In a forum that I visit often, there was a recent posts where a teacher of a high school here in Maine talked about one of his students.  This student is out of his birth home and lives with a foster family.  This foster family has a strong foundation and history of hunting and fishing as many families here in Maine.  However, this kid told the teacher that he was unable to hunt until he was 18 due to being in the “system”.  I am unaware of such law but I am investigating this.  If I find this to be a true statement, I will find it unreal.  If the kid demonstrates safety and the ability to hunt then he should be able to whether in “traditional” home or a foster home. 

I have an email into the warden service in hopes of finding out more information.  If anyone has information on this matter it would be greatly appreciated.

 I hope this is not the case.  If so, we have some work to do with laws around youth in the foster care program.

New Hampshire’s state Rep. Bop L’Heureux proposed bill HB657.  This bill will allow the fish and game department to issue two permits a year for those 21 and under with life threatening, critical or terminal illness.

This comes as great news for those youth whose dream it is to go on that “special” hunt before they move on from this world.  Due to insurance liability reasons many of the non profit organizations will not touch youth participants.

You can read more about this in an article I found on the cabinet.

What a great opportunity for these youths.  New Hampshire again steps out and gives us a demonstration of how many of us and our states should be.  To see the smile on that kid who life has dealt a bad hand is priceless.

This deer season has been very interesting.  As many of us I headed out early opening morning.  My first spot to “check out” was an old clearing behind my house.  I sat on the edge of this for a little over an hour.  I only had a couple hours to sit as my friend was going to meet me at my house around 9:30 so we could hunt the remainder of the day.  I wanted to scout the swamp area in order to put my friend in a place that would be productive for him.  Between the clear cut and the swamp is a small section of smaller fir trees.  After standing up and scanning the area I made a few steps down the property line headed for the swamp.  I heard a small noise and stopped to further investigate.  When I did this I saw a deer turn and run away from me.  Other then the quick flash of brown and the famous whitetail that’s all I saw of the deer.  I then heard the deer stop and give me a “blow”.  I immediately sat down in hopes that he would circle back in a little while.  I sat there for a little over an hour with no luck.  Then it was time to go meet up with my buddy.  After meeting up with him we searched the area through the swamp and found some good sign.  Both sides of the swamp seemed to be a great area for deer movement.  Two days later was Monday and again we headed into the woods early in the morning.  My friend wanted to sit on the edge of the clearcut and I headed into the edge of the swamp.  It was still dark as we headed into the woods.  As I approached my stand I heard some footprints running off.  I quickly set up in my stand and waited for legal time.  Sat for a few hours with no luck yet again.  Although, I am excited now.  The two mornings I had been out I had seen deer or been close to them.  I remember thinking to myself this seems like a great spot to come and sit and should turn out productive.  Well, here we are in the last week and that’s the last of the deer sign I have seen.  There’s plenty of deer movement in the area just not when it’s legal shooting time, is my guess.  I believe due to the warmer weather and the absence of “rut” activity they are moving at night and bedding down during the day time “big time”.

Then after a couple days into hunting season my wife woke me up early in the morning and told me that she was not feeling well and needed to go to the hospital.  She said she was having extreme stomach pains.  So, off to the hospital we went.  After several hours and test the conclusion was my wife needed to have her appendix out.  Needless to say after my wife had surgery and could not lift anything my time to get out in the woods would certainly be effected.  Especially with our active two year old.  So, now I had to use my vacation time to stay home and take care of my wife and two year old son.  Which was great, due to our busy and opposite schedules my wife and I usually pass each other as one is arriving and leaving the house.  The bad part was it would cut into my vacation time and I would need to work the week of hunting camp.  So as all the other boys were at the “annual” hunting camp week, I was working, working, working.

I have Wednesday until about noon to hunt before I work at one.  Then I will have Thanksgiving day other then the couple hours mid day for lunch break to hunt.  I will hopefully manage to have a deer cross my path in those hours I will spend in the woods.  Word has it the rut activity is starting up so putting hours in the woods will hopefully turn out to be a success.

Good luck with your hunting season and I wish everyone luck!!!

The House of Reps voted on Thursday to extend the existing night hunting season for coyote dogs in Maine by one month.  The season currently runs from January 1st to April 30th.  This new law would extend the season up to June 1st.

The thinking behind the extension is to help maintain the deer yards in northern Maine.  Due to the weather, the deer utilize these areas later in the season then other parts of Maine.

The deadline to get entered into the Vermont moose lottery is June 1st.  So if your plans are to take to the north country in hopes of harvest a moose, your time is running out.

This year there will be an increase in permit numbers, jumping from last year’s number of 1115 permits to 1250 this year.  The season will be broke down into 2 seperate weeks depending on your permit.  These weeks being October 20th through 25th and October 27th through November 4th.

Lottery applications are $10 for residents and $25 for nonresidents. Winners of the permit lottery will purchase resident permits for $100 and nonresident permits for $350.  There will also be an auction for a set amount of permits.  This of course will guarantee you a chance while raising money for management and education.

You can enter your chances online.

Are you interested in hunting moose in New Hampshire in 2007?  If you answered yes to this question and have not yet entered into the lottery system, you have until May 25th.

You can enter the lottery online.  There is a ten dollar fee in order to place your name in the lottery system.

