Each year, thousands of people head to Maine to enjoy top-notch snowmobiling. Often ignored by occasional visitors is the cooperation of many people that makes that winter recreation possible.

The Maine Snowmobile Association makes a point to recognize some of those helpful folks every year and honors a few at the yearly banquet. This year’s banquet was held April 26 at the Rockland Elks Lodge.

Honorees for 2003 were: Friend and Friend Inc. of Ellsworth, which won the Dealer of the Year Award; The Southern Maine Sno-Goers of Sanford and Springvale, which was the Snowmobile Club of the Year; The Pinkham Family of Glenburn (Snowmobile Family of the Year); Bernard Bumpus of Oxford (Groomer of the Year); Muriel Wood of Belfast (President’s Award); and Royce Howes of Beaver Cove (Snowmobiler of the Year).

The Maine Snowmobile Association represents more than 32,000 snowmobilers in 288 snowmobile clubs throughout the state. Association members clear, sign, and groom the trails of Maine.

Deer season ranked among best

Deer hunters in Maine enjoyed a banner season in 2002, bagging 38,153 deer – the highest total since 1968 and the 10th-best in state history.

“Hunter success can be directly attributed to several factors, including excellent survival rates for deer during a mild 2002 winter, a low 2001 deer harvest, and very favorable hunting conditions this past fall,” said Gerry Lavigne, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s deer biologist.

The 2002 total was 37 percent higher than the 27,769 killed in 2001. The statewide harvest of bucks (20,694) ranked second on the all-time list to the record 2000 season (21,422).

The success rate for all hunters was 22 percent, up from 16 percent the year before.

Following a review of harvest data and the likely impact of the 2003 winter, DIF&W biologists have recommended issuing 72,600 any-deer permits in 2003. That total is the second-highest ever.

Any-deer permit applications will be available in mid-June and hunters will have to apply by the July 15 deadline.

Maine’s statewide post-hunt deer population was estimated at 259,000 deer by the DIF&W. That represents an 8 percent increase from 2001 (241,000).

Corinth musher honored

Morgan Saunders of Corinth had a productive winter racing sled dogs, the International Sled Dog Racing Association announced this week.

Saunders, a 12-year-old, won the silver medal in the three-dog class of the junior division speed category.

The ISDRA consists of 65 sled dog events throughout North America and Japan.

Penobscot Fly Fishers to meet

The Penobscot Fly Fishers will hold their May monthly dinner meeting at the Veazie Salmon Club, on Wednesday, beginning at 6 p.m.

The dinner will consist of American chop suey and all the fixings. The meeting is open to the public.

For more info contact Don Corey at 843-5634 or don@annika.us.

Kenduskeag Slalom on tap

Paddlers interested in testing and improving their boat-handling skills may want to head to Bangor this weekend for the Kenduskeag Slalom, which runs today and Sunday.

The Kenduskeag Slalom will be held on a slalom course where the Kenduskeag Stream parallels Harlow Street in Bangor. The course begins downstream of the Valley Avenue bridge and finishes 300 meters downstream just below “shopping cart” hole.

The course will consist of 15 to 18 downstream gates and six to eight upstream gates in the Class II white-water. There are two challenging two- to three-foot ledge drops on the course.

Awards will be up for grabs in 14 classes. Beginner classes in OC-1, OC-2, and K-1 will be held on an easier course.

In addition, a combined race on Saturday will consist of a two-mile downriver race, along with a slalom race.

The course will be open for practice all day today, with a free slalom clinic at about 2 p.m.

Slalom racing will begin at about 9 a.m. on Sunday.

The entry fee is $10 per event, with a $5 insurance fee for nonmembers of the ACA/USCKT. Registration deadline is noon today.

Ancient Ones plan event

The Ancient Ones of Maine, a living history and re-enactment group from the 1600-1840 period, will hold its spring rendezvous and encampment in Canton from May 16-18.

Visitors are welcome on Saturday to see how life might have been “back then,” and are invited to visit traders row and participate in various practical demonstrations of old-time skills. Among those skills: knife and tomahawk throwing, making fire with flint and steel, and Dutch oven cooking.

For more information contact Arthur Richardson at 342-4649 or e-mail him at foxtail@midmaine.com.

To submit an item for publication in the Outdoor Notebook, send e-mail to jholyoke@bangordailynews.net, fax to 990-8092 or mail information to Outdoor Notebook, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor, Maine, 04402-1329.