October 2009 Almanac

This Month: Gonna’ Hunt? Bring a Camera

October begins like more of September with green leaves and moderately mild weather, but by month’s end fall will land like a lion.

And during this time of great temperature changes everything is happening, including hunting for the following critters: Deer (with bow and arrows), bear, upland birds, waterfowl, gray squirrels, raccoons, varying hares and more. Angling is booming, too, as trout anglers chase hatches and bassers work for big bucket-mouths. And did we mention trapping begins now for a handful of furbearers?

And it’s all happening as leaves turn to shades of red, scarlet, pink, yellow, gold, orange and purple — a kaleidoscope of colors — allegedly the most beautiful foliage display in the world with the exceptions of places in China.

A handful of skilled hunters chase bears now in beech groves, hoping to still-hunt a bear, one of the world’s most wary game animals. The fact that they concentrate in mast now gives folks an advantage. A tiny handful of people chase bears with hounds.

Small game interests Mainers in October, and varying-hare hunters with dogs get out now as do woodcock enthusiasts with pointing or flushing breeds. These folks live for the sports and take advantage of the wonderful weather and fast shooting.

This month, folks talk about the advantage of car camping, canoe tripping and backpacking now, emphasizing foliage colors and lack of pesky insects and crowds of campers. Darned few people do it now, though, so it’s more talk than anything else.

Photographers really get out in October, and two undeniable features attract them. Foliage draws the pros and the amateurs, but later, professionals concentrate on browns, grays and blacks after the earlier colorful explosion. Serious photographers live for textures and drab colors that enhance mood shots.

Decreasing temperatures start critters moving, and wildlife photographers take advantage. Yes, this field of photography really increases trips afield, beginning in October.

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TIPS OF THE MONTH

–Identifying Button Bucks at Distances

Many hunters prefer that immature bucks be protected so they’ll live long enough to sport impressive antlers. How can a hunter with an any-deer permit distinguish between button bucks and does when a deer moves in the distance too far away to ascertain buttons or not?

Three distinguishing features help:

• Little bucks often travel alone.

• Buck fawns are “squarish” in shape, but does have a more rectangular form.

• A buck’s head is flatter between the ears where a doe has a more round-shaped skull.

–Rattlin’ Cartridges Alert Game

Rattling cartridges in a hunter’s pocket alert game, so what solution could quiet the noise? Years ago, sports shops commonly sold a rubber-plastic product that held five bullets lined in a row so they could not touch one another, stopping the rattling. (I own two of these and carry five cartridges in one pocket, five more in another and five in my clip.) That little gadget is harder to find these days, but it’s worth the small price to purchase several of them if folks can locate a place that sells them.

Another good way to stop the clinking requires an elastic hair tie or a simple, sturdy elastic. Clump four or five bullets together and fasten the elastic around them. Presto…instant silence.

–Great, Inexpensive Deer Lure

If you hunt around orchards, nothing beats fresh apple cider in a manual spray bottle as a deer lure. (I use a bottle that held sample hair spray that received a thorough cleaning with ammonia and then later baking soda.) The cider comes out in a fine mist each time the pump is pushed, and it covers human odor. When sprayed into the air, it may attract a deer that thinks it’s a fresh apple smell from the orchard.

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WHERE THE ACTION IS

–Let’s Bowhunt for Deer!

Let’s bowhunt for deer in an area with lots and lots of deer and light development.

Look at DeLorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (MAG), Map 22, A-2, B-2, C-2, D-2 and E-2 and begin on Route 7. This state highway and secondary roads off it go through this state’s finest deer country with working farms and woodlots, abandoned farms and orchards, oak and beech ridges, wetlands and conifer canopies for winter — perfect deer habitat. Route 7 runs from Newport to Brooks and roads off it provide habitat aplenty. Nearby Newport provides accommodations, too, and the region has bed and breakfast spots.

–Uplanders Paradise

Upland bird hunters should peruse Maps 36 and 37 in MAG and surprisingly, begin with main highways Route 1, 9 and 191. As shocking as it may sound, classic grouse and woodcock covers dot these roads, and in fact, may offer more hunting than dirt roads that slice through lots of primary forests.

However, covers lies beside roads such as Nineteen (Map 36, E-2), Cooper Road (D-3), Birch Hill Road (D-1), Seavy Ridge (C-1), North Princeton (B-2), South Princeton (C-2), Ridge Road (Map 37, D-2) and Lake Road (D-2). All the roads in the region have lots of reverting clear-cuts coming back to poplar, ideal woodcock cover.

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OCTOBER FISHING MAGIC

…Fishing, anyone?

