SAM’S DEER-RELATED LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS
A report to the 123rd Maine Legislature
March 2007
Prepared for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine
By Gerald R. Lavigne
The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) has proposed a number of bills for consideration by Maine’s 123rd Legislature. In doing so, we hope to improve upon an already impressive management program for white-tailed deer that has been implemented by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife over the past quarter century. The Maine Legislature deserves a great deal of credit, since this body has acted to empower the Department with a wide array of regulatory tools that were essential for successful deer management.
As with any program, however, conditions change and there is always room for refinement and improvement. SAM’s proposed bills cover a wide array of topics pertinent to deer hunting in Maine. They include access, hunter recruitment, deer season timing, antlerless deer harvest, and predator control. We also would like to address the topic of wintering habitat protection for deer.
Maintaining adequate access for outdoor recreation is a challenging task, but also a vital one. SAM initially proposed 3 pieces of legislation addressing our concerns regarding access for traditional uses on public lands. During February, we were pleased to withdraw these bills, since our concerns will now be addressed by the newly created Governor’s Task Force Regarding Management of Public Lands and Publicly Held Easements. We greatly appreciate Gov. Baldacci’s leadership in taking on this important initiative.
To address access issues on privately owned lands, SAM proposes LD 347, which would expand IF&W’s landowner relations program. We also offer LD 634. This bill would increase the allocation of any-deer permits to qualifying landowners who allow deer hunting on their land.
Maine and the nation have been losing deer hunters for the past 25 years. Projections for the next quarter century suggest an even greater decline. The cause of this decline in deer hunters is simple: too few new hunters are being recruited to replace older hunters that drop out of the sport. A declining hunter force negatively impacts IF&W’s operating budget, and their capability to control deer. Fewer hunters also diminish Maine’s economic output. It is in the state’s best interest to reverse current decreasing trends in hunter participation.
SAM offers four bills directed at attracting new hunters. LD 92 would enable youngsters to continue enjoying deer or turkey hunting after successfully taking a deer or turkey during youth only hunting days. This bill will help to build on the camaraderie and mentoring that cements the hunting bond. LD 822 would alleviate the financial burden of licensing children to hunt and fish, by allowing free licenses for children under 16. LD 486 defers the requirement of taking the hunter safety course for those who want to experience hunting on a trial basis under the supervision of an adult mentor. Finally, LD 1305 seeks to make hunter safety courses more user-friendly and accessible.
Late-fall weather has become warmer and wetter during the past decade. Because warm, rainy conditions depress deer activity, hunter participation, and deer harvest, we propose starting the firearms season a week later in the southern half of the state. LD 655 would enable the Department to open the firearms season on deer during the first Saturday in November in the southern half of the state, while retaining the current dates in the north. This would increase the odds of hunting in cooler weather, and on tracking snow for southern Maine deer hunters.
The Department’s any-deer permit system has been an effective tool to regulate doe harvests. However, recent experience suggests that this system loses some of its effectiveness at higher deer densities. This limitation risks loss of effective population control under certain conditions. The flaw in the any-deer permit system lies in the one deer limit and hunters’ unwillingness to harvest does when the chances of encountering a buck are good. LD 429 would create an antlerless-only permit system in which permittees could take a doe or a fawn as a second deer, while also taking a buck on his/her regular hunting license. We believe this change would lead to more reliable doe harvests, and greater hunter satisfaction. The $10 fee associated with the antlerless permit would provide much-needed funding for landowner relations programs.
Over the past 35 years, we have lost 75% of the wintering habitat deer rely upon for survival in the northern half of Maine. This loss of wintering habitat and ongoing predation have led to a precipitous decline in deer populations in a part of Maine that was once famous for its deer and deer-related outdoor activities. Successful restoration of healthy deer populations in the northern half of Maine hinges on how well we protect remaining wintering habitat, as well as how successful we become at protecting coniferous forests that re-grow following timber harvesting during the next few decades. Although no legislation is currently being offered by SAM to address deer wintering habitat protection, we do want to inform legislators that SAM has joined the Department and several major landowners in discussions about the deer yard problem. We are hopeful that this dialogue will lead to some creative solutions that will benefit both wintering deer, and the landowners who provide this important habitat.
