There were no objections from the Advisory Council to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s (MDIFW) proposal to issue nearly 85,000 “Any-Deer” permits for this upcoming deer hunting season – an all-time record number.
Sensible people might have thought that with the state’s deer hunting still running at abysmal levels in some places of the state with harvest numbers continually far below what used to be normal, at least one member of the Advisory Council would have objected to this proposal.
It has been made clear that the majority of the increase comes in Wildlife Management Districts (WMD) where last year’s projected (or hoped-for) doe harvest was not reached. However, I find it most unscientific when the MDIFW repeatedly says, “The proposed increase in permits is a result of the goals and objectives set by the public in the state’s big-game management plan…”
Scape Goat?
Evidently, in this modern era in which Environmentalism rules game management plans are driven by social demands and not by science. MDIFW may become another laughing stock as they move toward a focus on “healthy” game species rather than paying much attention to numbers. History has proven that with overgrown numbers of any species, health becomes the number one issue. Wildlife over-protection is an agenda item of Environmentalists which is a “social” action in which MDIFW now makes their management decisions by. Along with that over-protection comes large swings in animal populations, especially when disease and predators, are “balancing” nature.
It will be interesting to see the results of this increase in “Any-Deer” permits. MDIFW claims that the quota for doe kills was not reached in all but six of the WMDs, but have failed to answer the question as to why – was it due to too few permits issued for those regions or lack of licensed hunters and/or enough time to hunt in order to reach those quotas? It does make a difference.
If there are simply not enough hunters and/or the season isn’t long enough to reach the desired harvest, certainly adding more permits, by 28%, will do little to reach those desired harvest levels.
And please don’t tell us that does aren’t being shot because there is an over-abundance of bucks.
Permit winners will be announced September 7.
