The majority of states that have followed this path have faced this problem and a problem it has become, with organizations like the Humane Society of the United States and PETA directly seeking or sponsoring their own representatives to fill seats on fish and game commissions. What could possibly be wrong with that?

I support increased funding for all the issues that Dr. Elowe lays out in his article. However, I don’t support them to be part of and funded by MDIFW. For regular readers, you know that I support a move that will put all non game programs into the Department of Conservation. Dr. Elowe says MDIFW doesn’t have enough biologists to cover everything. Fine, DOC, funded by taxpayer dollars, can hire their own wildlife biologists to take care of non game wildlife species. DOC can take care of environmental licensing, conservation education, etc. Law enforcement of snowmobiles and ATVs should be handled by state and local law enforcement as well as search and rescue.

This move would be unprecedented as the tendencies these days are to mash departments together believing money can be saved and programs run more efficiently. History has already shown us that that is not the case. As a matter of fact, the bigger the department the further away from the average sportsmen a sense of ownership becomes, resulting in a significant loss of interest. In other words, when sportsmen lose their voice, participation drops. The larger the department the more bureaucratic it becomes swelling the budget, resulting in depletion of programs. In other words, more of the same.

Conservationist or perhaps better labeled, environmentalists, have no business dictating to a fish and game department how to manage game for hunting, fishing and trapping opportunities. Funding fish and game with tax dollars will accomplish that with very negative results.

It’s easy for Commissioner Martin or Dr. Elowe to exclaim how their programs contribute $2.4 billion dollars annually to the Maine economy. Think how much bigger that amount would be if the programs were split up so that each one saw the attention it deserves and that would provide better opportunities. With a smaller MDIFW, they could get back to managing just fish and wildlife for the purpose of providing opportunities for hunters, trappers and fishermen, then I believe these resources could improve with the end result a better revenue stream for MDIFW.

With a better funded and more targeted Department of Conservation, similar results could be seen and achieving the wishes shared by Dr. Elowe. This can be done and the results impressive, in my opinion. Who has the chutzpah to try it?

The groups involved in examining how MDIFW should be funded are supposedly contacting other states that fund their departments with general taxation. I hope these groups understand that just because everybody else does it, doesn’t mean it’s the best. I’m confident that if they look at the issue with open minds, they will realize what I did several years ago.

Let’s properly fund the programs that need to be funded in Maine and not just throw money at it. Two lean, mean departments, each properly structured with sufficient funding could reverse a management trend that is seeing lousy results.

Tom Remington

The second coming of Christ may happen before the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will post up on their website the 2009 whitetail deer harvest broken out by towns. However, being the sly and resourceful person that I am (spelled out to mean I know people who know people), I was able to get my hands on a map showing the breakout.

Being that 2005 was a pretty decent year for deer harvest in Maine, I decided to do some comparisons. First, I took a print out of the Maine map showing towns and drew a big black line that would divide the state into two parts. The map to the left shows a shaded area that depicts most of Northern and Eastern Maine and also separated into 7 zones for ease of counting and making comparisons. I compared 2005′s count with 2009′s.

To do this wasn’t easy as all I had to work with were two maps and very tiny print. I will not vouch that the numbers I have are 100% accurate but I will attest that they are in the ballpark enough to realize Maine has a very serious problem. Essentially, I broke the entire area I wanted to count into 7 zones and counted each zone.

Within the entire shaded area that encompasses Northern and Eastern Maine, the 2009 deer harvest was 1,499 deer – that’s pretty pathetic. This compares with 2005 that was 5,067. My calculations put that at right around a 70% reduction in deer harvest.

Let’s look at this closer, by using my zones.