Predation by coyotes and black bears also plays a role in keeping deer populations below their biotic potential in eastern and northern Maine. Losses to predation during winter and early summer are more influential than deer losses to hunting or malnutrition during most years. For the past 25 years, the Department has been trying to increase deer populations in the northern half of Maine, primarily by severely curtailing doe harvests. While this strategy remains a viable and necessary approach, it is apparent that conservative doe harvests alone are not sufficient to reduce overall doe losses. We believe it is time for the Department to place more emphasis on reducing deer losses to coyote predation, as was mandated by the legislature in the early 1980s. LD 482 would direct the Department to devise and implement a biologically sound management system for coyote control in accordance with its legislative mandate, and to accomplish the coyote population objectives the Department promulgated in its Coyote Strategic Plan in 2000. In doing so, the Department would accord coyote management the same scientific attention it applies to management of our big game, other furbearers, and endangered species.
Finally, LD 482 extends the coyote night hunting season to year-round, as it already is for daylight hunting. This change would improve the ability to take coyotes at times of the year when deer can benefit most.
This report is an expanded version of the testimony SAM will provide to the Legislative Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife concerning deer-related legislation during 2007.
Good morning. My name is Gerry Lavigne. I am a wildlife biologist, recently retired after 30 years with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (hereafter referred to as the Department or IF&W). During most of those years, I served as the Department’s deer management and research biologist.
Today, I am speaking on behalf of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, an organization that, I’m sure you are all familiar with. During 2005 and 2006, I chaired a deer task force for SAM. Comprised of a broad cross section of deer hunters, IF&W representatives, SAM board members, legislators, outdoor writers and leaders of sportsman’s organizations, the deer task force examined the current status of deer hunting and management in Maine. We identified problems, and prioritized various strategies for improving deer hunting and management in this great deer hunting state. Task force recommendations were then presented to SAM’s board of directors. The board further refined these strategies and incorporated nearly all of the task force recommendations into SAM’s strategic work plan for this year. Many of these strategies appear before this committee today as proposed legislation.
Building On A Solid Foundation
Over the past few decades, the Department has made great strides in managing the deer resource, to the great benefit of hunters and non-hunters alike. They were able to accomplish this because the legislature empowered IF&W with an array of regulatory tools that made effective deer management possible. Among these tools is the ability to manage deer at various scales ranging from 1,000 sq mi wildlife management districts (WMDs), to 50 acre woodlots. Also included is the ability to regulate doe harvests with Any-Deer permits and bonus permits. In addition, the Department now has the authority to create special deer hunting seasons and controlled hunts, with the ability to take multiple deer in places where recreational hunting has been ineffective.
Deer hunting opportunities have greatly expanded since the 1970’s. Hunters today can pursue deer for nearly 80 days in the fall. The expanded archery season begins in early September and ends in early December in limited areas. Statewide archery spans 25 days in October. Youths enjoy their own deer hunting day in October. Firearms season begins in late October or early November, and lasts 25 hunting days. This season also accommodates those who choose to hunt with crossbows, archery equipment, or primitive firearms. Finally, black powder enthusiasts enjoy their own season for 1 or 2 weeks following the firearms season on deer.
With all of this recreational hunting opportunity for Maine deer hunters, it is important to note that the Department provides this opportunity only where and when it is biologically justified. By participating in deer hunting, Maine’s deer hunters are both recreationists, and contributors to scientific deer management. The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine supports IF&W’s efforts to manage wildlife resources using scientifically regulated hunting. Healthy, well-managed deer populations are a winning strategy for hunters, non-hunters, and Maine’s economy. It is incumbent upon the Department to develop and use the most scientifically effective strategies available for managing the deer resource in this varied environment.
SAM’s deer-related legislation seeks to refine and improve upon Maine’s already successful deer management program. As with every program, there is always room for improvement, particularly when changing conditions pose new challenges.
When asked to prioritize the most serious challenges to deer hunting in Maine, the task force overwhelmingly rated loss of access at the top of the list. On a variety of levels, access to private and public land for hunting, trapping, and motorized outdoor recreation has been eroding at what appears to be an accelerating rate. Land posting against hunting or trespass has been an ongoing problem in the more settled parts of the state for quite some time. More recently, access restrictions on hunting and/or motorized outdoor recreation are occurring on large tracts of publicly and privately owned land in the north woods and downeast Maine.
Loss of access for outdoor recreation inevitably leads to dissatisfaction and conflict between outdoors enthusiasts and landowners. Crowding more hunters, or snowmobilers and ATV recreationists onto an ever-shrinking land base can result in more access restrictions over time. From a deer management perspective, loss of hunting access limits DIFW’s ability to control deer populations in the southern half of the state. In a broader sense, unnecessarily limiting access for outdoor recreation dampens the economic potential in Maine’s rural communities.
The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine understands the threats that access limitations pose and we are committed to finding positive solutions that benefit landowners and outdoor enthusiasts of all types. Addressing access problems remains a priority for SAM, and this commitment is reflected in the five proposed bills we intended to introduce to this committee this session.
