SUN JOURNAL • October 16, 2021
For many years now, Maine’s deer herd management system has relied on issuing any-deer permits to hunters as a way to oversee the buck-doe ratio in any given WMD (wildlife management district). There is one problem, though — it does not seem to be getting the job done, especially the last few years. There was a time when state deer biologists would issue four any-deer permits in order to reduce the doe numbers by one critter. Recently, these deer managers have had to issue 10 doe permits to cull one doe from the herd. The hunter is the wild card in this deer-control calculus. Too many Maine deer hunters are keeping their doe permits as an ace in the hole and holding out late into the season for that trophy buck. ~ V. Paul Reynolds