The November deer season has come and gone. Hard to believe. Those still waiting to fill the freezer have a week to two weeks to close the deal (depending upon which wildlife management area you choose to hunt).
What kind of a deer season was it?
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W) customarily releases the deer harvest numbers in early spring, so we won’t know anything conclusive until then. Meantime, though, we can sort through the so-called “anecdotal evidence” and the assorted comments from the regional state wildlife biologists.
Before the season started, Kyle Ravanna, the state deer research leader, went out on a limb and predicted that this fall’s deer harvest would be about 25,750, or 20 percent more than last year’s deer harvest. This is good, but a far cry from the halcyon days of Maine deer hunting, when the annual deer kill invariably exceeded 30,000.
It will be interesting to see how the harvest numbers pan out. My wholly unscientific guess is that the overall harvest will be less than Ravanna’s projection.
Here are my reasons. At the hunt’s halfway point, the regional biologists, while trying to be optimistic, seemed to be hedging their bets. Region A biologist, Scott Lindsay, said, “numbers may be down a bit from from last year.” The Central Maine biologist, Keel Kemper, observed “a slow start to the season,” which he attributed to an excessive amount of snow cover in the woods early on. In the Moosehead area, biologist Doug Kane said that “Things are pretty good.” He noted that there had been fewer deer tagged right in the Greenville area, but more deer were being seen in his northern sector. The Penobscot region? “Deer season is going pretty well,” said biologist Mark Caron.
Ironically enough, Aroostook County, which has had a struggling deer herd, is having one of its better seasons in a long time. Of course, everything is relative: the County has endured a long famine, deer-wise.
It’s good to see even a modest rebound of the big-woods bucks.
My north woods hunt club, the Skulkers of Seboeis, spent a week at deer camp. My fellow skulkers hunted diligently under somewhat adverse conditions: bitter cold, high winds, and extremely crunchy, noisy conditions. No deer were taken, although there were some sightings. The snow-covered woods seemed to tell a story that was being heard all around the state: a late rut this year, perhaps as much as 10 days or more later than usual.
Sebec outfitter John Poole, who operates The Rockin P Sport Lodge, shares this view. Midway through the hunt he and his clients noticed that the bucks just weren’t tracking the does.
There are always exceptions to the rule, however. Hunting one of my deer honey holes, during what is generally regarded as the peak of the rut in mid-November, I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of fresh sign including multiple scrapes and rubs. An all-morning stump-vigil for me on the edge of a tangled strip cut had its reward. A plump little 8 pointer bounded into the crosshairs of the Ruger One .270 and soon into the Reynolds family freezer.
If I had not filled my tag, I would be readying the old smoke-pole for a black-powder hunt. If the weather cooperates you might want to consider this last ditch option. Black-powder season can be a wonderfully lonely time in the deer woods, especially if you are dressed properly and pamper yourself with hand and toe warmers. With a late rut, or lingering post-rut, the hunt opportunities might just surprise you.
The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, cohost of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine NewsTalk Network (WVOMFM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His email address is vpaulr@tds.net. He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
