A weekly report on Aroostook County from Arlen Lovewell, an assistant regional wildlife biologist for the Department if Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The complete report is available at www.state.me.us/ifw/.

Reports are starting to come in on large numbers of moose congregating in clover and broccoli fields. After the fall rut, moose feed heavily, replacing fat lost during the rut. Many of the local people will know these feeding areas and a stop at the local convenience store or diner will quickly result in enough information to find these fields.

Usually mid-November through December is the best time to see these congregations of moose, before the snow gets deep enough to cover field crops and force moose back into the woodlands.

For northern Maine, the prospects for this November’s deer season should be quite good. Our deer numbers are still very low compared to southern Maine; however, because of the very mild winter in 2003-04, deer numbers should have improved. In particular, we expect hunters to harvest a high number of yearling bucks, being both more numerous this fall and slightly more vulnerable to hunting.

Any predictions of deer hunting in northern Maine have to take into account weather conditions, which usually means having snow to hunt on. If we have snow on the ground throughout most of the season, deer hunters will do quite well. However, without snow, deer hunting is usually poor, simply because hunters will not be able to locate the low numbers of deer scattered across a vast and heavily forested area.

Our northern Maine forestlands have been extensively cut over the last 30 years and now contain thick sapling or pole-size regeneration, often with poor visibility. Just finding deer can sometimes be a real challenge.