Long Pond in the Belgrade Lakes from the north basin in front of The Spillway in Belgrade Lakes village (Map 20, E-4), the south basin and Belgrade Stream to Wings Mills (Map 12, A-4) are open until Oct. 31.

Salmon and browns stack up in the current above the bridge within sight of Wings Mills Dam, and fishing can rock at times. Anglers are in the face and eyes of everyone, but few people bother to fish here in October. Flies and lures can fool trout and salmon now.

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NEWS AND TIDBITS

–Chinook Salmon Worth Big Bucks

The American Sportfishing Association (ASA) has released economic information indicating that a full recovery of California’s Central Valley Chinook salmon runs can potentially provide $5.7 billion in new economic activity for the state and create 94,000 new jobs.

Southwick Associates, one of the country’s leading economic research firms for outdoor activities, estimates that the current shutdown of the salmon fishery is costing California $1.4 billion in lost economic activity and 23,000 jobs in both the commercial and recreational saltwater fishing sectors.

–’I Saw a Rattler, I Did!’

In fall when fallen leaves turn dry and brown but lie loose on the ground before rain and snow pack them down, a woodland wanderer might see a snake with reddish-brown blotches curled in deep, dead foliage, wiggling its tail. This movement in dry leaves can make a rattling noise, fooling a casual observer into thinking they have found a rattler. However, it is really a milk snake, not a rattler.

–How Many Salamanders!

Maine has nine salamander species, which include blue-spotted salamander, spotted salamander, eastern newt, dusky salamander, two-lined salamander, spring salamander, four-toed salamander, redback salamander and surprise of surprise, mudpuppy. Yes, the latter is indeed a salamander, albeit a big one.

–Nine Snakes, Too

Coincidentally, Maine has nine snakes, too, including black racer, northern water snake, ringneck snake, milk snake, smooth green snake, brown snake, redbelly snake, ribbon snake and common garter snake.

–And Nine Frogs and Toads, Too

Maine has nine frogs and toads, including American toad, gray treefrog, spring peeper, bullfrog, green frog, pickerel frog, northern leopard frog, mink frog and wood frog.

–Ten Years and 430 Dams

In July 1999, Edwards Dam came down against the wishes of its owner because the Federal Energy Regulations Commission had decided that move was appropriate. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit showed up at the ceremony, celebrating this demolition. This man’s attendance surprised few participants because he had made it a crusade to remove obsolete dams. Since that time, 430 dams in the U.S. have gone the way of Edwards Dam, opening these rivers to fish migration.

–The Mask Fish

Muskellunge comes from the Ojibwa word masshykinoosehe, which means “mask” in this Native American language. The fish, brown spotted with black, can grow up to eight feet and weigh 100 pounds, but a 15- to 20-pounder is far more common. Such a size excites freshwater anglers, but fishing can be ever so slow.

–Long-Distance Smellers

According to science research, a whitetailed deer can smell a human from 300 yards away.

–Walleye Invasion

Last summer, a walleye fell to an angler on Messalonskee Lake in the Belgrade Lakes. At first glance, this catch raised few eyebrows because this species has been showing up for years in small numbers in Long Pond several miles up Belgrade Stream from Messalonskee.

Folks really acquainted with walleyes in this chain of waters shuddered, though. From the mid-1990s into the 2000s in Belgrade Lakes’ Long Pond, a single year-class of walleyes showed up in biologists’ trap-nets every October in front of The Spillway in Belgrade Lakes village. Each fall, these walleyes would be the same age and naturally larger than previous years, so fisheries biologists surmised the fish came from a single, successful, illegal stocking that was not reproducing.

The walleye in Messalonskee was not from that year-class, so biologists guessed that it came from a new stocking or a successful spawning effort.

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BIRD OF THE MONTH

–Broad-winged Hawks in a Kettle

Broad-winged hawks (Buteo platypterus) look larger than their actual size — 15 inches in length, 34-inch wingspan and 14-ounce weight — partly because they have a chunky appearance. In truth, though, this species ranks as our smallest buteo.

This hawk has three conspicuous features to help identify it:

1) Short, somewhat pointed, straight-edged wings.

2) Coarse brown barring on the chest and stomach.

3) Two black and one white band on the bottom of the tail equal in width on mature birds — easy to see as this hawk soars above. Other hawks have black-and-white bars but of unequal width.

The short, wide wings give the broadwing maneuverability as it forages in its preferred habitat — wooded terrain. It does forage around edges with large open areas, but of course, target species that live along fields, roads and clear-cuts sometimes escape to deeper cover when panicked. This hawk can follow escaping prey through trees with ease.

