Moosehead Region Hunting Report: December 7, 2007

We have kind of an odd situation here, where “threatened” lynx today are front page news, yet when they were scarce some 30 years ago, most people probably weren’t even aware of their existence in Maine.

I worked in the northernmost IF&W Region for 8 yrs in the 70s. I was in the woods very frequently, and saw the tracks of lynx only 3 or 4 times. I have worked in the Greenville Region for nearly 27 years now, and seen the tracks hundreds of time, mostly within the last 10 years. This suggests to me a marked increase in lynx over my career, which I attribute to the change in the make-up of the woods from acres & acres of merchantable or harvestable trees to acres and acres of rabbit cover, or regenerating clearcuts. In effect, lynx are now categorized as “Threatened,” even though they are more abundant now and receive much more attention and special consideration than when their numbers were low, which is sort of a contradiction.

One day last winter I traveled from Greenville to Rip Dam to Chamberlain Bridge to Cuxabexis Lake to Caucomgomoc Dam to Scott Brook and back to Greenville via Raggmuff, encountering lynx tracks approximately 30 times. Last year, for the first time, I was shown some lynx tracks within a mile of downtown Greenville. And last winter, I ran onto lynx tracks In Bald Mtn. Twp, west of Monson on two different occasions.

All indications are that the lynx population has increased dramatically here in recent times. Among the strongest indications are the increasing number of road kills. The population seems to be dispersing. One lynx was hit by a vehicle in Palmyra this year. I would guess that was a disperser, just one that dispersed in the wrong direction.