SAM initially proposed three bills directed at emerging access problems on public lands. The first public lands bill, initially sponsored by Sen. Edmonds, was a resolve to create a commission to study the use of public lands. We believe that hunters, snowmobilers and ATV enthusiasts’ are beginning to be excluded from consideration for access to a variety of public lands. This bill would organize a commission to study management plans and legal documents governing public lands to determine the opportunities available for motorized access (including snowmobiling and ATV riding), and traditional uses (including hunting, fishing and trapping). This commission would specifically review all management plans for public lots, eco-reserves, and land encumbered by state-owned easements. We are greatly appreciative that Sen. Edmonds offered to sponsor this legislation.
However, we were delighted to learn in February that Gov. Baldacci decided to create this commission by executive order. With the able assistance of Karen Tilberg, the governor created “The Task Force Regarding Management of Public Lands and Publicly Held Easements in Maine”. We at SAM applaud the governor’s leadership in tackling this contentious issue, and we look forward to participating in this process.
The other two bills targeting access to public lands have also been withdrawn, with the understanding that the problems they were drafted to address would be considered by the governor’s task force. One bill would have established the principle of “no net loss” of public land open to hunting. It would prohibit the closing of public lands to hunting, unless an equal amount of public land was newly opened to hunting. The other bill would have required legislative approval for state acceptance of new donated land. We appreciate the willingness of Reps. Jackson, Tardy and Flood to sponsor this legislation.
Two other SAM bills remain in the access category. These bills seek to improve access to privately owned land. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife clearly recognizes the importance of good landowner relations to ensure access and effective wildlife management. And to their credit, IF&W has established a landowner relations program. While much good has come from this program, it remains woefully under-funded relative to the scope of its mission. SAM’s bill, LD 347, sponsored by Rep. Jeremy Fischer, seeks to expand and improve IFW’s landowner relations program. LD 347 creates a full-time landowner relations position within the Information and Education Division of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. This position and the expanded landowner relations program would be funded by a proposed fee for antlerless deer hunting permits, which is described later.
A final SAM bill relating to improving deer hunting access involves the issuance of any-deer permits to qualifying landowners. For many years now, the Department has reserved up to 20% of available any-deer permits for qualifying landowners who allow hunting access to their land. This is a popular program for landowners, and it has undoubtedly improved hunting access. However, the 20% cap on available permits does not accommodate enough qualifying landowners in some parts of the state to be most effective at keeping lands open to deer hunting. LD 634, sponsored by Rep. Cebra would increase the allocation of any-deer permits from 20% to 30% for qualifying landowners in the any-deer permit lottery. We also seek to place a limit on the number of family members who can apply for permits under one parcel of land. Currently every family member can get a permit for a single parcel of land. We’re not sure what the appropriate number is. But this bill seeks to spread the available permits among more qualifying landowners, leading, we believe, to greater overall landowner satisfaction with the program.
In wildlife management, there is nothing more constant than change. Just when you think you’ve got all the bases covered, something changes in a way that affects the deer population, or our ability to manage the population. There are many factors that are subject to change. Some may be gradual and barely perceptible over time, others can be abrupt and highly influential almost overnight. The list of factors that influence the fate of deer populations is extensive. To name a few, there are changes in access, hunter participation, variations in the impact of winter weather and predation losses, changes in the level of illegal kill, and in habitat quality.
Our ability to predict change is limited. However, our management tools should be sophisticated enough to recognize important changes when they occur. In addition, our management strategies should be agile and sufficiently flexible to respond to changes in the deer’s biological environment in a timely and effective manner.
Over the past 2 1/2 decades, the Department has assembled a management system in which the monitoring of deer populations, and the variety of tools (including the several types of deer seasons) available to manipulate deer populations are “state of the art” in the wildlife profession. And for their diligence, the IF&W and the Maine Legislature are to be commended. But change has a way of creeping up on us over time. While the Department’s deer management system has functioned well over the years, it has become apparent to me that some elements of it could be improved or augmented to enhance their ability to achieve the public’s expectations for deer management. Here is a review of these changes follows, along with SAM’s recommendations.
The number of deer hunters taking to the Maine woods in search of deer each fall has never been stable, but always gradually changing. A brief review of hunter trends since the mid 1940s illustrates this point. At the end of WW II, Maine deer hunters numbered roughly 100,000. The next 40 years saw steady increases in deer hunters, as WW II veterans and later, their offspring, the baby boom generation, began hunting deer. By 1982, Maine’s deer hunters peaked at more than 215,000 individuals. Since that time, Maine has been gradually losing deer hunters at a steady rate. By the year 2000, Maine’s deer hunters had dropped to 170,000, and this trend continues today.