Zone 1 – 2009 = 117 deer harvested. 2005 = 634
Zone 2 – 2009 = 322 deer harvested. 2005 = 1,273
Zone 3 – 2009 = 205 deer harvested. 2005 = 352
Zone 4 – 2009 = 257 deer harvested. 2005 = 825
Zone 5 – 2009 = 173 deer harvested. 2005 = 521
Zone 6 – 2009 = 199 deer harvested. 2005 = 451
Zone 7 – 2009 = 226 deer harvested. 2005 = 1,011

There’s one thing about the present situation. Next year the harvest shouldn’t be such a drastic drop. After all, nothing from nothing leaves nothing. Other things outdoor sportsmen should be aware of. The deer herd is virtually gone. This means there will be a lot of hungry coyotes and black bears roaming about. Expect to find both of these predators infiltrating your backyard and possibly posing a risk to you, your children, pets and livestock. The coyotes will also consume all the snowshoe hare, the prime diet of the Canada lynx, and the lynx will begin vacating the state. Generally speaking, some lynx will hang around and starve to death, some will resort to cannibalism but the majority will just make there way back north or wherever they can find food and habitat suitable for survival. This is a natural phenomenon but I’m sure trappers will be blamed for the disappearance of the lynx.

When bears come out of hibernation, they are hungry. It isn’t long thereafter that bears will target the new fawns. Judging that there will be no real fawns added to the deer herd in Northern and Eastern Maine, will result in hungry bears. Be prepared for that. Take down your bird feeders but I suggest you take more precautions than that. If you live in bear country, keep an eye on livestock and your children.

I’m also wondering if those at MDIFW see this as a real problem? I assume not in that no real action has been taken that would indicate any kind of emergency situation. Being that an “emergency” ruling opened the open water fishing season early (not sure the emergency) taking more fish must be more important than saving a deer herd. The trapping season should have been extended and snaring allowed at least in areas not designated as protected habitat for the lynx. None of this was done.

The bear season needs to be adjusted to reduce the number of bears that will result in fewer fawns taken in the spring. That doesn’t look like it will happen out of fear that the animal rights groups will sue. As we can see now, that fear has driven a deer herd to extinction and will chase lynx out of Maine, to name some of what has happened.

It amazes me that the fish and game department thinks nothing of completely destroying a predator that is bugging some fish in a pond but does virtually nothing to save a deer herd except hope Al Gore is right and tell everyone to stop complaining because they have an open season on coyotes.

Oh, and I almost forget! MDIFW doesn’t have any money to do anything with. Too bad they spend all our license money on things that have no benefit to fish and game.

Some things simply don’t make any sense.

Tom Remington

Photo from fOTOGLIF

AUGUSTA – Open water fishing season is now open under an emergency law signed by Gov. John E. Baldacci today, Thursday, March 25, 2010.

All lakes, ponds and brooks are open except those with specific opening-day regulations that start after April 1 as listed in the 2008-2009 Open Water Fishing Law Book.

Bag and size limit rules contained in the 2008-2009 Open Water Fishing Law Book also apply.

The emergency law is in effect from March 25 to April 1, 2010.

A new fishing law book that combines ice fishing and open water fishing rules, including several new regulations, will become effective on April 1, 2010. Distribution of this law book began a couple of weeks ago and is available where fishing licenses are sold.

“People have been anxious to drop their lines given that ice fishing season ended too soon in some parts of the state, with many lakes and ponds experiencing early ice out conditions,” Commissioner Roland “Danny” Martin said. “We’re happy to provide this opportunity to anglers, and remind them to be mindful of early spring cold-water conditions by being safe.”

Open water fishing season historically begins on April 1 on most waters of the state. Because of unseasonably warm weather opening up waterways in many counties and strong public interest in wanting to fish, Maine Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Oxford County, sponsored emergency legislation to start the season early.

“Let’s go fishing!” exclaimed Sen. Bryant, upon the Governor’s signature of the bill.

As part of National River Cleanup, members of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance and students from the Telstar Challenge Course at Telstar High School in Bethel, Maine will clean up a section of the Androscoggin River from Gilead to West Bethel on Wednesday, May 19. Students, ages 16-18, will float down the river in rafts armed with garbage bags and towing garbage scow rafts to collect debris along the riverbanks. The clean-up flotilla will launch at 9 am from the bridge at Gilead and take out at Newt’s Landing in West Bethel. Community members are welcome to help clean-up this and other stretches of the river. The town of Bethel will provide trash collection at Newt’s Landing and deliver to the town’s solid waste facility.

Magic Falls Rafting Company of West Forks, Maine will provide rafts and garbage scows. Immediately following the clean-up, Pleasant River Campground in West Bethel is hosting a barbecue for all participants.

