Maine's North Woods : hunting & SD

[deadeyedog270]

This is from maine.gov

Licenses and Permits
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/licenses_permits/forms_applications.htm#lifetime

Laws and Rules
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/laws_rules/index.htm

 

[gondorian]

+1 on what nevertoomanyguns said

This is the website for the Maine Inland fisheries and wildlife! http://www.state.me.us/ifw/ spend some time there and look around there is a lot of good info there!

I went hunting there in the fall and it we easy for me, a nonresident to get a tag. Moses (Maine Online Sportsman's Electronic System) helps, because I just got my permit online and printed it out.

 

[tt549]

I saw two bear pic but not much about bear hunting I am planing to buy some land (Aroostook County )to bear hunt on would like to know more about bear hunting up there

 

[mcdonl]

Here is something else to know about Maine... If I get in my truck and drive north on 95 from where I live in Maine, and my wife gets in her car and drives south on 95 she will get to about Baltimore before I get to the Canadian border.

 

[AStone]

That's an interesting perspective, Mcdonl.

Indeed, I'm a map nut. I love maps. All kinds of map, but especially topos.

I find myself these days just pouring over maps of Maine, looking at features, relationships to other places (especially towards the north - since I really dislike the eastern seaboard to the south of Maine, way too many freaking people per square mile for my taste - been there, done that, not again, thanks).

But it's sometimes hard for me to get a sense of perspective, of size, of distance.

So that's an interesting thought.

Still, when i look at a US map, two things stand out at me:

1) it still looks like southern Maine is closer to Maryland than to New Brunswick.

2) Oregon, which is where I am now, is bigger than Maine by far. Idaho is even bigger.

So, I'm still having trouble getting as excited about Maine as I'd like to be, even though I know those north woods are big, and the deer are huge, they just don't feel as big to me as eastern Oregon, which - along with parts of Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Utah - make up what I think of as the American outback.

It's that vastness, that openness, that I fear I would miss there.

 

[AStone]

squirrels?

Hey everyone.

I just realized something.

No one has talked yet (I think) about small game (other than fish).

What about small game up there, especially squirrel.

I love hunting squirrels. I'd rather hunt squirrel than deer any day.

What are the populations like?

 

[Motodeficient]

There a lots of squirrels here. Some of the gray squirrels get pretty large. Lots of chipmunks as well. I can walk through the woods behind my house in southwestern maine and if I look I could probably spot 10 squirrels in half an hour.

 

[qajaq59]

If you want to get land where there are darn few people, try looking up above the Rangley Lakes area. I hunted up there and there wasn't even a stone wall, much less a lot of people. LOL

 

[pbearperry]

The past few winters have been hard on the herd.I have been hunting Maine for 40 years and this past season may have been my last.Out of 8 guys ,only 2 deer spotted all week.However there are a lot of turkeys around.

 

[AStone]

Oh, turkeys. Really. I hadn't thought about turkeys.

In fact, I've never hunted turkeys. (I've had the crapola scared out of me when they exploded from hiding, but never hunted them.)

Please, tell me more. What are their populations like relative to other places?

Where are the most common? What parts of the state, what kinds of habitat (I assume heavily wooded)?

What guns do people up there use to hunt them?

 

[Motodeficient]

Turkeys are running rampant here in Maine, at least in my area. They are everywhere.

 

[deadeyedog270]

I see turkeys all the time how ever I have 2 pair of pheasant walking around here they go up and down the road almost every day

 

[Visionz45]

+1 Rangley gives me heartburn. Too many flat landers. Id head toward Spencer Stream or anywhere off the track in Eustis. That small jump from the Rangley weeds out so many idiots.

 

[AStone]

Can anyone give me a general sense of the snow season in Maine,
especially in south central and north west?

For example, approximately what months would one most likely find
enough snow on the ground at the lowest elevations in both regions
to use a set of cross country skis?

I understand that variability in climatic patterns exists,
so I'm not seeking hard and fast dates. Just a broader sense.

 

[schlockinz]

Would skis be better than snow shoes? I'd think the shoes would give you better mobility in the trees, unless your working a trail, although it'd probably be easier to "sled" something out with skis wouldn't it...

 

[Visionz45]

I perfer ski's over snow shoes. They can be clumbsy though I find myself far less tired at the end of the day. I also shoot rabbits and bird off ski's. We got 25" of snow in a single storm last year. I decided to go up to camp outside of the Rumford area, it took a day to get someone to plow me out.

 

[AStone]

It's interesting that I'd probably use snow shoes rather than skis.
I own a set of the former, but have never used the latter.

However, given the relative flatness of the terrain in Maine (relative to the Rockies and Cascades that I'm used to), it's conceivable that I could try out some cross country skis sometime.

However number 2, my main point there was just trying to gain a sense of snow season defined as, "you need either snow shoes or skis to get around on foot in the outback." (As opposed to just walking in 2 or 3" of snow in boots.)

 

[Visionz45]

You could get around with just gaiters. Though if you want to travel for any extended period of time you should have one of the two. The snow can get really deep under the forrest canopy due to reduced sunlight.

 

[davestarbuck]

To me any place south of Aroostook County is downeast

I grew up in Houlton, which is the northern terminus of I-95.

If you find yourself there, try out the Elm Tree Diner.

And remember there are only 3 seasons in Northern Maine, winter,blackfly, and mosquito.

-dave

 

[Supertac45]

I want to go back.