The cause of this decline is simple: too few young hunters are entering the sport to offset those older hunters who are leaving it. In today’s fast-paced world, there are many other activities to attract the attention of young people than was the case in earlier generations.
Maine’s hunter population is currently weighted toward older individuals, particularly among baby boomers. The loss of some 40,000 deer hunters over the past 25 years was bad enough. But this decline will pale in comparison to the potential decrease in deer hunters during the next few decades, when baby boomers exit the deer hunting scene. Aging baby boomers will soon be leaving the ranks of deer hunters in numbers that far exceed their predecessors. Unless hunter recruitment can be increased, Maine’s deer hunters may drop below 100,000 individuals by 2030.
A loss of deer hunting participation of this magnitude would adversely affect IF&W, whose operations are largely funded by hunter and angler fees. Also, significant reductions in deer hunters may impede the Department’s ability to manage deer populations. In 1996, deer hunting contributed $200 million to Maine’s economy. A 50% reduction in deer hunting as projected, could seriously impact Maine’s rural local economies. Finally, there is strength in numbers, and a significant reduction in Maine hunters may diminish their political clout to some degree.
At SAM, we believe it is imperative to reverse the current decline in deer hunters, and in this belief, we join many like-minded individuals and organizations here in Maine and nationally. In recent years, we have worked together to devise strategies to attract new hunters to the Maine woods. Today, SAM proposes four bills that we believe will augment current efforts to attract and retain new hunters.
First, we are convinced that early success and the camaraderie of hunting with family and friends are powerful motivations for young people to become life-long hunters. Our youth-only hunting seasons fulfill part of these motivations, in that they encourage early success. But we don’t believe they go far enough to foster the mentoring and camaraderie that are so important in cementing the hunting bond between youngsters and their adult hunting partners. The problem is that young hunters who tag a deer or a turkey during the youth hunt are precluded from hunting for the remainder of the hunting season, in most cases. For young deer hunters, this means sitting out the prime hunting time as the firearms and black powder seasons unfold over the ensuing 6 weeks.
LD 92, sponsored by Rep. Carter, creates a separate limit on deer and turkey during their respective youth-only hunting seasons. This bill would allow successful youth season participants to continue to hunt during any other open deer season.
On a related topic, the purchase of hunting and fishing licenses can be a costly burden for families with multiple children who may want to try hunting or fishing. In some cases, this burden may preclude some youngsters from participating in these activities. To alleviate this possibility, SAM proposes LD 822, sponsored by Rep. Pratt. This bill would allow residents under the age of 16 to hunt without buying a license.
Recruitment into the hunting fraternity need not be restricted to youngsters. Quite often, adult men and women become interested in hunting through acquaintances or family. Although interested, these individuals may not be sure that hunting is right for them. In these instances, hunting with a mentor on a trial basis may be all that is needed to bring that hunting instinct to the forefront. LD 486, sponsored by Rep. Wes Richardson, authorizes new hunters to hunt for one year under the direct supervision of an experienced hunter, without having to take the hunter safety course. These individuals would be required to purchase an apprentice hunting license. This is an initiative of the national Families Afield Program.
Finally, we believe that a more user-friendly hunter safety course could attract more people to the sport. LD 1305, sponsored by Sen. Bryant, directs the IF&W to design and implement a new hunter safety course that includes options for a study-at-home course, followed by a day at the range when written and shooting tests will be accomplished. The revised course should include options so that all requirements could be met for firearms, archery, and crossbow hunting in a single course, at the student’s choice.
Firearms Season Dates
The regular firearms season attracts nearly all of Maine’s deer hunters, and this 25-day season accounts for 80% of the annual deer harvest. Variations in hunting conditions and hunter effort during this season exert a profound impact on the size of the deer harvest. The firearms season is tied to the timing of the Thanksgiving holiday. It always begins on the fourth Saturday before Thanksgiving. Since Thanksgiving can vary from November 22 to November 28 in any given year, the opening of Maine’s firearms season fluctuates between October 27 and November 2 over a regular cycle. This variation in the timing of the firearms season influences deer harvest in at least 2 ways.
