Archive for November, 2007
Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
The big hunting news this past week has been the weather. We’ve had somewhat of a repeat from last year’s 3rd week of deer season. For those of you who may have forgotten last year, it rained, actually poured, most of the week. It was some of the most miserable extended hunting weather I can remember. Again this year, we got hit with a couple of days of very heavy rain. On Thursday and Friday, southern and central Aroostook County got approximately 2-4” of rain. This created not only miserable hunting conditions but swelled all rivers and streams resulting in widespread flooding, particularly in lowland swamps and floodplains. Walking any distance through the woods was a challenge, requiring rubber boots and lots of backtracking and skirting around flooded lowlands. Flooded roads also made travel into more remote areas over lightly used gravel roads very difficult.
Also given the wet, muddy ground conditions in central and southern Aroostook County, hopefully hunters will respect private landowner concerns and refrain from causing damage to their field roads. In meetings with agriculture landowners, we’ve heard repeatedly that a major concern in regard to wildlife damage on their farms is not necessarily damage caused by wildlife, but damage to property caused by hunters.
The good news for deer hunters in the Allagash region was that some of this rain eventually turned to snow, dropping 4-10” of new snow. This is great for tracking deer but this additional snowfall, plus the existing snow from prior snowstorms, has made getting around in this region more difficult. Plan on having a 4-wheel drive and chains for icy roads particularly if hunting far from major roads. If possible hunt with a companion and always let a friend or relative know your destination.
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Tags: Aroostook County Hunting Report • Categories: Hunting Reports
Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Well, if you only have been able to hunt on Saturdays this year, then it has been a tough deer-hunting season! Stormy or windy conditions have prevailed on all four weekends in the Penobscot Region this season making hunting difficult and testing the motivation to deer hunt at all. On the other hand, if you have had chances to hunt during the weekdays there have been some very good days to hunt with lighter winds and cooler temperatures.
As expected, week three showed a change in the composition of the harvest from large numbers of yearling bucks to fewer, larger more mature bucks. Yes, there’s still a good proportion of younger bucks being taken, but the peak of the rut is upon us making the mature bucks more active and hopefully more vulnerable.
In most years, the Thanksgiving week hunt falls slightly after the peak of the rut, but this year, due to the early start to the season, bucks should still be in hot pursuit of does. During my own hunting activities I have noticed that old scrapes have been freshened and that some new scrapes have appeared, indicating that the rut is still high gear!
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Tags: Penobscot Valley Hunting Report • Categories: Hunting Reports
Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Last year about this time (actually a little prior to now), I was tasked with figuring out how many deer from WMD 14 would have to be examined to determine the “yearling frequency.” We examine the teeth up close to determine age.
Somehow, I knew the importance of that statistic from something I had read in the past; some biologist studying population dynamics had determined yearling frequency equals removal rate,. With removal rate, the population can be estimated. I took that assignment home, because statistical inference is a topic I’m not too conversant in. I was going to have to study this issue in a quiet atmosphere.
I skimmed thru an old text on statistics for the section that applied. I didn’t find it right away. Then I had a thought; couldn’t this situation be replicated using a table of random numbers such as odd = yearling, even = not yearling? Odd and even numbers presumably have an equal probability of being selected. And in some population ~50% of adults are yearlings. I worked with subsamples of 10, accumulating the result and studying the overall outcome. I determined this way that narrowly determining the percentage of yearlings in a population of unknown size was improbable without examining approximately 170 individuals drawn from that population. Regarding WMD 14, we could never expect to see that many shot by hunters, so the whole idea of trying was improbable. It wasn’t worth attempting.
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Tags: Moosehead Region Hunting Report • Categories: Hunting Reports
Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Like all the other regional wildlife biologists, all of last week was dedicated to collecting biological data from the deer harvest. The age and sex breakdown of the harvest, as well as antler beam diameter measurements from yearling bucks will be used in the Any-Deer permit allocations for the 2008 season. In addition to this information we are also collecting samples to monitor for chronic wasting disease. Collection of those samples is done both at the meat cutters and taxidermists we visit as well as locating deer at homes and camps. The latter is done by visiting game registration stations to search for deer killed in a town of interest, within the last few days, by a resident hunter who can be easily located.
Our CWD data collections are going well but we still need samples from the following towns: The Forks, Moscow, Brighton, Andover, Coplin Plt., Rangeley, and Kingfield. If you or someone you know takes a deer from one of these locations we sure would appreciate the opportunity discuss the collection of a sample. The best way to contact us is to call the Strong office at 778-3324 ext. 25. If we are out when you call just leave a voicemail and we will get back to you.
Tags: Western Mountains Hunting Report • Categories: Hunting Reports
Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Most everyone is a collector or appreciates some form of items from the past. Whether it is dolls, paintings or hunting and fishing equipment, quality is evident and appreciated and admired. Recently while talking to an antique dealer, we both were speculating, what items of today are going to be collectables in 25 or 100 years from now? We are in the quick fix and throwaway generation. Most of the sporting good collectables from the past were made for a specific market and came in different grades with options, chokes, barrel lengths, etc. Coming from times when money was tight, if you bought it had to have a use, not to become a closet queen firearm or a dust catcher in the cellar.
Having all this in mind, while walking thru the sporting goods department in the different big box stores, I look up and down the aisles I try to imagine, what would take someone’s breath away 50 years from now. Everything is plastic, rubber or who knows what and mostly made overseas. If you were going to make a sporting goods time capsule for them for 2060, what would you put in it?
Everything is driven by the current demands, composite stocks and stainless steel barrels are great for adverse hunting conditions, much like the current military arms. What if you want something to use on “nice” days, wood on a firearm that has great burl and the metal has fiery casehardening on the frame and deep rust bluing on the barrel or, comparing a vintage bamboo fly rod to a current graphite production model. You don’t see current makers selling two tips with their rods.
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Tags: Downeast Hunting Report • Categories: Hunting Reports
