Archive for October, 2007
Posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Several experiences over the past week reminded me that both people and wildlife alike are busy getting ready for winter. At home I’ve been working steady to get a garage and breezeway sided and shingled before the snow flies. Next on the list is to gather up a load of firewood from my woodlot for my brother.
Two calls were received this week relative to recent beaver activity causing road problems and access to camps and agricultural fields. Every year we see a spike in this activity as beaver work overtime to impound water, to access and store more food for the coming winter months. Beaver are active all winter but remain in their lodges or swimming under the ice to access the feed piles they created in the summer and fall. Unfortunately, these nuisance activities coincide when biologists and wardens are very busy with the start of several hunting and trapping seasons.
I had my own mini nuisance wildlife problem this weekend while I was putting cedar clapboards on a new garage. While on a ladder, thousands of ladybugs swarmed around me, getting in my hair, ears, and behind my glasses. I vaguely recalled from Entomology 101 that they were predatory so I couldn’t understand why they were so interested in the very wall that I was trying to clapboard. So I called an expert.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Western Mountains Hunting Report • Categories: General
Posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Probably most of us have been subjected to a spell or two of daydreaming; letting ones mind wander and visualizing other places, other times, and other things. Perhaps you are one that truly admires the craftsmanship that goes into manufacturing the classic upland bird gun. You might just find yourself daydreaming about all the various options available to you should all the obstacles, realities, and “buts” in your life disappear. First, you would have to decide on style (probably a classic two barreled firearm). Then you would consider your personal preference of a stacked barrel (over and under) versus a side by side. Another internal deliberation would be the choice of gauge. The options then become even more involved; barrel length for example, as well as preferred chokes and choke types … whether fixed or screw-in tubes. Or, if you are truly a purist, a second set of barrels would be the ultimate classic (and costly) approach. Under the barrels you have a choice: splinter forend or beavertail … two variables that depend on your hand size and arm length. And then there is the trigger. Consider the classic double trigger, or a single selective, or perhaps a single non-selective trigger. Moving to the rear half of the gun, stock length and grip style … whether pistol or straight English style. Also consider checkering and the number of lines per inch. At the very end of the stock is the buttplate, and whether your preference would lean towards hard rubber, recoil pad or just a plain grooved. It almost goes without saying that for the wood, you want the best burly walnut, deep Prussian rust bluing on the barrels and fire bright case hardening on the frame. You can really get lost in debating on whether the frame is engraved with a portrait of your best dog, your favorite quarry, or some idealistic wildlife scene. And of course, one might consider a fitted case for your prize, including the typical English cased accessories of a brass oil bottle, ivory handled screw driver, etc.
You are convinced that this weapon should be nicknamed the “exterminator” because you would never miss with this custom designed masterpiece. But for just an instant, you check yourself … remembering the days long ago of shooting trap … when the kid nearly shot a perfect round with an old single barrel with such vivid credentials as armory steel and a choke-bored barrel. The real icing on the gun was the half roll of electrical tape; part of which was wound around the tang to tighten up the buttstock and the rest wrapped around the forend to hold it in place as the screw had long since been stripped. Also, too was the hatchet-fitted butt plate made in desperation out of a flooring tile. The bluing and varnish finish had long disappeared since your parents were in high school.
Then you hear a familiar voice … your daughter has just come out of the orthodontist office with those memorable words, “I need braces.” Those fantasy visions of the perfectly crafted bird gun flush away as you open your check book. Maybe another year you think.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Downeast Hunting Report • Categories: General
Posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
This time of year biologists spend a lot of time looking at deer and moose and giving our thoughts on the age and weight of the animal. Quite often we are asked to compare the harvested animal with others we have seen either this season or in previous ones. At the same time we hear of the hunter’s pasts successes and failures. It is a familiar routine that is predictable but enjoyable as we share our observations of our time in the outdoors.
Lately we have been challenged at guessing the weight of something different. At the same time we are on a pace for a record of our own. Unfortunately the weight and the record are not of a fabulous trophy, but a new scourge that threatens Maine’s tradition of open access to the outdoors. So far this year on Region B Wildlife Management Areas we have cleaned up 33,360 pounds of trash; 3,560 pounds of lumber; and 5,080 pounds of tires. This has cost several thousand dollars to dispose of properly. In fact, this year’s trash pick up will become the second ranked management activity, in terms of expenditures carried out in this Region.