First, deer hunters seem to key in on the rutting season as one of the best times to hunt. The peak of the rut in deer consistently occurs during the third week in November. With a late October opening, the firearms season will end just as the rut reaches its peak. Conversely, a later (early November) opening causes the firearms season to include more of the prime hunting time during the rut. Because both bucks and does are more active during the peak of the breeding season, hunters tend to be more successful at sighting and harvesting deer at the height of the rut. Hence, the timing of the firearms season relative to the timing of the breeding season can influence both the number and the sex and age composition of Maine’s deer harvest.
Weather patterns during the firearms season exert considerable influence on deer activity, hunter participation, and harvest. In their highly insulative winter coats, deer become uncomfortably warm when temperatures exceed 40°F. During such times, deer may seek cooler locations during the day, and move about very little. In contrast, temperatures in the 20’s or lower may induce deer to move about more frequently during daylight, as they adjust to changing forage availability. Frosty weather causes some of the more lush vegetation to disappear, necessitating a change in diet. Deer that move about more become more likely to be seen and shot by hunters.
Prolonged warm spells tend to discourage hunter activity as well. Maine’s deer hunters key in on cold, frosty days as the best times to be out.
Precipitation can also profoundly affect hunter effort, success and deer harvest. Rainy weather makes for quiet walking, but heavy rain is just plain uncomfortable to hunt in for long periods of time. Hence, during seasons characterized by prolonged periods of warm rainy weather, hunter effort, success and deer harvest all diminish. Few hunters look back upon a warm rainy firearms season with fond memories.
In contrast, precipitation that falls as snow generates great hunter enthusiasm, since deer can now be tracked. When tracking snow is available, hunter success and harvest are consistently higher than during snow-less deer seasons.
Over the past decade or so, autumn weather in Maine appears to be moderating. We seem to be getting more warm, rainy weather during late October and November than was the case during earlier decades. SAM’s deer task force considered this fact, and concluded that changing the firearms season to a later opening date may improve hunter satisfaction and lead to more consistency in the deer harvest. Since late October weather tends to be more moderate than late November and early December weather, we believe a November opening of the firearms season would increase the odds of hunting in cool weather and increase the chances of having tracking snow. This season framework also more consistently brackets the peak of the breeding season for white-tails. A later opening for the firearms season would also provide an additional week of opportunity for bowhunters, small game hunters and trappers.
On the negative side, a later opening in the northern part of the state may negatively impact hunters there, if deep accumulating snow in early December limits hunting access to the north woods. In addition, sporting camp owners typically have difficulty attracting non-resident hunters after Thanksgiving. To address these concerns, we propose creating a two-zone system in which the firearms season dates would remain unchanged in the north.
To accomplish the above changes in the timing of the firearms season on deer, Rep. Hanley has sponsored the following bill on SAM’s behalf. LD 655 would require the Department to open the firearms season on deer on the first Saturday in November in central, eastern and southern Maine WMDs. At its earliest, the firearms season would open on November 1 and end on November 29. Its latest opening would be November 7, with a December 5 ending.
Northern Maine districts would continue to open and close as they now do. IF&W currently has the authority to promulgate this firearms season structure by rulemaking. However, the statute that establishes the end date for all deer seasons would have to be amended from the current December 15 to December 20 to accommodate the special muzzleloader season during some years in the southern part of the state.
Successful deer management is all about controlling the number of does that die relative to the number of fawns available to replace these losses in any given year. The deer herd decreases when doe losses exceed fawn production and it increases when fawn production exceeds doe losses. In Maine, deer succumb to a wide array of natural and man-induced causes. These include disease, predation, accidents, illegal kill, and hunting. Among these mortality causes, recreational hunting is the one that can most readily be controlled and manipulated. Accordingly, the Department annually regulates doe harvest in an effort to manipulate deer populations in each of Maine’s 29 wildlife management districts. In doing so, IF&W is guided by a strategic plan that specifies deer population objectives to be achieved during a given time interval in each district.
The use of hunting to control deer populations is most successful where hunting plays a major role in overall annual doe mortality, and where the right number of does taken by hunters is consistently achieved. Wildly fluctuating doe harvests relative to the number of does that need to be taken may limit the IF&W’s success in controlling deer population growth.
Since 1986, the Department has used the any-deer permit system to manipulate doe harvests annually within each WMD. Any-deer permits are issued for use during the firearms and muzzleloader seasons. Hunters may apply for the permit at no cost, and if drawn, that hunter may take a doe or fawn or an antlered buck during the firearms season. The limit on deer, except for the expanded archery season is one per hunter per year, inclusive of the statewide archery season, youth day, firearms season, and muzzleloader season. Therefore, an archer or youth hunter who connects on a deer during the October seasons is precluded from taking another deer even if he or she drew an any-deer permit. During the firearms and muzzleloader seasons, a hunter who does not possess an any-deer permit must hunt for antlered bucks only. Finally, a hunter who possesses an any-deer permit and takes a doe or fawn in firearms or muzzleloader season cannot continue to hunt for a buck, except for Super Pack license holders who may qualify for both a buck and a doe (with 1250 doe-only permits issued under this new license).