Rivers and watersheds have been used as dumps for old appliances, shopping carts and other refuse. Litter, such as foam cups, plastic bottles and food wrappers float into waterways, build up along the shoreline and stay there for years. With landfill space at a premium, recycling efforts stymied by a lack of plant capacity and toxic waste expensive to control, a grassroots effort can help maintain a constituency for preserving and protecting waterways. In 2009, 600 tons of trash and debris was collected and 7,500 miles of rivers cleaned across the nation. Last year the Upper Andro yielded over a ton of debris including bed springs, tires and tire rims and a 1950’s record player.

The Upper Andro Anglers Alliance is co-ordinating the local clean up. Says Clean-up Co-ordinator and UAAA director Bruce Pierce, “There’s been a long-standing effort to improve the Androscoggin’s water quality and fishery-now we need to improve the shore land zone along this wonderful river.”

National River Cleanup was founded in 1992 by America Outdoors, the largest association of America’s outfitters and guides, to assist local groups in keeping waterways clean. In 2007 American Rivers assumed administration of the river clean up. American Rivers, founded in 1973, is the nation’s leading river advocacy organization. NRC Information is published on line at www.nationalrivercleanup.org.

Two snowmobilers injured, one seriously, at Rangeley Lake;
One snowmobiler seriously hurt at Moosehead Lake;
One snowmobiler hurt in head-on collision in Bradstreet Township

Two snowmobilers from Massachusetts were seriously injured when each crashed their sleds on or near a parked camper trailer on Sunday morning.

Thomas Stewart, 38, of Westford, Mass., and Thomas Henry, 37, of Methuen, Mass., were leaving Rangeley Lake at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Sunday and were heading towards ITS 84. The trailhead is marked with flashing yellow lights to assist sledders in finding their way to the groomed trail. The Maine Warden Service was notified at 4 a.m. Sunday.

Mr. Stewart, who was wearing a helmet, struck a parked camper trailer and suffered hip injuries. He was taken by ambulance to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington. His injuries are not considered to be life threatening.

Mr. Henry, who also was wearing a helmet, saw Mr. Stewart strike the camper at the last moment, swung his sled to miss the trailer and hit a clump of cedar trees. He suffered two breaks in his left leg and other injures. He was taken by LifeFlight to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. His injuries are serious, but not considered to be life threatening.

According to Maine Warden Service Sgt. Tim Place, both men have been charged with reckless operation of a snowmobile. The incident remains under investigation. Wardens Brock Clukey, Dave Chabot and Dan Christenson, along with Sgt. Place, responded to the scene.

In Greenville, Peter D. Durette Jr., 46, of Lyman, suffered a serious leg injury when he struck 2-feet-high humic – a patch of packed ice — in the East Cover of Moosehead Lake at approximately 1:30 p.m. Saturday. His snowmobile launched into the air, and flipped and rolled down the ice approximately 150 feet.

Warden Eric Dauphinee said he met Mr. Durette and three other snowmobilers at the Black Frog in Greenville, where the friends brought Mr. Durette to attend to the wound in his right leg. Mr. Durette was transported to C.A. Dean Memorial Hospital in Greenville, and was to be transported to a Portland hospital for further care. He was in stable condition.

In Bradstreet Township, just south of Jackman, a Winslow man suffered a broken arm when he and another snowmobiler hit each other head at approximately 11 a.m. Sunday on at the crest of a hill on ITS 89.

Darrell Wentworth, 35, of Winslow, was traveling southbound, and Mark Thornton, 39, of Boothbay Harbor, was traveling northbound when the two collided.

Mr. Wentworth was transported by Jackman Fire and Rescue to Jackman Health Center, and transferred to Redington Fairview Hospital in Skowhegan. The incident remains under investigation.

Wardens Troy Dauphinee and Tom McKenney and Sgt. Bill Chandler responded, along with MWS Investigators Kevin Anderson and Jason Luce.

Warning: The Maine Warden Service is reminding snowmobilers to use caution when out on the snowmobile trails – day and night. Between 20 and 26 inches of snow remains in the northern woods, and good sledding opportunities remain. The trails, however, are showing signs of spring. Obstacles such as roots and rocks, and open water crossings are showing up on trails. Also, many trails have a hard, crusty layer of ice on them.

