But you still need to activate your account.
The specifics of Maine’s newest hunt have been proposed, and they are sure to please one particular group of sportsmen, albeit a small group, if they are approved.
The concept plan for the fall wild turkey season has the hunt running from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1, with a one-bird bag limit, and permits that will be given out without a lottery, as is used in the spring hunt. But the hunt is limited to those who use archery equipment.
In the past 10 years, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has sold between 12,000 and 17,000 archery licenses, including the combination archery-fishing licenses.
The hunting districts proposed for the fall season are in Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, Kennebec, Sagadahoc, Androscoggin, Cumberland, and York counties, which are the areas where the 16-year-old May turkey hunt has been going on the longest. The idea, according to DIF&W, is to allow turkey populations to grow in other hunting districts where there are low densities of birds.
DIF&W also has drafted a plan for the landowner turkey hunt.
Permits for that hunt would be issued to people who own at least 25 continuous acres within the turkey hunting area, and only to those who leave their land open to the public for hunting. Permits would only go to landowners who manage their property for the raising and selling of dairy products or beef cattle.
With the landowner hunt, no permit would be needed for any family member residing on the property. There would be a one-bird bag limit for each landowner. And it could be used in either the spring or the fall season.
All regulations in the May turkey season would apply to the new hunts.
Youth welcomed at Hermon Pond
For the fifth year, Steve Norris of Orrington is organizing the state’s winter version of Hooked on Fishing, and he suspects the turnout at the ice fishing event in Hermon that attracts more than a hundred youth each year will be strong.
The event will be on Feb. 16 at Jackson Beach Park on Hermon Pond, a short distance from Hermon Mountain Ski Area. And Norris said there’s plenty of ice on the pond.
Asked if the event’s staff could handle more than 200 young fishermen, Norris was silent, but only for a moment.
“We have a good volunteer base. Hopefully we can handle what will come our way,” he said.
Hooked On Fishing Not On Drugs is a national program that offers youth the opportunity to learn and participate in outdoor activities to help encourage them to stay off drugs.
Each year the day coincides with DIF&W’s free fishing weekend, so anyone can fish without purchasing a Maine fishing license.
The equipment and bait is provided. Catch-and-release is encouraged. And snowshoes will be on hand for children interested in attending, but not fishing.
“It’s not just about going out to catch a fish. We teach them environmental awareness and species identification,” Norris said. “There is no age limit. But we do encourage a person, like a single parent, who has a couple of kids who don’t have an uncle or a dad who fish, to attend.”
For information, call Norris at 825-4431.
Web site billed as time saver
The U.S. Geological Survey recently unveiled its new Web site for sportsmen, which is supposed to make it easier to find information for outdoor activities.
The site, “Your Science Gateway for Safe and Vital Enjoyment of the Outdoors,” includes, among other things, explanations on how to use orienteering maps, how to select the best conditions for whitewater rafting, and how to identify safe, productive fishing spots.
The “Ducks at a Distance” section, for one, offers informative color drawings useful in identifying a wide variety of species.
See for yourself, at: http://water.usgs.gov/recreation.
Local outdoor writer hailed
Outdoor writer V. Paul Reynolds of Hampden, the editor and co-publisher of the Northwood Sporting Journal, received two first- place awards from the New England Outdoor Writers Association.
Reynolds beat out 200 members of NEOWA in garnering first place for best humor and best opinion in a magazine. Reynolds’ winning humor article was titled “Calamities of the Call.” His winning opinion article, titled “Guns and Kids,” was about the decline of Maine’s hunting heritage.
Reynolds also earned two second-place awards for best article and best opinion in a magazine.
He is a columnist for the Lewiston Sun Journal, the host of a Sunday radio program called “Maine Outdoors” on WVOM-FM of Howland, and a former editorial writer and managing editor at the Bangor Daily News.
Deirdre Fleming’s Outdoor notebook appears every Saturday in the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.
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