March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Wildlife Management Districts will benefit hunters

Back along, hunters who complied with the season dates and bag limits pertaining to their quarries had scant concern for the whereabouts of game wardens. Then along came rafts of regulations changes: deer-management districts, moose-hunting zones, turkey-hunting zones, waterfowl-hunting zones, wildlife-management units, not to mention the attendant stamps, permits, lotteries and the like.

Small wonder that hunters became “gun-shy” about taking unfamiliar trails or straying into new territories. “Put a regulations book in your pocket and a lawyer in your pack basket,” may have been spoken with sarcasm, but it was also sound advice.

During the past year, however, Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologists have set their sights on designing a zoning system that meets management requirements for all wildlife species, while unifying boundary lines. As a result, the state has been divided into 30 proposed parcels labeled Wildlife Management Districts.

Although a number of factors were considered in defining the WMDs, it wasn’t surprising that refinement of deer-management capability was a primary target. In a recent release, DIFW’s deer project leader Gerry Lavigne explains: “After 12 years under the Any-Deer permit system, we now have a good database to evaluate relative habitat quality and management potential for deer around the state. When compiling WMDs, we were able to do a better job of clustering towns according to their potential to produce deer and deer-hunting opportunities.

“In doing this, we also factored in land use, forest type, soil quality, winter severity and human population centers. Management requirements for other key species such as moose, turkeys, waterfowl and furbearers were also given due consideration. Accordingly, we added a few WMDs in some areas and modified boundaries in others. Throughout, we made a concerted effort to select clearly recognizable physical boundaries to reduce confusion for hunters.”

When implemented, the new WMDs should benefit hunters in several ways. First off, they can concentrate on only one set of boundaries regarding the species they hunt. The use of all 30 WMDs is anticipated for deer management, but the districts would be combined, as needed, to form hunting zones for other species. For example, a single turkey-hunting zone, including about 10 WMDs, would be established in south-central Maine. Turkey hunters, therefore, would have to memorize only the northern boundary of the zone.

Moreover, better refinement of wildlife population management should provide increased hunting opportunity. “If we had used the new WMDs in 1996 instead of the existing 18 deer-management districts,” said Lavigne, “we could have issued an additional 2,000 Any-Deer permits to achieve the same population objectives for that year. The new WMD system would also allow us to identify locations where special hunting seasons could be implemented, such as the expanded archery hunting season enacted this year in south-coastal Maine (WMD 24).”

The biologist allows that, under the new WMD system, deer hunters should have better chances of being drawn for Any-Deer permits. Being smaller than the former deer-management districts, each of the 30 WMDs target fewer population centers. Therefore, hunters living in rural areas should have better luck at bagging “doe permits.”

Currently, DIFW is compiling a booklet including maps of the WMDs – shown collectively and individually – and helpful information about each district. Intended as a reference item for hunters, the booklet will be available this fall from the DIFW’s information center (287-8000), regional wildlife headquarters, and its web site:

www.state.me.us/ifw/homepage.htm.

Although the present waterfowl zone line and a recently added moose-hunting zone, both implemented in 1996, conform to the new WMD system, the entire system cannot become effective until it is approved by the DIFW commissioner’s Advisory Council. Also, the department must conduct an education program to gain hunter support. Full implementation of this important management refinement is scheduled for deer and all other species in 1998. Hence, for the remainder of this year, DIFW biologists will focus on public education and any revisions that will facilitate the transition to the WMDs.

Public information meetings scheduled for September and October are: Sept. 23, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, Ellsworth; Sept. 24, 7 p.m., Mattanawcook Academy, Lincoln; Sept. 25, 7 p.m., Keddy’s Motor Inn, Presque Isle; Oct. 1, 7 p.m., Greenville High School, Greenville; Oct. 2, 7 p.m., Lincoln Auditorium, Roberts Learning Center, University of Maine, Farmington. More public meetings regarding the new WMDs are being scheduled for November.

Tom Hennessey’s column can be accessed on the BDN internet page at: www.bangornews.com.


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