Deer harvest regulations

By V. Paul Reynolds

First the easy part: the fall deer hunting outlook? It should be another good year for deer hunters.

According to Maine’s deer biologist Nathan Bieber, “I expect a good year for the deer harvest, but I do not expect to see harvest numbers in line with last year, which was by far a record harvest. I’d have to guess that was an outlier. Some of the same elements that led to such a big year last year look like they will be in effect again though, namely another relatively mild winter, lots of opportunity, and droughty conditions impacting green forage and mast availability.” .

Now the not-so-easy part: figuring out the deer harvest regulations for this fall’s hunt. It used to be a lot more simple. There was a day not so long ago when you could take just a buck or a doe. Period. Later on, as deer management evolved, you could take a buck and a doe, if you had a doe permit for your Wildlife Management District.

My golly, how time and increased deer numbers have changed all of that. The ins and outs of what you can and can not legally harvest, when it comes to bucks and does, are not quite as complicated as Maine’s perplexing patchwork of fishing regulations, but it does take some brain work to break it all down.

Question: I am an over 70 licensed resident big game hunter with a lifetime license. If I hunt all of the optional deer seasons, how many deer can I conceivably harvest? Are you ready for this? Believe it or not, using all available permits, I can legally take, over the whole season, two bucks and two does, or even two bucks and three does, or four does.

The wild card in all of this is the expanded archery season, with its own umbrella of deer harvest rules. Under expanded archery season options, I can take a buck with an Either-Sex Expanded Archery Permit, which would be an additional buck to the one that my hunting license allows. I can also purchase unlimited expanded season antlerless permits to take as many does as I like during expanded archery. And as of last year, expanded archery hunters can use a bow and arrow or a crossbow.

If you do not take advantage of the expanded archery season, the harvest rules are less complex, but you still need to know the options before you strap yourself in your tree stand, or work your way around that cedar bog. If you didn’t bag a doe during regular archery, but take one on opening day of the firearms season you can still bag a buck, with a doe permit for that WMD.

Good hunting. Be safe!

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and writes a weekly outdoors column for a number of Maine newspapers.