This solitary bird perches in woods but migrates in large flocks called kettles. Birdwatchers gather on mountaintops and watch these birds migrate in the fall, a spectacular event that may include a thousand hawks at a time.

Broad-winged hawks often nest in tall trees 20 to 60 feet off the ground where they build a structure of twigs and sticks lined with leaves for their egg laying — three to four white eggs with irregular brown.

The voice of a broad-winged hawk depends on which guidebook the birdwatcher checks. Sibley said this bird makes a piercing, high, whistled tee-teeee on one pitch, but Peterson claimed it was a shrill, diminuendo pe-weeee while the Audubon guide went with pe-heeeeee, which also suggested a decrescendo sound, too. It makes folks wonder how ornithologists can get the translation so different, particularly with the “one pitch” vs. “diminuendo.”

This writer once experienced an interesting encounter with a broad-winged hawk while sitting in a treestand, bowhunting bear east of Moosehead Lake:

Late on a windy, sun-splashed afternoon, I was sitting perfectly still as a front was coming through the region, blowing away storm clouds. Nothing was moving but my eyes and swaying limbs, and in all that clattering of branches, this buteo spotted that subtle shifting of my eyeballs.

Apparently, the bird of prey assumed my face was a small animal and launched itself into flight, flying right into my face. I yanked the bow and arrow up in defense, blocking the attack easily, but the arrow fell from the string and bow rest, clattering to the ground.

What a rush to have such a close-up view of an attacking buteo! (Ken Allen)

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DO YOU KNOW?

–What Is Maine’s Second Largest Snake?

A black racer snake, rare enough in Maine to be on the Endangered Species List, ranks as this state’s largest snake species. Do you know which species reigns as the second largest?

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BOOK CORNER

–The Names of Maine Intriguing

The Names of Maine with the subtitle How Maine Places Got Their Names and What They Mean by Brian McCauley (Commonwealth Editions, Beverly, Massachusetts) belongs in every bookcase or library belonging to a Maine native, transplant and ardent tourist. The book really shines.

For starters, McCauley sets it up like a dictionary with city, town and geographical names in alphabetical order with a brief explanation of how each place received its name. The completeness of the long list will impress the most cynical reader.

…Although the listing is incomplete for picky types like this reviewer. For example, I have always wanted to know the origin of the term “Somerville,” and the book states “unknown.” The book has a handful of other unknown words, too, sure to disappoint folks.

Here’s how the list works most of the time, though:

This reviewer grew up in Windsor, so it’s simply a matter of thumbing to the W-section and finding this town. It had names prior to Windsor, including Malta and Gerry with explanations of the origins. Then, the book finished the brief explanation by saying Windsor received its name to honor the Royal Family of England and Windsor Castle.

McCauley also claimed that settlers came to Windsor in 1790 and incorporated the town in 1809, but interestingly, the book doesn’t have dates for all towns and cities.

Here’s one: Many people think the Town of China received its name after the country, but no, folks called it “China” after a popular hymn at the time. However, it doesn’t say when it happened, so we’re left wondering when “China” was indeed a popular song.

Several places in Maine honored royalty and even folks associated with royalty, including this man: The Duke of Newcastle worked as the secretary for the King of England, so in 1630, settlers named the coastal Mid-coast town “Newcastle” after the Duke.

Now stop and think about this for a minute. If folks decided to name a town today after a leader — say Bush or Obama just for the sake of bipartisanship — it would created a huge row. Folks clearly respected our leaders more centuries ago.

The Names of Maine really soars with its explanation of Native American words, and some struck this reviewer as humorous in a weird way. For example, Square Lake got its name because of a mistranslation. Settlers thought the real native word meant “square” instead of its right meaning “round.”

Unfortunately, McCauley doesn’t tell the reader to which Square Lake he is referring. If it is the one in the Fish River chain, it looks more square than round, and for that matter, so does the one in York County that holds the record for the state’s largest brown. That’s a minor complaint, though.

Here are more Native American words:

In Abenaki, Wytopitlock means “place of the alders,” Sheepscot “many rocky channels” or “divided by many rocks” and Wiscasset “the outlet” or “the hidden outlet.” In Malecite, Passagassawakeag means “place of spearing sturgeon by torch light.”

Speaking of languages…. Alna comes from the Latin word for “alders.” Latin figures into many Maine names one way or the other.

Belgrade Lakes, this reviewer’s hometown, got its name in a weird manner — in my humble opinion. Settlers named Belgrade after a city in Serbia. How did that happen? McCauley doesn’t say, but it’s a question that this writer will chase down soon.