Recently we spent 2 days with 3 people, 2 trucks, a 40 yard dumpster and an excavator cleaning up demolition debris dumped on IF&W land. What does this mean to you the user of IF&W lands? First, we have to protect certain areas that are hot spots for dumping by eliminating vehicle access. Second, we are spending a significant portion of the Regional budget in terms of time and money to handle this problem. This limits the amount of money and time available to do legitimate wildlife management of the 4-legged or winged kind. This has been a problem for IF&W, municipalities and a significant number of private landowners for years. Illegal dumping has reached epidemic proportions. Over the past summer Maine Warden Service summonsed three individuals for illegal dumping on IF&W lands. In these three cases it turned out to be individuals working for contractors who took the money they were paid to properly dispose of the materials, pocketed the money and dumped the trash down the nearest woods road. Part of their punishment was to clean up the trash they had dumped. Unfortunately, within less than two weeks someone else had refilled the site. This time it was obviously homeowners who had gotten new furniture and appliances and decided to dump their old ones on our site.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Central Maine Hunting Report • Categories: General
Posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Region A is on the southern extreme of the moose hunting zone with several towns in Wildlife Management District (WMD) 12 within the region. The two moose registration stations tagged a total of 14 moose; a small increase over last year. WMD 15, stretching from Lovell down to Newfield, is scheduled to open to moose hunting in 2008 with a conservative allocation of 35 permits. This WMD will deviate from the rest of the zone in that moose hunting will coincide with the November deer hunt. Though this WMD does not have vast acreage of industrial forest, there are many sparsely settled towns with mixed agricultural land and meadows interspersed with large blocks of managed forest.
The fall turkey season continues in WMDs 21, 22 and 23 until Friday with archery only. The first fall shotgun season on Turkey ended this past week. A look at the registration stations in the region indicates many hunters have taken advantage of this new hunting opportunity. Hens and toms are usually in separate flocks this time of year. Hunting with a shotgun in the fall will usually require breaking up the flock and targeting a bird as they reassemble. Just as in the spring, fall turkey hunting is limited to one bird, though that bird may be a hen or a tom.
I recently spent a day on the Libby River within Scarborough Marsh. This is a site being considered for future restoration work as part of a collaborative effort of MDIF&W, USF&WS, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Duck’s Unlimited and Friends of Scarborough Marsh. During the site visit we evaluated the extent of man-made ditches from the early 1900′s and noted any occurrences of Phragmites australis, a prolific invasive plant that can have a negative impact on native marsh plants and wildlife. A local field researcher from Cornell University is investigating the potential use of biological control using insects rather than herbicides in the management of phragmites. During this rainy Friday on the lower Libby, we observed dozens of ducks in the pannes and creeks of this vast wetland. There were blacks, mallards and teal taking to wing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Southwestern Maine Hunting Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
With the second week of moose season over, hunter success was much better than the first week with registration numbers slightly lower than last year. The Ashland station registered a total of 319 moose for both weeks, while it recorded 323 last year. In short the second week was excellent in the north making up the deficit from the first week. An issue brought to my attention by the warden service were numerous cases of moose hunters having antlerless permits where they were shooting bulls with antlers less then ear length (which is legal with antlerless permit) but leaving the animal thinking antlerless means “cow only”. This may be a case of not understanding the law or perhaps not reading the “Moose Hunters Guide”
Grouse are numerous this year with success stories from the majority of hunters. When birds are this numerous violations seem to escalate due to selfish and unethical law braking hunters taking over their limits and stealing from the sportsman. In a three-day period last week two warden sections under Sgt. Ward and Sgt. Gray had 10 over-the-limit cases with one party of 4 hunters having in possession 69 birds.
This coming Saturday is Youth Day for deer season and the biologists will be out collecting deer biological data to track the deer herd and collect samples for Chronic Wasting Disease Due to the hunting and fishing laws mandating the number of day’s deer season will run, this year will be one of the earliest.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aroostook County Hunting Report • Categories: General
