District Game Warden Kevin Anderson started Saturday morning in Readfield with a complaint of a deer left hanging in a tree. Then it was on to Wayne – people shooting too close to a house – and back to Readfield for a hunter maybe driving game.

“It ended up being two basset hounds chasing deer. They were out on their own, doing their own thing,” Anderson said.

While a flurry of typical complaints kept wardens on the go, firearms hunting season ended Saturday with more fizzle than bang.

Tagged deer numbers are expected to be down from the 25,000-plus in 2005.

“Everywhere I’ve been from Waldo County to Cumberland County, it’s been a low count, pretty much based on weather,” said Warden Sgt. Chris Simmons. “Deer are very fidgety when the wind blows like yesterday.” When it’s warm and mild, they tend to hole up.

“They’re like people, they move when it’s cold,” Simmons added.

In Canton, a clerk at Canton Variety reported that store’s count was down, with 40 tags this year versus 56 last.

Meagan Rassier, a clerk at Jack’s Trading Post in Farmington, another tag station, thought their count was about even with last year. She hadn’t heard many “one that got away” stories.

“Most of them are just too excited when they get here, they want to weigh up,” Rassier said. “They all have their own secret places to hunt. It’s a little hush-hush, but it’s fun.”

The Durham Get-N-Go ran out of tags on Thanksgiving Day, seeing more deer than in years past and bucking the statewide trend.

“(Friday) we turned away over 23 hunters,” owner Donna Church said. “Everybody seemed to have got their deer, from what I heard.”

Firearm, bow and muzzleloader hunters last year took down 28,148 deer, according to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. This year had been projected to surpass that number.

Maine has about 245,000 deer.

Based on preliminary information from State Police dispatchers from Houlton to Gray, this season was relatively safe for hunters, with a handful of mostly self-inflicted injuries reported.

Two accidents happened Friday: a young boy in Hartland shot himself in the foot after resting his gun there and in the Damariscotta area, “One person took buckshot in the face from one of the other people in the hunting party,” Simmons said.

Anderson said his most frequent calls this season involved complaints of people shooting too close to a residence, trespassing and shooting from a public way. He thought the bad weather, and bad luck, may have been driven hunters to do things they wouldn’t normally do.

Muzzleloader season starts Monday, when Burnie Eveleth at Burnie’s Gun Shop in Lewiston said he’ll take the woods. He was optimistic about his chances.

“We’ve got good weather coming up,” he said.

Expanded archery season for deer is still going on. Ruffed grouse, bobwhite quail, pheasant, gray squirrel, raccoon and skunk hunting season last until the end of the year.