Robert R Packard Legislature Chairman, YCF&G

An annual meeting of Maine sporting groups to discuss current issues that affect our state outdoor sports and associated activities

The annual meeting was very well attend with representation from most all sporting groups including Maine Trappers Assoc, Maine Bow hunters, Maine Snowmobile and ATV Associations, DIF&W with many of their biologists, Small Woodland Owners Association, some of the large land owners such as Plum Creek and Irving Land Mgt and the North Woods Group, the Natural Resources Network was represented, there were Legislators from the DIF&W Committee, as well as many representatives from various fish & game clubs across the state.

The whole morning was spent discussing the status of Maine’s deer herd. The theme was that the deer herd in northern Maine, as we’ve all know it in the past, is now gone. It was stated, that we most likely won’t see it back again as we’ve known it in our lifetime. The deer herd number in central Maine has been greatly diminished and in southern Maine the herd has also been impacted but not as much as the other areas.

This didn’t happen overnight, and the causes are multiple and sometimes complex. Without going into all the detail there are a few glaring reasons that stand out in neon lights. Some we can impact and do something about, and some, we have no control over.

To start with, we’ve had our own perfect storm of sorts with the winter weather here in Maine over the last couple of years. The last two winters, especially in the northern part of the state, have been the most severe back to back winters in over 60 years. This has had a major impact on the herd.

We’ve had large and small land owners over the last decade or so cutting deer yard after deer yard. Not only have the deer yards been cut but the food supply the deer rely on in the winter has been cut and replacement growth has not always been compatible with the deer diet in many areas. With less and less food available, the deer have had to compete with the increasing moose population which eat the same food, only more of it, and can reach higher thus wiping out many areas where deer once grazed.

So now we have severe winters with deep snows with fewer places for the deer to herd up in and less food. The picture is becoming clearer. With less food the resultant poor nutrition affects the deer reproductive system and they produce fewer fawns.

Sometimes when you think things are bad and can’t get any worse, why we are not surprised when it does. Predation has taken on a new meaning in Maine. As most all of us know, the coyote in Maine are not the same coy dogs from away. Biologists now know that as the Maine coyote migrated across Canada on its way to Maine they interbred with the Grey Wolf of Ontario and Québec Providences’. This resulted in a coyote with a larger skull, thus a larger brain that’s smarter to hunt with and a larger and stronger jaw muscle structure, the better to take larger prey with. The coyote was once thought to only thin the herd by taking the weak and sick out of the herd. Biologists now know that our Maine coyotes are predators of opportunity and kill to kill.

With the realization of the impact of the Maine coyote on the deer herd once processed in our minds, things then got worse again. In the past, the biologists as part of their surveys of the Maine bear, used samplings of bear scat to determine what the bear diet was and what, if any, impact they were having. Seldom did they find much of any fur in the scat to make one thing that fawns were on their regular menu. Then, it was discovered that bear have a tendency to skin their prey before they eat it. This opened some eyes and with closer study the biologists found that in the spring when the bear come out of hibernation they don’t just eat grubs and insects from old stumps and logs. In spring, the deer fawn is high on the menu for the bear. The bear, together with the coyote predation, have a huge impact on the deer herd growth.

Maine once advertised that nonresident deer hunters had better than a 55% chance of getting a deer. George Smith from SAM tells the story that this past November a total of 5,500 deer hunting parties entered the North Maine Woods. With the old boast of a 55% success rate, they should have brought out around 2,500 deer. They actually only brought out a total of 100 deer.