Senate votes to reserve resident-only hunt day

AUGUSTA – A day of deer hunting reserved just for Mainers should be preserved, the state Senate voted Tuesday as it rejected a bill to open residents-only day to out-of-staters.

Residents-only day falls on the Saturday before the early-November start of open firearms season.

“For those of us who are residents and value that time … I think it’s critically important that we preserve that tradition,” said Sen. Marge Kilkelly, D-Wiscasset. “It’s just one day.”

The Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee was split on the proposal, with seven for the change and six voting to protect the day for Mainers only. Nineteen senators voted to kill the bill, with 16 for passing it.

The bill faces further votes in the House and Senate.

Supporters said the residents-only restriction keeps some Maine-born hunters, who live in other states but may still own property in Maine, from participating in the sport with their families on residents-only day.

Sen. Chandler Woodcock, R-Farmington, said out-of-staters deserve to hunt alongside Mainers on opening day because they spend millions of dollars in Maine as they visit the state to hunt year after year.

He also said the deer herd has grown since the residents-only day was initiated.

The bill is one of several hunting-related measures that came up for votes Tuesday.

Legislators gave initial approval to a bill authorizing the fish and game department to start deer season as early as Sept. 15 and end it as late as Dec. 15. The bill does not require any change in the current dates, which generally run from early to late November.

The Senate killed a bill to create a special license to shoot antlerless deer.

Senators also shot down a proposal to hold annual “primitive” deer-hunting season, when only specified firearms could be used, from the sixth to fifth Mondays before Thanksgiving. Hunters would not have to wear blaze orange clothing during the special season.