For some hunters, it’s all over but the crying

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Readers keep reminding me of an important fact: No matter what I say, nor how many times I say it, deer season is not over.

For many, that’s true: Muzzleloader enthusiasts and bowhunters in expanded archery zones can hunt for another week or two.

After a month of sitting in trees, skulking through the woods and growing an ugly little mini-beard that I thought would surely help change my perennial bad luck, I’m left answering the age-old question in the negative … again.

Get your deer yet?

Grrr.

Woodpeckers and chickadees loved me. Red squirrels, too. Even saw a bald eagle.

But the ugly-but-lucky mini-beard didn’t seem to work. I saw no deer. Not a one.

I have learned not to take these annual failures too seriously. I have learned to learn from my mistakes. And apparently, I have learned to forget those mistakes the next year, and made them all over again.

Or something like that.

We unsuccessful deer hunters, I keep thinking, are like Red Sox fans used to be, not too long ago.

We’d hope for glory … and end up waiting for next year.

For most of us – those of us who don’t take part in muzzleloader or expanded bowhunting seasons – next year starts Nov. 3, 2008.

I can’t wait.

Deer season update

So, how was your deer season? Many of you have checked in to share your stories with me, and I enjoyed hearing all of the tales … even if I had none of my own to tell.

If you got your deer, congratulations. If you didn’t, join the club.

And if you’re just wondering how many hunters were successful, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.

Mark Latti of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife said he expects his department to release a preliminary harvest tally a couple weeks after the muzzleloader season ends.

Latti said there is a key to consider, however.

“In the end, it’s all about hunter effort,” he said. “That’s what drives the harvest.”

And Latti said there’s one thing that typically drives hunters out the door in the morning, and prompts them to stay in the woods late in the afternoon: Good hunting weather.

“Effort is driven by the weather,” Latti said. “People don’t like to hunt when it’s windy and rainy.”

So, how does this fall’s weather rate on the “hunter effort” scale?

It depends on which day you’re talking about.

“We had two really rainy Saturdays and, particularly on that opening day, there are always more deer killed on that day than on any other day in the season,” Latti said. “So when you have a washout on opening day, it can impact the season.”

By contrast, Latti said, the second half of the month-long firearms season was favorable for hunters.

“The last two weeks of the season [had] real good hunting weather with good tracking snow within some parts of the state,” Latti said.

Past experience has shown that when the final tally is released, it will likely be pretty close to the official preseason estimate.

Last year’s actual tally, released in March, was 29,918 deer. That’s just 518 deer off the preseason estimate of 29,400, which DIF&W biologists had determined months in advance.

Plum Creek hearings on tap

For more than two years, Plum Creek’s Moosehead region development proposal has stirred debate among factions of Mainers.

Beginning Saturday, concerned citizens will have the chance to make official comments on the latest proposal.

Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission will hold four public hearings in the coming weeks, with the first scheduled for Saturday in Greenville.

The schedule:

. Saturday at Greenville High School from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

. Sunday at the Augusta Civic Center from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

. Dec. 15 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

. Dec. 16 at Greenville High School from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Plum Creek’s application for 975 house lots and two large resorts near Moosehead Lake is the largest development plan ever proposed in Maine, according to previous BDN reports.

Plum Creek has altered its plan twice since 2005, but some conservation groups oppose the proposal, saying it will negatively affect wildlife and wildlife habitat and the character of the region.

For more information on Plum Creek’s development plan or the public hearing schedule, go to http://www.maine.gov/doc/lurc.

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