Roxanne Quimby is no friend to hunters. So we were a little surprised by the surge of public optimism spawned earlier this fall by her latest proviso.

Following a meeting in Millinocket with concerned stakeholders, Quimby said that she would wait 10 months before excluding traditional users from her latest township purchase north of Millinocket. There were collective sighs of relief.

The Bangor media was downright giddy. Newscasters in Bangor almost lionized Quimby’s “generosity.” A Bangor Daily News headline announced in a Page 1 story, “Quimby opens land to sportsmen.”

Did she really? Do her actions warrant plaudits from the media? You needed to read the story’s fine print: “Activities allowed on the land before … the purchase … will continue until Sept. 1, 2007.” What this means is that traditional users (hunters, trappers, snowsledders and ATVers) have, in effect, about nine months to get out of Dodge. If you don’t believe it, just ask the traditional users who once enjoyed Quimby’s other wild-land purchases.

According to this same newspaper story, a number of concerned state policymakers are reportedly relieved somewhat by Quimby’s willingness to meet and discuss recreational access to her new land purchase. Perhaps their optimism is justified. We can hope.

The more likely scenario, however, is that Quimby, who is unabashedly anti-hunting and anti-trapping, is orchestrating a cynical public relations gambit. The Katahdin Lake deal, which is not sealed, is imperiled by the revelation of the Quimby township purchase. If Quimby envisions the Katahdin Lake deal as a prelude to her vision of a National Park, she is trying to calm the masses and smooth the waters until the Kathadin Lake deal is concluded.

Quimby is shrewd. Press gullibility serves her purpose. It gets sportsmen and their spokesmen heaving a sigh of relief, thankful for any crumb that comes their way. This used to be called the Patty Hearst Syndrome, when the victim-hostage, out of fright, grows appreciative of the slightest kindness from the perpetrator. Even the customarily pragmatic SAM spokesman George Smith seems to be breasting his cards and withholding an assessment in hopes that Quimby has, indeed, had a change of heart.

Sportsmen should not let their guard down. For the fact remains that as of today, both the Quimby purchase and the Kathadin Lake deal are historical disenfranchisements that will deny our children and grandchildren the right to hunt, trap and snowsled on thousands of acres of Maine wild lands.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].