A 2013 survey conducted in behalf of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife by a highly reputable polling organization sheds light on who does what in Maine when it comes to recreational hunting. Details of this survey are available to anyone on DIF&W’s official website, www.mefishwildlife.com.
For starters, the survey indicates that in 2013 there were more than 186,000 licensed hunters taking to the Maine woods. According to a recent report, hunting license sales, in keeping with a national trend, have increased by surprising margins.
As you might guess, the majority of these hunters are pursuing our whitetail deer. Running a close second in the survey are hunters who concentrate on upland birds, grouse (partridge) and woodcock. Here is an excerpt from the survey:
Maine offers a variety of hunting opportunities to residents and visitors throughout the state as hunters are able to pursue a variety of different species of big and small game. Ninety one percent of resident hunters pursue deer and 54 percent pursue upland game birds (Figure 4). One third or fewer of resident hunters pursue small game, turkey, waterfowl, bear, or moose. Half of nonresident hunters pursue deer and 33 percent pursue upland game birds.
Of course, many Maine resident deer hunters hunt both deer and partridge. Suffice it to say that Mainers love their October bird hunts.
Cutting to the chase, what’s the fall bird outlook? Here is the official forecast from Maine’s game bird biologist Brad Allen, along with a fascinating snapshot of grouse survival in the wilds:
Ruffed Grouse: We’re now in our second field season of our cooperative ruffed grouse study with the University of Maine and we are already generating some interesting information on Maine’s No. 1 game bird. I’ll report more on this later after the late summer/early fall trapping and radio tagging season. In 2014, our field crew captured 154 unique grouse, and recorded 37 recaptures. At the onset of the hunting season, 106 radio-marked ruffed grouse were alive and available for monitoring, 60 at one central Maine site and 46 at another eastern Maine study site. Hunters took a little more than 15 percent of these radioed birds over the three month season. Several more were lost to mammalian and avian predators. Last winter was tough on our research birds as well and at one study site 10 radio-marked grouse died in January and February. This past spring our researchers monitored 16 grouse nests.
Eight of these hatched, four nests were destroyed by predators, and four hens were taken by predators during the incubation period. The four hens that lost their nests, but that survived, each attempted a second nest, and an additional nest from an unmarked hen was found with only three eggs, and was assumed to be a second nest for that hen. All second nests were successful. Clutches in first nests most commonly had ten eggs, whereas second nests averaged seven eggs. As of this writing, seven of eight broods are currently active, with one female believed to have lost her brood shortly after hatch. The researchers have indicated that they are encountering other broods in the study areas on a routine basis. Regional biologist with “boots on the ground” also report good numbers of grouse in their travels. I’m predicting a good year for grouse, statewide.
What about woodcock? Brad says that it will be another average year for the “mudbats.” The open season on grouse begins Oct. 1 and runs until Dec. 31. The daily bag limit is still four and possession limit is eight. Thankfully, that silly tagging law on grouse was repealed.
No hunt dates yet on woodcock, insofar as I know.
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The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors.” His e-mail address is: vpaulr@tds.net . He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.”
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