This paperback costs $12.95. (Ken Allen)

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INNOCENT BYSTANDER

–Comedy Comes Easy at Times

A few years ago, I suggested that DIF&W fisheries biologists should study remote Round Pond in the Kennebec Highlands, so one hot summer day, Bill Woodward and Scott Davis dragged a canoe and lots of equipment into this pond to trap-net for species analysis, electro-fish tributaries for species and baitfish info, gauge water-oxygen levels and chemistry and gather other data.

Word got out that with my prodding, DIF&W was studying the pond and drainage, so a guy from a Maine fishing organization contacted me. His sole advice turned me into a comedian in my hometown of Belgrade Lakes village.

With little to no background on Round Pond, the guy suggested that Round Pond not be stocked because of the wild brook trout in the drainage. Instead, DIF&W should make stricter regulations for this water.

I have said many times in this publication that if all Maine salmonid waters were artificial lures only and catch and release, it would make me happy, but regs wouldn’t work there, creating the comedy:

I doubt anyone visits Round Pond more than I do and not once have I ever seen anyone fishing this water. That’s not saying no one does because surely someone must once in a while, but I have never seen an angler there nor noticed tracks or signs such as cigarette packs, bottles, worm cups and fly-leader packages.

In short, DIF&W could make it artificial lures only, catch and release and only allow people with last names beginning with “A” to fish there. It would not improve the angling because fishing pressure proves ever so light.

When I bounced this idea of stricter regulations off people who know about Round Pond and its lack of angling traffic, they’d all chuckle in genuine mirth or laugh like hyenas, depending on their style.

Furthermore, one morning, Woodward and I electro-fished the southern end of the brook that runs from McIntire to Kidder ponds and then to Round Pond. In the stretch from Round upstream, we found suckers and dace but not one single brook trout. …Not one! A stream thermometer showed us that it was just too warm for salmonids.

And yet another furthermore….

I doubt brook trout in this drainage are wild, and two reasons contribute:

1) Long Pond at the end of a Beaver Brook downstream from Round and Beaver ponds has been stocked for two centuries.

2) Just as importantly, an ancient fish hatchery that produced trout for decades lies but seven miles from Round Pond — as the crow flies. No one can tell me that folks didn’t lug brook trout into Round Pond in the late 19th century and early 20th century because this gorgeous spot does look like a classic Maine brookie water. However, it has marginal quality for salmonids.

Back before scientific instruments became the norm at the old DIF&G, you just know people thought Round would make a perfect brookie pond and stocked it. (Ken Allen)

Next Month: Deer Of Course…But Ducks, Too

Make no mistake, in many families, life stops in November because everything revolves around deer, meaning early to bed and early to rise and every available moment spent in the woods.

Even though it may not seem like it at times, other sports flourish in November, and waterfowl hunting ranks as one of them. Serious duck hunters live for the second half of the split season, and three reasons contribute:

1) The marshes have far fewer hunters now, and solitude can be a sure bet.

2) Ducks are moving more in the colder weather, offering shooting galore.

3) The sky-busting neophytes seldom hunt now and leave marshes to veteran waterfowlers.

Duck hunting attracts fewer people, though, than another sport that is growing big time in fall — fly-fishing. Blue-winged-olive hatches consistently hatch in November at 2 p.m. Fly rodders who know that are beginning to live for this month.

Squirrel hunting just isn’t increasing its popularity in Maine, but in years when deer season ends early, folks do go out for a crack at old bushy tail. Oak stands near cornfields attract hunters in the know, but any hardwood ridge with heavy mast draws squirrels.

Raccoon hunting really takes off in the cold nights of November, but like squirrels, folks can count the number of raccoon hunters they know on a couple fingers.

Last year, this writer noticed on highways with breakdown lanes that bicycling was booming in the 11th month as these folks learn how to dress for cold-weather cycling — wearing a balaclava, long, skintight pants, fleece vests and booties over bike shoes.

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ANSWER TO, “DO YOU KNOW?”

–You Won’t Believe the Answer!

Black racers (Coluber constrictor) measure from 36 to an incredible 73 inches long, the latter over six feet, a lotta’ snake for Maine. No other Pine Tree State snake species even comes close to six feet — or even four feet for that matter.

Most people might guess that the second largest snake in Maine would be a northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon), but that answer would miss the mark because the top length for this species hits the 42-inch mark, two inches shorter than the largest Maine garter snake on record.

However, garter snakes normally measure from 18 to 26 inches, so overall, northern water snakes average a much longer length — 24 to 42 inches.

Who would have thought that garter snakes would be the state’s second largest snake?