Snowmobilers are reminded to not drink and drive, to ride at a reasonable and prudent speed for conditions, and to wear a helmet. Each year, the Maine Warden Service investigates several incidents where snowmobile operators are traveling too fast and “outrun” their headlights. As during the day, snowmobilers out at night are urged to ride at prudent speeds for conditions so they have adequate time to respond to obstacles in front of them.

AUGUSTA – The Maine Warden Service continues to warn people about thin ice conditions on many of the state’s waterways.

Above-average temperatures, along with recent storms, are creating conditions that are weakening ice throughout the state. Rivers and streams still are high, causing substantial amounts of water to flow into lakes, opening up inlets and outlets and creating dangerous conditions. Also, power companies recently have performed routine draw-downs of water that changed ice conditions, especially along shorelines.

The state’s larger lakes have substantial swatches of open water, and in southern Maine many of the smaller lakes and ponds are opening up.

Because of insufficient ice in parts of the state, promoters of the 10th Maine Chevrolet Derby, a statewide ice fishing derby, decided Tuesday night to cancel the event, which was scheduled for March 6-7.

According to derby promoter Tom Noonan, only six of the 25 fish weigh stations reported having two feet of ice or more. For more information, visit www.icefishingderby.com.

The Maine Warden Service is advising that people to be cautious. Do not drive heavy vehicles, such as cars or trucks, onto lakes or ponds. Any snowfall, such as that forecasted for tonight in parts of Maine, may blanket any open water. Persons unfamiliar with a lake or pond are advised not to go on them, particularly at night.

Some parts of the state, primarily ponds in northern Maine, have ice. But Game Wardens are advising that its thickness should be checked before venturing onto its surface.

The Maine Warden Service offers these tips for ice safety:

· Never guess the thickness of the ice – Check it! Check the ice in several different places using an auger or some other means to make a test hole and determine the thickness. Make several, beginning at the shore, and continuing as you go out.

· Check the ice with a partner, so if something does happen, someone is there to help you. If you are doing it alone, wear a lifejacket.

· If ice at the shoreline is cracked or squishy, stay off! Watch out for thin, clear or honeycombed ice. Dark snow and dark ice are other signs of weak spots.

· Avoid areas with currents, around bridges and pressure ridges. Wind and currents can break ice.

· Parents should alert children of unsafe ice in their area, and make sure that they stay off the ice.

If you break through the ice, remember:

· Don’t panic.

· Don’t try to climb out immediately – you will probably break the ice again. Reach for solid ice.

· Lay both arms on the unbroken ice and kick hard. This will help lift your body onto the ice. Once on the ice, roll, DON’T WALK, to safety.

· To help someone who has fallen through the ice, lie down flat and reach with a branch, plank or rope or form a human chain. Don’t stand. After securing the victim, wiggle backwards to the solid ice.

Four snowboarders are being rescued from Sugarloaf Mountain after getting lost in steep terrain off a marked trail at approximately 5:35 p.m. on Sunday.

It is unknown whether the four snowboarders intentionally went off the marked trail or if they became lost.

The search was focused at the 3,500-foot elevation mark on what’s called the “backside” of Sugarloaf Mountain, a heavily forested area with extremely steep terrain and ravines. The temperature was 22 degrees, with 30-40 mile-per-hour winds on Sunday night. At least 50 inches of new snow has fallen over the weekend.

The snowboarders used cell phones and text messages to contact family, friends and public safety dispatch crews throughout the night.

One snowboarder, Luke Poisson, 18, of Lewiston, Maine, who separated from the three others, was located at approximately 9:30 a.m. today by Maine Warden Service Game Wardens Tom McKenney and Pat Egan. The wardens used a compass in the direction of Mr. Poisson’s voice to pinpoint his location, which was approximately 1 mile (as the crow flies) from the marked trail. He was hiked down the mountain to West Kingfield Road, where he was evaluated by an ambulance crew. He did not require hospitalization.

The three snowboarders were located at approximately 10:20 a.m. by teams from the Sugarloaf Ski Patrol. The men were given food and water. At approximately 11:30 a.m., rescue crews still were evaluating what was the best route to get them off the mountain.