IF&W wildlife biologists annually evaluate the deer herd in relation to pre-set population goals. Their management system includes research and monitoring, including considerable hands-on data collection from harvested deer, to evaluate key deer population attributes. In early spring, biologists recommend a quota for the number of does that hunters need to harvest in order to achieve population objectives. They use past experience to estimate how many any-deer permits need to be issued in each district in order to achieve doe harvest quotas. They also must factor in the number of does likely to be taken during the expanded archery, statewide archery, and youth deer seasons.
Since the Department initiated the any-deer permit system in 1986, there seems to be a developing trend toward under-achievement of doe harvest quotas. Between 1986 and 1997, doe harvest quotas were kept low and generally conservative in an effort to increase deer in all huntable parts of the state. However, after 1998, doe quotas in central and southern Maine were liberalized to stabilize and in some districts to decrease deer populations.
When doe quotas were conservative, the Department’s success at achieving its pre-set doe quotas was rather good; achieved harvests were consistently within 5% of desired doe harvest. However, as doe quotas and the number of any-deer permits issued increased after 1997, achieved doe harvests have averaged 10 to 15% below desired levels during 6 of 8 years. During the early years, 4 or 5 any-deer permits were required to achieve one doe in the harvest. During more recent times, the Department has needed to issue 8 to 10 any-deer permits to achieve the same one doe in the tagging books.
Clearly, the any-deer permit system is more precise and efficient in achieving desired doe harvests in lower density herds, than in higher density herds. This is highly undesirable from a deer management perspective, because it risks loss of control of deer population growth. Central and southern Maine deer populations are particularly vulnerable to unwanted herd growth, and these locations would benefit from a more reliable doe harvest system. As currently configured, the any-deer permit system is like running a truck on only 5 of 6 cylinders. When traveling downhill or at low speeds, you can probably get to your destination eventually. But when you need the power to accelerate up a hill, you haven’t got it and you may never reach the top.
The reason why the any-deer permit system loses some of its effectiveness at higher deer populations has more to do with our one deer limit and inherent hunter behavior than anything else. When deer populations are low and any-deer permits are scarce, hunters tend to maximize success by taking the first deer they see. Often that is a doe or fawn. Hence, any-deer permittees more readily “cash in” on their permit as soon as they can encounter a deer.
However, most hunters inherently prefer to harvest an antlered buck. This is a phenomenon that is universal wherever deer are hunted. As deer populations increase, hunters have a better chance of encountering a buck. This fact becomes a powerful incentive to pass up early encounters with does and fawns, in favor of hooking up with a buck at a later time. Hence, when does are abundant, hunters who drew an any-deer permit tend to pocket that permit until late in the season. Too often, this strategy backfires on the hunter, if he fails to see any deer during the waning days of the firearms or muzzleloader seasons.
Other factors also likely contribute to the diminishing ability of any-deer permits to achieve desired doe harvests when deer populations and permit issuance are high. Low availability of permits probably attracts more hunters who are serious about tagging a deer. As permits increase, they attract more casual hunters who may not be as persistent about pounding the brush. Our aging hunter force also may be a factor in how much effort is applied to pursuing the elusive white-tailed deer. In addition, the current ability to apply in more than one district may attract hunters to high permit areas who lack the time to travel there to hunt or who lack the access to hunt there. Finally, I believe “flooding the market” with any-deer permits, in a sense, devalues this free permit by attracting applicants who aren’t serious about killing does. The permit is simply something “to have”.
SAM’s deer task force concluded that the current any-deer permit system should be improved now to prevent unwanted herd growth in the future. Our collective credibility as hunters/wildlife managers will be diminished in the eyes of non-hunters, if we fail to control deer populations in southern and central Maine. We do not want to risk the loss of access and hunting privileges in southern Maine, if non-hunting landowners reject regulated hunting as their best option to control deer abundance. A hunting system like our current any-deer permit system that allows hunters to choose buck hunting over doe harvesting puts us at risk of failure.
LD 421, sponsored by Rep. Hanley, changes the current any-deer permit system to an antlerless deer only system. The difference is subtle, but important. This system addresses hunters’ desire to pursue bucks, while better assuring that biologists’ doe quotas are met.
