Best scenes could be a glance away

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When you’re out in the woods, hiking a trail or merely tromping along a woods road from one fishing spot to the next, anything is possible … around the next turn.

Around the next turn, you may find a bull moose blocking your passage (on his “highway”).

Around the next turn, you may catch a fleeting glimpse of a bounding deer, or a bolting bear, or hear the shrill admonitions of an angry squirrel.

Around the next turn … you could see most anything … or nothing at all.

When we’re at home, however, many of us focus inward. The four walls, and things between them, occupy our thoughts. The TV … the coffee-maker … the bed … the laundry.

All are part of our everyday lives, and as we walk from room to room, we seldom consider what we may find … around the next turn.

Perhaps we should.

A chance glance out a window of our suburban home resulted in a memorable scene on Saturday afternoon.

For all we knew, it may have been a scene that has played out dozens or hundreds of times before, and which went unnoticed for a simple reason: Nobody took the time to look out the right window at the right time.

But on Saturday, it didn’t. Someone walked into a second-floor bedroom (around the next turn, if you will), looked out a window, and four of us spent the next 20 minutes enjoying the show.

At first, a small doe stood at the edge of the woods, obviously alert to some possible danger. For a few minutes she stood, stock still.

Eventually, as we began to wonder if someone had planted a 3-D deer target on our lawn, she moved … slightly … and two small fawns trotted out of the woods to join their mom.

Then it was feeding time, as the three deer lazily walked up the hillside, sampling acorns and grass.

Eventually, they traipsed into the woods at the top of the hill, and we went back about our everyday chores.

But I’m sure that next time, everyone who saw those deer will pay a bit closer attention to the view … around the next turn.

Even when we’re indoors.

A week ago I had the chance to spend some time with wildlife biologist Rich Hoppe, who serves the people of Maine as an employee of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Hoppe, who was manning the Ashland moose-tagging station, pointed out that in the wildlife-management business, professionals are beginning to study things that they never thought about 10 or 15 years ago.

Among those new areas of interest: Coming up with inventive ways to minimize the interaction between motorists and wildlife.

In Maine, folks hear that and assume that Hoppe and other biologists are focusing on moose. They are … but that’s only a piece of the puzzle.

Hoppe said Mainers told state officials they wanted to reduce the number of car-moose crashes, and the state responded by issuing more hunting permits in Wildlife Management Districts 3, 6 and 11.

“Under the big-game working group for moose, they’ve asked us to try to reduce the moose population in that area, the primary reason being accidents,” Hoppe said.

Districts 3, 6 and 11 stretch from Lee to Fort Kent, and east to the Canadian border. In order to reduce the population, more than 120 additional cow moose permits were issued, Hoppe said.

But Hoppe, who has attended two national conferences on the topic of wildlife and transportation, said moose are just one species that is of concern.

Deer, turtles, frogs and other animals are often hit by vehicles in Maine and elsewhere.

Hoppe said that state officials are studying all of the problems and trying to find ways to address them.

“We’re working with the Maine [Department of Transportation] to try to do some stuff with the roads, trying to change maybe the landscape a bit, or put signage up,” Hoppe said. “It’s a big issue, wildlife and roads.”

Hoppe said that just a few short years ago, no one would have expected the DOT and the DIF&W to consult with each other when new roadwork is planned.

Now, the practice is becoming more common, as both entities seek to mitigate a problem that becomes more obvious as suburbs encroach on traditional wildlife habitat.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more on the topic in the coming years, and after hearing Hoppe enthusiastically speak about the issue, I imagine he’ll be one of the DIF&W employees who will closely involved as new solutions are considered and implemented.

An item included in Saturday’s Outdoor Notebook passed along information about an upcoming trapper education course … and also passed along an incorrect date.

The Pleasant River Fish and Game Conservation Association will conduct the course on Oct. 10 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. The course fulfills the DIF&W requirement for anyone wishing to obtain a Maine trapper license.

For more information, call 483-6643 or 546-3735.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.