Staff Writer
It was estimated that there were about 11,000 deer in the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) Wildlife Management Districts (WMD) one through six, which makes up a large portion of The County. That number falls below the population objectives set by the IFW, which means that permits were not sold for the 2009 deer hunting season. Eighteen WDMs in the state of Maine did not have strong enough deer populations for permits to be issued during the ’09 harvest.
Photo contributed by Michael Gudreau
The deer in Aroostook County and respectively, hunters, have fallen on hard times recently due to harsh winters and increased predation. This photo was taken in Nashville Plantation last winter, which was one of the most severely harsh winters the deer have been subjected to in years.
Ultimately, what’s good for the deer is good for the deer-hunting guide, but no permits during this past hunting season meant that Maine guides couldn’t offer guided deer hunts, which accounts for a good percentage of business. According to Matt Libby, owner of the Libby Camps in Ashland, revenue from the camp was down $40,000 due to the lack of deer hunting in November.
“That’s $40,000 that wasn’t spent on guides, foods, taxes (etc.) that wasn’t spent in the Ashland area,” he stated, describing how many suffered from the lack of the trickle down effect tourism engages.
A poor or nonexistent deer harvest is atypical for hunters at the Libby Camps, where guides have been providing plentiful and successful deer hunts since the businesses’ inception in the early 1900s.
Conditions, however, have changed dramatically in the past hundred years, which has caused a shift in the white tail population.
“In more recent times (1970 to present), deer in the industrial forestlands have continued to decline while deer in the northern farmlands have remained at low to moderate numbers (for Maine), which has fluctuated with severe winters,” explained Lee Kantar, deer and moose biologist for MDIFW. “The Spruce Budworm epidemic that ravaged mature softwood (spruce/fir) stands into the 1980s left a legacy that changed the landscape of northern Maine.”
According to Kantar, prior to the epidemic, the northwoods had large patches of mature softwoods that provided overwinter shelter for deer, corridor links, and little coyote activity. The Spruce Budworm epidemic also marked the beginning of mechanized forestry operations and increases in forest roads and access.
“With a huge loss of mature softwood throughout the ‘80s, not only did coyotes establish a firmer hold, but bear and moose did well also,” Kantar explained. “At the same time, salvage (logging) operations opened up more roads and increased access. The composition and age of the forest changed, which benefited coyotes, bears, and moose while making it a harder place for deer to live.”
“Essentially, we are talking about deer in the industrial forest versus deer in the northern farmlands. Deer in the industrial forest suffer from low productivity, poor habitat and predations that are heightened by severe winters that occur eight out of every 10 years and, therefore, population increases in the future will be difficult,” Kantar added.
“In the northern farmlands of Aroostook County, deer incur the same type of pressure on the populations [as deer in the industrial forest], but with better quality habitat and with more moderate winters, deer of the northern farmlands of eastern Aroostook County have some ability to increase population size,” he said.
While they can’t control the weather, the Aroostook County Conservation Association (ACCA) is working toward increasing the amount of browse available for the deer to feed upon and rebuilding the habitat the deer need in order to thrive.
“The deer population has fluctuated in the past, but it’s always come back,” said ACCA President Jerry McLaughlin of New Sweden. “It’s getting so low right now, we’re worried about the recovery.”
Goals set by the ACCA include restoring winter habitat areas for the white tail, creating food plots so that the deer have enough fat to last the winter and predation control.
During their next meeting, they will be hosting guest speakers Lynn Beaulieu of Korn King from Fort Kent and Jim Bernardin, a registered Maine guide from Oxbow. They will be speaking about feeding the white tail deer in the winter.
The ACCA encourages any farmer or landowner interested in possibly allowing the ACCA to plant food plots on winter roads or allowing usage on other areas of their land to help the white tail to attend the meeting.
The association has also organized a means of predation control to assist the white tail through the winter; a coyote control contest is scheduled from Jan. 16 to Feb. 13.
“This isn’t going to be like a lot of other contests,” explained McLaughlin, “everyone entered in the competition who successfully hunts a coyote will win a cash prize.”
With donors lined up to contribute to the prize money, each coyote killed will earn the hunter a percentage of the winnings. Various sponsors will also be providing additional non-monetary prizes.
The ACCA isn’t the first organization to conduct a coyote control contest in an effort to aid the white tail deer population; in Jackman, the Jackman Moose River Region Chamber of Commerce has sponsored a Coyote Hunt Tournament that runs until the end of this month. The tournament is geared to assist with predation control, but the chamber has also coordinated with local hotels, restaurants, guides and local outlets to create an opportunity for tourism.
Last year, the ACCA successfully held their first coyote control contest and, with membership renewals steady, this year looks to be another successful contest.
“In places of northern Maine, where habitat is the limiting factor, coyotes may not only prevent populations from increasing but be a factor in the loss of deer in areas where numbers have shrunk due to habitat loss, severe winter, and the effects of all causes of mortality, including predation, over time,” Kantar said.
“The ‘balance’ of coyotes and deer in northern Maine is unclear,” he added. “The coyotes’ primary prey is snowshoe hare, and therefore, the overall dynamics of the coyote population may be more dependent on hare than deer. If the coyotes have other food resources to choose from that allow them to exist at low to moderate populations, then they will still be there to exert pressure on the deer,” he added.
“Coyotes prey opportunistically on deer, primarily in the winter and spring; deer, of course, are more vulnerable to coyotes in the winter because snow confines deer to specific wintering areas, deer have experienced a decrease in body conditions and are less mobile,” Kantar said. “We are all abundantly aware of coyotes and deer and the decline over time in deer numbers certainly highlights the precarious situation deer are in during the course of winter.”
The next ACCA meeting takes place on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 6:30 at the Northeastland Hotel in Presque Isle.