New Hampshire offers some of the greatest chances at receiving a tag however.  For residents the chances are 1 in 20 and non residents 1 in 55.  Those are really some great odds compared to the majority of areas that moose hunting is offered.

New Hampshire has also for the second year in a row increased their number of permits.  Come October 20th, opening day for the 2007 moose hunt, 675 permit holders will take to the woods in search of the big boys of the northeast.

I love to experience new challenges. For the majority of my life I have focused on whitetail deer hunting and upland bird hunting. Growing up in Maine with the family members that introduced me to hunting, this is what was offered. Still to this day whitetail hunting is by far my favorite hunting activity. Second would have to be upland bird. Don’t get me wrong my elk hunts in Colorado, shooting a mulie, my new experiences that I will take on this week while turkey hunting, our one moose hunt back in 1988, goose hunting, dove hunting, and duck hunting are some great memories that I carry with me.

This year I will add to that list by attempting to hunt black bear here in Maine. Back in 1993 a buddy and I did make a half hearted approach at baiting a bear. A mutual friend who was field boss for a local raking company told us he had spotted a bear several times over the two weeks his crew was raking blueberries in the area. I say halfhearted because neither of us had ever been bear hunting or even taken the time to research and learn the variety of aspects involved. We acquired some grub that we thought would attract the bear. I even had run through my mind that it would be a good idea to take the top of my wedding cake that was saved from my wedding day not long before. We won’t go into what the wife at the time had to say about that, maybe that is why I call her an “ex” today. Anyways, we set up the site and did know enough to tend it everyday. Of course lacking knowledge of how to approach bait site and stand, knowledge of bear and their behaviors, patterns, etc led us to a fruitless year. Fruitless as far as harvesting a bear I should say. Of course it was great to be out there. The bear that people had seen never even hit our bait. Why it’s been 14 years since I’ve looked into this I don’t know. I guess lack of involvement with the circle of people I hunt with.

This year however I have determined to set up a site and give it a try again. This time I am more prepared and continue to research and develop a better understanding of the bear before I take to the woods. I have several places set up that I will be acquiring sources of bait from already.

I went into the woods the other day where I will be setting up two bait sites. I snapped some photos to post on a forum that I came upon recently to get some further ideas and knowledge from people that have lots of experience with baiting and hunting bears.

So any information that anyone can share with me, I’ll all ears.

Here are some photos of the set ups.

The first set of pictures are set to the left of a stream. To the right of this set up is a decent size patch of furs that are pretty thick. To the left of this set up is a large swamp area. My tree stand will be set up from the angle shot. I will also gain some height from the tree being positioned on top of a ledge.

The second bait site will be located directly in front of a stream. This set up will be placed in the patch of furs that provide easy cover and quick escape. All the game animals in this area frequently travel this area. Again, my stand will be placed in a tree that is on a ledge providing a better opportunity to get high in order to mask scent.

It is clear to see my focus the past few days has been on the bear trapping issue here in Maine.  Although the bigger picture goes way beyond this one piece of the puzzle.  The larger picture is I want to assure that my son when he gets to be my age has the same opportunities that I have in teaching his kid(s) to hunt, fish, and enjoy other outdoor activities.  It is a clear picture all across the nation that the animal rights groups have one goal in mind.  That goal is to take those privileges away from my son.  That frankly ticks me off!!!  If these narrow minded people could see what this way of life means to us.  They cannot possibly do this though.  They in their pea size brains think it is all about the kill.  Hunting is so much more then that as we all know.

One such group that is in my neck of the woods is the Maine Friends of Animals.  This group is clearly against the sport of hunting and attempting to rid Maine of a great tradition.  Tom over at the Black Bear Blog has written an article that shows some insight to who this group is.

It is time we as hunters, fishermen, and outdoor enthusiasts take a stand together.  Maine Friends of Animals, PETA, The Humane Society, and so many of these other anti-hunter groups are misleading people.  They take a piece of the puzzle and run with it.  They are not truthful in presenting the puzzle as a whole.

Here is a reminder that tomorrow night is a meeting about the Maine bear trapping bill. This will take place at the Augusta Civic Center.

I have added to this post a podcast on this issue from my perspective.

[AUDIO:http://skinnymoose.com/norm/bearbill.mp3]

I urge everyone who can to attend meeting and let your side be heard. If you cannot attend the meeting contact the standing joint committee with email addresses that have been provided for you.

Related posts:

LD’s 1635 bear trapping bill

Information on meeting time and place

Some Thoughts

I am one who respects everyone for their own opinions.  That is what makes America a great place to live.  Even though I personally think anti-hunters are narrow minded and would never understand how such a group would care more about banning mouse traps then killing unborn human babies, I believe they have a right to their opinion also.

While searching through the web today I came upon an article from one such person.  She is talking about the hunting accident in Laconia, New Hampshire.  If you are unfamiliar with this accident you can find more information over at the local paper, The Citizen.  The victim in this case was a 15 yr old teenage boy.  One would think this would be the worst part of this story.  I certainly thought this was the case until I read an article from an anti-sport hunting advocate as put in her own words.  This lady actually made this statement in her post.

…while participating in New Hampshire’s official turkey slaughter, an experienced hunter ended up shooting (non-fatally, thank goodness) a fellow hunter instead of a turkey.

I find it crazy that a person is more pleased with someone shooting a teenager then they are shooting a turkey.  I just sit here shaking my head.