Deer forum successful in airing sportsmens’ concerns

14 years ago

Deer forum successful

in airing sportsmens’ concerns

By Natalie Bazinet

Staff Writer

PRESQUE ISLE — Hunting season may be half-a-year away, but northern Maine’s sportsmen can’t get deer out of their minds. Rather than excitement and anticipation for the fall season, these sportsmen are more concerned about the health and numbers of the northern Maine deer herds to the extent that many have refused to hunt deer until the population stabilizes.

ne-forum-dcx-arsh-17-clrContributed photo
LISTENING TO THE CONCERNS of northern Maine’s sportsmen were, from left, Maine Commissioner of Conservation Bill Beardsley, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Chandler Woodcock, former state senator and supporter of sportsman’s issues Leo Kieffer, Executive Director of the Maine Sportsman’s Alliance Matt Dunlap, and Lt. Tom Ward of the Maine Warden Service.

Their concerns are valid.

As stated in Maine’s Game Plan for Deer: a plan to increase Maine’s northern, eastern and western deer herd, (created by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife) which was set into motion last month, “public concern over low deer numbers in northern, eastern and western Maine has been intensifying for nearly 20 years. These deer population are below the [IFW] publicly-derived goals and objectives and are also below the desires and expectations of resident and non-resident deer hunters, guides and outfitters, business owners located in rural Maine, and those who enjoy watching deer. Low deer numbers are also having a negative impact on Maine businesses and its rural economy.”

Between habitat loss and predation strains in an area where even mild winters are still pretty harsh, recreating the flourishing deer population that many Aroostook sportsmen remember from back in the day is not something that will happen effortlessly.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” said Leo Kieffer, advocate of sportsman’s concerns and former State Senator and Caribou mayor/city councilor. “This is going to be a long term fix and it will take the private land owners, public landowners and departments all working together.”

A white tail deer forum was held on April 15 in UMPI’s Weiden Auditorium, giving about 175 local sportsmen and conservation advocates the opportunity to air their concerns regarding the white tail deer to Maine Commissioner of Conservation Bill Beardsley, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Chandler Woodcock, Kieffer, Executive Director of the Maine Sportsman’s Alliance Matt Dunlap, and Lt. Tom Ward of the Maine Warden Service.

According to Commissioner Woodcock, the forum was very productive.

“People are very bothered that we don’t have as many deer as we used to have — that I understand,” he said. Adding that because there aren’t many deer in portions of the northern Maine, IF&W is looking to find some ways to assist the white tail population.

Topics addressed at the forum included predation control — mostly coyotes, though bear are also a factor — and the loss of habitat. According to Woodcock, the department has and continues to discuss management practices with land owners in northern Maine.

According to Kieffer, most of the questions addressed at the forum were along the same lines that sportsmen have been addressing for years, but what he thought was most significant was that the commissioners and other leaders listened more than anything else.

“For the first time in history, commissioners were willing to sit down at the table and discuss the issues with concerned sportsmen,” Kieffer said. There weren’t any earth-shattering revelations that came up during the forum on how to save the deer, but sportsmen generally seemed to appreciate the opportunity to address the proper authorities with their concerns and questions.

After the forum, Woodcock mentioned how the white tail situation is exacerbated by the fact that [the Aroostook deer herds] are on the northern fringe of the white tail habitat. Couple that with the severity of how the coyote — a relatively new predator — have decimated the deer in some places and the loss of habitat, these conditions make it difficult for the population to currently thrive.

“The fact that we don’t have as many deer [as we used to] can be appreciated; it’s how we solve the problem that I think is really important,” Woodcock said.