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Quiet County Deer Hunt is Making a lot of Noise in Maine

February 22, 2010 - AROOSTOOK COUNTY - The dwindling deer herd in northern Maine has people in The County scared.



After the state released deer harvest numbers for 2009 -- a total of 18,045 statewide, the lowest since 1934 -- residents of Aroostook County say the situation is even worse up there.


And they're right.


State deer biologist Lee Kantar said the statewide harvest was down 14 percent statewide from 2008, but the decline was far worse in the northern Maine hunting zones. In district three and district one in The County, the harvest dropped 54 percent and 38 percent, respectively.


That has Aroostook County residents worried the herd might someday be lost for good.


''They are disappearing. If they don't do something, we won't have deer in Aroostook County,'' said Peter Ouellette, who has run Ouellette's Trading Post in Van Buren for 25 years.


''You really don't have to be a rocket scientist to see there are major problems here.''


To Aroostook residents, losing the deer herd would be no different than if a major river lost a game fish population as a result of toxins.


Maine's deer hunt symbolizes life in northern Maine. It also is a tradition that dates back centuries, as well as a source of revenue in a part of Maine that has few.


Kantar said the deer in northern Maine are not disappearing -- but they do have it tough because of coyote predation and pressure from modern forestry practices.


Mostly, Kantar said, deer in northern Maine have a smaller chance of survival because winters are so severe there.


The last time the harvest was lower than in 2009 was 76 years ago, when 13,284 deer were taken. But Kantar said that was after a ''catastrophic winter with prolonged low temperatures and deep powder.''


Such harsh winters are cyclical, the biologist added.


In 1971, there were just 18,903 deer tagged, and that also followed a severe winter.


The harvest this fall followed two tough winters, Kantar pointed out.


But while deer in central and southern regions will rebound after this year's mild winter, Kantar said that may not occur in northern Maine.


The north country harvest has rebounded after bad seasons in the past, but habitat loss to modern forestry practices and other changes there have made recovery more difficult now, Kantar said. The only thing that can help, he said, is a string of mild winters -- and that's unlikely to happen.


''I think northern Maine will remain pretty darn low. I don't know how it can increase by a lot,'' Kantar said.


That's bad news in The County.


Residents of Madawaska think the deer herd is dwindling to nothing, said Maruis Morin, owner of Morin's Variety.


Last summer, he didn't see one deer in his backyard.


''We always had deer in the backyard. I don't know what (the state) is doing, but somebody needs to do something,'' Morin said.


And in Allagash at the northern tip of Maine, Wilmer Hafford, who has run his family's 100-year-old general store for 40 years, said they don't see as many fawns as they used to along the St. John River.


''I guess it's too late here,'' Hafford said. ''I think they'll let us hunt as long as there are deer, but you don't see a lot of fawns or yearlings. That's been the case for several years. There are a lot less deer.''


And at Ben's Trading Post in Presque Isle, there's real fear. There, the number of deer tagged dropped from 121 two years ago to 40 this year -- and that's after two local tagging stations closed.


''People feel pretty helpless,'' said store owner Ben LeBlanc. ''It hurt sales last year. Usually November is one of our top three months. Last year, it was one of the bottom three.''


LeBlanc said locals used to comment on the deer they saw in the evening. Now it's only stories of bear or moose.


''When people come into the store and say they've seen a deer, it's a big deal. And I'm serious,'' LeBlanc said.


So as biologists continue to ponder the future of Maine's northern whitetails, the people of The County continue to lose hope. For some in this land of logging and little else, that is their future.



''I don't expect to see deer numbers like we used to,'' LeBlanc said.


by Deirdre Fleming, February 21, 2010, Portland Press Herald

Lakes:
Regions: Presque Isle


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