After nearly 6 hours spent hearing a status report on the Maine Game Plan for Deer from staff of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, comments from the members of the state’s Deer Task Force were remarkably modest, if not downbeat.
“Its pretty much status quo, where we were two years ago,” said Aroostook County’s veteran DIF&W Regional Wildlife Biologist Rich Hoppe.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said task force member Matt Libby, a sporting camp owner, who asked some of the most pointed questions about the lack of progress in protecting deer wintering area.
“It’s coming. They’re doing something. But I know I’m too old to see it happen,” reported Don Dudley of Mattagamon, a leader of the Maine Professional Guides Association.
That’s what passes for optimism these days when sportsmen discuss the sad state of the state’s deer herd. If you’d sat through this meeting, as I did, you might ask for a little less talk and a lot more action.
DIF&W Commissioner Chandler Woodcock, who attended the first 3 1/2 hours of the meeting, gets lots of credit for tackling the problem, working hard to address it, winning the support and participation of Governor Paul LePage and the Maine legislature, traveling the state to talk with sportsmen about it, and continuing to focus his staff and very limited resources on the solution.
His problem is simple: expectations are now high and his ability to deliver is low.
I took 7 pages of notes and will be writing more about what I learned a bit later. There was a lot of interesting information conveyed. But perhaps SAM’s new executive director David Trahan, who attended the task force meeting until noon, relayed the most important bit of information to me outside the meeting.
Dave reported that he’d met with Governor Paul LePage yesterday, and got a firm commitment from the Governor to do everything he can to rebuild the state’s deer herd. This was very good news.
During his campaign, I spent a lot of time talking to then-candidate Paul LePage about the state’s deer dilemma, and was pleased when he made a major commitment to address those problems. It’s good to know he’s still on that trail.
It’s also good to know that former DIF&W deer biologist Gerry LaVigne is leading SAM’s deer project. Gerry was at today’s meeting and – as always – asked some of the best questions. I will leave it to Dave Trahan to make his own announcements, but SAM is really stepping up with exciting initiatives on deer.
DIF&W’s John Pratte led the task force’s meeting, reporting on actions taken on seven pages of goals in the Maine Game Plan for Deer. A lot of time was consumed with a discussion of deer feeding problems, predator controls, and deer/vehicle collisions.
But very little time was devoted to habitat protection and enhancement – the key problem and the major reason for the state’s diminished deer population according to the agency’s wildlife staff. Surprisingly little is actually being done on this. The only task in the plan that was listed as “on hold” was one to “continue to move forward modifying the definition and rules for designating Deer Wintering Areas under the Natural Resources Protection Act in organized towns.”
Nor does DIF&W appear to have any new cooperative deer yard management agreements with large landowners in the unorganized territories. In fact, Hoppe reported that a purchase of several townships in his area resulted in the loss of two keys cooperative agreements signed by the previous landowner. LaVigne noted that last year’s report on cooperative agreements needs to be brought up to date, and Pratte agreed.
DIF&W deer biologist Lee Kantar gave a very interesting report, including details of the new ways he’s counting deer. But even there, the news wasn’t good. Kantar discovered that Maine had a lot less deer in the areas surveyed than was thought. That led to a sharply reduced number of any-deer permits for those districts this fall.
I’ll search through my minutes, and try to give you some good news in my next report on this meeting.
Photo: Governor Lepage, flanked by DIF&W Commissioner Chandler Woodcock and Senator Dave Trahan, excited hunters with his springtime announcement of the Maine Game Plan for Deer.