Under this system, all deer hunters would be allowed to take one antlered deer on their regular license. Those hunters who successfully apply for an antlerless deer permit could also take a doe or a fawn as a second deer anytime during the regular archery, firearms, or muzzleloader seasons. As before, antlerless deer permits would be WMD-specific, and their issuance would be directly tied to achieving biologists’ quotas for doe harvest.
The change to the antlerless permit system would end the current practice of passing up does in favor of a later encounter with a buck. This would increase hunting success among antlerless deer permittees, and it would lead to more consistency in achieving desired harvest of does. On the negative side, fewer permits would generally be available for any given doe quota, as a consequence of higher success rates among permittees.
In low deer density areas like northern Maine, the new permit system would be equally effective in safeguarding against overharvest as the any-deer permit system.
Since hunters who draw an antlerless permit would be allowed a second deer, it is appropriate to charge a fee for that privilege, as is currently the case for bonus deer permits, and expanded archery permits. Under LD 421, successful applicants would pay a $10 fee, with the funds going to a dedicated account at IF&W for landowner relations programs both inside and outside the Department. This fee may also deter permit applicants who have no intention of taking a doe.
It should be noted that, except for the fee, IF&W already possesses the authority to change from the existing Any-deer permit system to the new antlerless deer only system.
IF&W’s deer management program has been far less successful in the north than in the southern half of Maine. Deer populations in eastern and northern Maine have been in decline for at least 3 decades. Once supporting a thriving hunting-based economy, the northern Maine deer resource now contributes little to these rural areas.
In the northern half of Maine, best delineated by our State’s industrial forest and its surrounding communities, deer populations are currently limited by a scarcity of quality wintering habitat and excessive predation.
Maine deer rely heavily on mature coniferous forests to survive the rigors of our long winters. In the early 1970’s, a more abundant northern Maine deer herd utilized more than a million acres of wintering habitat (roughly 10 % of the landbase). Today, much of that forestland has been diminished in quality for wintering deer as a result of natural forest changes, forest damage from the spruce budworm epidemic, and a thriving global demand for wood products. Currently, less than 3% of the landbase in northern and eastern Maine is suitable for wintering deer, and a portion of that is not in optimum condition for sustaining deer.
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has long recognized the importance of protecting and enhancing deer wintering habitat in northern Maine. But their efforts to protect deeryards are complicated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of deer wintering areas are in private ownership. This makes protecting a public resource like deer a difficult task, given the importance accorded to landowner rights in our society. To date, the Department’s efforts to protect deer wintering areas using land-use zoning under LURC, and/or negotiating cooperative agreements with timberland owners, and/or educating town planning boards have been met with limited success. On the whole, we have lost more acreage than we have protected in the past few decades.
Long-term success in restoring northern Maine’s deer population from its current low of 1 to 3 deer per square mile to a more ideal population of 10 to 15 deer per square mile will only be achieved if the Department can protect 3 to 4 times the acreage of wintering habitat now available. The addition 750,000 acres would be protected.
In the past year, SAM has begun working with the Department and several major timberland owners to discuss ways to accomplish deer wintering habitat protection. Accommodating the needs of deer in Maine’s working forests in an equitable way is our goal. Solving this problem will not be easy, and no one solution will fit all situations. Nevertheless, the people of northern Maine and those who enjoy this beautiful part of the state have endured the loss of deer for too long already. SAM is committed to helping reverse this problem.
There are no SAM bills coming before this committee dealing with deer wintering area protection during this session. However, that may change in future sessions, as we continue to work with the Department and landowners on this problem.
Northern and eastern Maine deer populations are not only limited by inadequate wintering habitat, but they are also limited by excessive losses to predation. To a degree, the two are related. In poor wintering habitat, deer become more vulnerable to predators like the eastern coyote. While some of this increased vulnerability is due to malnutrition in low quality deeryards, coyotes are capable of taking healthy deer in these situations as well. Studies in Maine and elsewhere have demonstrated that coyotes can prey non-selectively on deer in the deep snow environments that are normal for northern and eastern Maine.
Department studies of deer mortality during the late 1970’s and 1980’s clearly demonstrated that the major source of deer losses in our northern and eastern deer wintering areas was predation by coyotes. Although coyotes readily select very young, weak or sick deer, they are not solely restricted to individuals that would not likely survive the winter in the absence of predation. Rather, deep snow enables coyotes to kill healthy, mature does and bucks, a segment of the herd that rarely appears among malnutrition losses. Because coyotes are able to prey on healthy deer, winter losses tend to be higher where coyotes are abundant, than where predation in wintering areas is absent.
That portion of coyote kills which consists of healthy deer constitutes an additive loss that diminishes allowable harvest to hunters.