The three snowboarders are: Cory Koop, 18, from North Pole, Alaska, who is believed to be a student at the University of Maine-Farmington; Machali Belluscio, 19, from Keene, N.H., who attends UMaine-Farmington; and Aaron Nadeau, 15, from New Portland, Maine. Their conditions are unknown at this time.

Eight Game Wardens, six members of the Sugarloaf Ski Patrol, and members of the Carrabasset Valley Fire Department participated in the search.

On Friday night, a group of snowboarders went missing off the marked trail in the same area and were located within a couple of hours.

When I wrote my article the other day, “Maine Should Bring Back Snaring”, I stated in that article that Maine had banned snaring due to action by the Maine Legislature. I was somewhat called out on that and I would like to clarify this and offer a bit of commentary also, if I may. In the previous article, I said:

The ban on snaring can be overturned through the Legislature, by emergency ruling if necessary, to allow for snaring in and around known wintering yards for deer

Due to the timing and dates on this bill, it appears as though the bill was approved after Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Roland Martin put a stop to coyote snaring. The original bill was titled, “An Act To Prohibit Coyote Snaring and Eliminate the Coyote Snaring Program” and read as follows:

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA ?7035, sub-?3, ?B, as amended by PL 1999, c. 636, ?1,
is repealed.

Sec. 2. 12 MRSA ?7504, sub-?4, as enacted by PL 1979, c. 420, ?1, is
amended to read:

4. Coyotes. The commissioner may cause department personnel
to take coyotes at any time and in any manner that he may
prescribe, except that coyotes may not be taken by snaring.

Sec. 3. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and
allocations are made.

INLAND FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE,

DEPARTMENT OF Resource Management Services -

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Initiative: Deappropriates funding used to pay agents for
the snaring of coyotes.

General Fund 2003-04 2004-05

All Other ($15,700) ($15,700)

SUMMARY

This bill repeals the statutory authorization for the coyote
snaring program and deappropriates funding associated with the
direct costs of the program. Under the bill, hunting coyotes
with firearms and dogs or trapping them without the use of
snare traps will still be authorized.

It was subsequently amended and the title changed as well to, “An Act To Improve the Coyote Control Program”. That amended bill was enacted on April 25, 2003 and reads as follows:

CHAPTER 73

H.P. 192 – L.D. 237

An Act To Improve the Coyote Control Program

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA ?7035, sub-?3, ?B, as amended by PL 1999, c. 636, ?1,
is repealed.

Sec. 2. 12 MRSA ?7035, sub-?3, ?B-1 is enacted to read:

B-1.__An agent may use snares to control coyotes during
winter months under the following conditions.

(1)__Agents may use snares only for animal damage
control purposes to help meet management goals
established by the commissioner for deer, threatened or
endangered species or other wildlife species or to
benefit agricultural interests as described in
paragraph C.

(2)__Agents must be trained and certified by the
department in the use of snares.

(3)__Agents must be deployed by a department wildlife
biologist before setting snares.

So I was half correct when I said that coyote snaring was banned by the Legislature. I was half correct when I said the Legislature needed to overturn the ban. I still say they need to overturn the ban but I wasn’t aware at the time of writing my previous article that the amendment to the snare banning bill still gave the MDIFW Commissioner the authority and discretion to employ the use of snares and agents to control coyotes to protect deer. Obviously this was never done and in my opinion reeks heavily of deer management neglect and may even border on criminal.

Under the conditions that exist and knowing full well that even beginning as late as 2008 at the conclusion of the first severe winter, the Commissioner had the authority to begin a program that certainly would have helped to protect deer and did nothing is inexcusable.

According to what V. Paul Reynolds wrote in his Northwoods Sporting Journal, comments and questions I am receiving make more sense.

Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Danny Martin suspended the [snaring] program over concerns that an anti-snare organization would bring a civil action against the state. At the time of his decision we were assured that the coyote control program would be restored in about a year when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) granted Maine an Incidental Take Permit.

Discussion has centered around whether coyote snaring could be reinstated once Maine received an “Incidental Take Permit” from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It now seems obvious that Maine didn’t even need an ITP and trappers were led to believe snaring would return with an ITP. At a minimum MDIFW could have used agents and a snare program to limit damage.

