While we’re waiting for ice out, let’s look at the final deer kill and bear kill figures compiled from the 1993 hunting seasons. According to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the seasons for deer and bear ended with harvest levels close to preseason expectations for each species.

Deer hunters tagged 27,402 whitetails last fall, with 26,608 taken during the regular firearms season. Bowhunters tagged 692 deer and hunters who took to the woods toting muzzleloaders registered 112. The 1993 deer kill decreased by 5 percent from the 1992 final figure of 28,820. Bowhunter success during the 1993 special archery season declined by 2 percent, but muzzleloader marksmen increased their success by 6 percent.

Time flies. The 1993 deer season was the eighth year of Maine’s any-deer permit system. Under the “doe permit” system, wildlife managers set a 1993 statewide harvest quota of 6,825 adult does to achieve management objectives in the state’s 18 deer-management districts. Accordingly, 44,905 doe permits were allocated to hunters in 17 districts. Wildlife biologist Gerry Lavigne, the DIFW’s deer-project leader, reports the doe harvest was 6,886 – within 61 does, or 1 percent, of the desired figure.

Speaking of does, it should be mentioned that, last fall, 14-year-old Luke Arsenault of Lisbon Falls tagged the biggest doe ever registered in Maine. Field-dressed, the doe weighed 185 pounds. The previous record, 180 pounds, was set in 1983. The young hunter shot the deer while hunting with his father in Seboomook Township, north of Moosehead Lake.

If you prefer to spend Thanksgiving Day in a deer camp, you know that antlered bucks – minimum antler length is 3 inches – are legal game for all licensed hunters. And buck hunters did well. In fact, the 16,737 bucks tagged last fall ranked as the ninth highest buck kill on the record books, that were started 40 years ago. Of the bucks registered in 1993, 3,500 wee mature animals, 4 1/2 to 15 1/2 years old.

Of the estimated 210,000 hunters who set their sights on tagging a deer last fall, 178,000 were residents, 32,000 were non-residents. Resident hunters registered 22,501 whitetails. Nonresidents tagged 4,901.

Lavigne estimates Maine now has a deer population of about 235,000, nearly the same as in 1992. The biologist says deer numbers are stable or decreasing in northern and eastern Maine, while the whitetails are stable or increasing in other parts of the state.

As for bear hunting, last fall hunters tagged 2,055 bruins, 13 more than were tagged in 1992. DIFW bear-project leader Craig McLaughlin reports that, since 1990, shortened bear-hunting seasons have met the department’s objective of reducing the kill to below 2,300 animals, thereby allowing expansion of the state’s bear population.

McLaughlin reports that food supplies, specifically beechnuts, were scarce in northern Maine last fall. Therefore, bears denned early in that neck of the woods. In central Maine, however, acorn and apple crops were abundant and bears remained active into November, providing deer hunters with additional hunting opportunities.

Most of the bears tagged in 1993 were shot in the early, general bear season. An additional 376 bruins were registered during the seven-week hound season. Hunters holding resident licenses tagged 790 bears. Non-resident hunters from 34 states, Canada, Mexico, and Austria registered the remaining 1,265. And there you have an indication of how far people will travel to bag a Maine bear.

McLaughlin estimate that Maine’s 1994 spring bear population will range from 20,000 to 21,000 animals. The management-objective level is 21,000. This year’s bear-hunting framework will remain similar to that of recent seasons, with one exception. Hunters will be able to take bears by still-hunting or stalking throughout the early general season, Aug. 29-Oct. 28.

The biologist also predicts the current framework will restrict the 1994 harvest below 2,300 bears and will provide for continued growth of the population.

You may know that a new state record for bear was set last September when Richard Moore of Allentown, Pa., bagged a 680-pound bruin while hunting in Thousand Acre Bog near Crystal. Moore was guided by Maine Master Guide Dick Higgins of Presque Isle.

The previous record for a Maine bear, 610 pounds, was set in 1985. – – –

When Bucky Owen took over as the DIFW’s head guide after Bill Vail’s resignation, many people allowed that the new commissioner would keep the chair warm for only a year or so.

To the contrary, Owen has been busier than a bird building a nest. Accordingly, come April 7, the commissioner will make tracks for Greenville, where beginning at 7 p.m. he will hold a public meeting at the middle school.

There will be no agenda, no formal presentations, no parliamentary procedure. Instead, Owen will meet and talk with local people. I can assure you, he will listen to whatever is said. Actually, that’s the purpose of the meeting, to put forth his ideas and gather information from sportsmen that may be applied to DIFW initiatives. Don’t say you didn’t have a chance to let your reel run.