Loss of quality wintering habitat is not the sole cause of long-term deer population decline in the northern half of the state. Even within existing wintering habitat, some deer populations exist at levels that are well below optimum wintering carrying capacity. In these locations, on-going annual predation on healthy deer is preventing local herds from increasing to more desirable wintering density. Some deeryards historically used by deer have been observed to become depopulated, despite the persistence of available winter cover.
Deer populations in eastern and northern Maine are also being limited by a less obvious source of predation mortality. This involves early mortality of fawns. Fawns are vulnerable to a wide array of mortality factors during the first few months of life. In addition to sickness, and accidents, newborn fawns are actively hunted and killed by coyotes, black bears, fisher, fox, and even domestic dogs.
Research in Maine and elsewhere in the northeast has demonstrated that coyotes and bears remove a substantial proportion of the fawn crop, particularly in heavily wooded environments like eastern and northern Maine. IF&W data suggests that fawn losses between June and October commonly exceeds 50% of the fawn population. Losses of this magnitude, attributable primarily to predation, are neither trivial nor without consequence. Research has demonstrated that early fawn mortality exceeding 50% can prevent deer populations from increasing, even when losses among adult deer are held to a minimum.
The Department has been attempting to increase deer populations in eastern and northern Maine for the past 25 years. Their primary tool during all this time has been to severely limit the harvest of does. Many districts have been essentially bucks-only for all of this time. Yet, despite these limits on hunter harvest, eastern and northern Maine deer populations have failed to recover and some continue to decline.
This is not to imply that curtailment of doe harvests in the northern half of the state were inappropriate. To the contrary, these harvest reductions were essential for beginning to reduce overall doe losses, and they remain so. However, it is time for the Department to acknowledge that curtailment of doe harvesting alone is not sufficient as the sole means of balancing overall deer losses against limited recruitment of fawns. Unlike the situation in southern Maine, hunting mortality is not the principal category of doe mortality. Unless predation losses are also reduced, deer populations in eastern and northern Maine are likely to remain far below their biological and societal potential for the foreseeable future.
The Maine Legislature has long recognized the desirability of reducing deer losses to coyote predation. Accordingly, the legislature has mandated an IF&W coyote control program since the early 1980’s. I believe it would be fair to say that the Department has been lukewarm in its administration of the coyote control program during most years. This is apparent when one considers that every refinement or review of the program has been the result of pressure from outside the Department, rather than from among the ranks of the biologists and administrators who are responsible for its successful implementation.
During the past few years, the Department’s legislatively mandated coyote control program has been completely halted in response to legal threats related to the federal listing of the Canadian lynx on the Endangered Species List. This is perplexing since the lynx does not occupy all of the northern half of the state, and there are other options for coyote control than just the snaring techniques that were alleged to be a threat to lynx.
It would be highly desirable for the Legislature to remind the Department yet again of its responsibility to reduce deer losses to coyotes. Snaring is but one tool at the Department’s disposal, yet no one is seeking more creative and effective strategies to control coyotes.
SAM believes that coyote control should be given higher priority by the Department, alongside ongoing efforts to regulate hunter harvests, to minimize illegal kill of deer, and to protect deer wintering areas. The Department needs to fulfill its legislative mandate to control coyotes, and to develop and implement a coyote management system to place coyote control activities into a scientific, operational context. The Long ago the department created science-based management systems for big game, furbearers, and endangered species. But they have never done this for coyote management, even after setting coyote control objectives when strategic plans were updated 7 years ago.
No one, including SAM, is advocating eradication of coyotes anywhere in Maine. The eastern coyote is here to stay, and this unique predator has intrinsic ecological and economic value in its own right. However, we believe that coyote densities should be managed to enhance public benefits, rather than being allowed to reach their highest biological potential by default. In the northern half of Maine strategic reductions of coyote density may well result in higher deer populations. No one knows how much control effort would be needed to hold coyote numbers down to more desirable levels on small or large acreages in Maine. But we believe this approach to increasing deer populations should be honestly explored and scientifically evaluated by the Department.
To get the process going, Rep. Clark has sponsored LD 823 on SAM’s behalf. This bill directs the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to create a management system for coyotes, using the same scientific scrutiny as it accords management systems for other important wildlife species in Maine.
Another SAM bill (LD 824) seeks to expand hunting opportunity for coyotes at times of the year when additional coyote removals can benefit deer. Sponsored by Rep. Clark, this bill would extend the opportunity to hunt coyotes at night to the entire year. Currently, the coyote night hunting season spans January 1 to April 30.