With a Legislative action that limits use of the snare for predator control, to implement a state wide snaring program again, appears to require Legislation action to repeal LD237.

While all this nonsense continues, the Maine deer herd continues to suffer. Makes little sense to me at all.

Tom Remington

*Editor’s Note* I contacted Albert Ladd and asked him if he would be willing to write up some information as he sees it as it pertains to trapping and snaring, mostly dealing with coyote and predator control.

Predator or coyote control for reducing the population has a number of tools or methods that can be utilized – Traps, snares, hounds, shooting over bait, denning and “poison”.

Poison we know would never be allowed, but coyotes are such a problem in Saskatchewan that a bounty has been applied and with the use of trained officials poison will be used.

Denning is where you set up with a gun in a known coyote birthing area and give a pup-in-distress call. The adults come running to protect the pups. Works great in Wyoming where there are no trees, but not worth much in Maine.

Here in Maine, we can trap the early coyote season from the middle of October through the general trapping season that runs from November 1st to December 31. After that the only tools left are hounds, and shooting.

The shooting takes a lot of time and dedication. The ones having the most luck are the ones who set up in deer yards. Obviously the coyotes congregate here for the fresh supply of warm fresh meals – the ones (deer) that are too weak to make it through the deep snow and cold of winter.

Hounds do best in deep snow where they often take the coyote before the hunter even catches up to his hounds. Or, with the use of tracking collars, the hunters on snow sleds will intercept the hounds and set fresh ones on the coyote’s trail. Conditions have to be right. A crusty snow chews up the dogs feet real quickly. Plus, the more hunters the better. Often the coyote gets away because the hunt had too few participants.

Snares are cheap, easy to make, and real effective with all the modern methods tried and used thanks to their legal use in the western states and Canada. Even since the end of Maine’s snaring program 5/6 years ago there have been additions to the snare that claim to make them kill even quicker and more humane.

Snares are at work 24/7. Very little effects them unless it’s a deep snow with freezing rain. Traps need to be checked every 24 hours. Snares can be left unchecked for days because the coyote will be dispatched in quick order.

It takes experience to set a snare right. Entanglement with small trees is relative to cable length or position for a quick dispatch. Size and height of the loop matters as well. Snare should be 10-12 inches from the bottom of the loop to the bottom of where the coyotes paw will be. Half that distance and he can get his leg or legs through and you have a flank-caught coyote.

One coyote taken and a new well placed snare fills the opening. Albert Ladd Photo

Biologist claim you have to eliminate 60-70% of the coyote population annually before the population will decrease. Deer and bobcat I believe are in the 30% range. I think the estimated population of coyote in Maine is 14,000. So, that’s close to 10 thousand you’d have to take out each and every year.

Around 2,000 coyotes are reported trapped during the trapping season. Coyotes are of little value at present with the poor economy and many people are just trapping to help out the deer. Many trapped and shot are going un-reported. One local trapper here has caught 19 this year and none will be documented. One group of coyote hunters have taken 12 from bait this winter AND I DOUBT ANY WILL BE RECORDED.

In the West they’ve found that taking coyotes where they are doing the most damage is the best form of control. If we control them in the winter deer yards, then we’re doing like what’s done out there – controlling where they are doing the killing.

During one fall and winter another trapper, Bill, and I took a total of 120 coyote using traps and snares. The majority were snared in and around deer yards. It was the first year in the Rapid River area. Coyotes moved there like it was a magnet. The next year Bill, snaring with a fellow trapper named Greg, took 18 coyote from a 1/4 mile stretch of woods next to Pond In The River. The following year, after houndsmen complained of the snares, biologist who hated the snaring program, sided with the hound hunters and blocked us from this yard and every other deer yard but one from Newry to Stratton. Bill quit the program and I was left with just one small yard in Roxbury. The program was soon ended after a threat of a lawsuit.

The snare is made of aircraft cable. Has a lock that won’t release once tightened on the neck, a 50-lb choke spring to keep and add pressure on the neck for a quicker kill, and a 110-lb release or “break-away” that’s designed to release neck caught deer. Albert Ladd Photos

Albert Ladd Photo

By Albert Ladd