When the doors close on the November firearms season for deer, it is customary for the closure to be followed by a deer hunter’s lament. All of us who deer hunt – even the best of the best – know what it’s like to wind up the season with no venison backstraps in the freezer. We all try to be philosophical and good-humored about our lack of success in the deer woods.

“Hey, if every hunter got a deer, it would be called killing, not hunting,” is one common refrain. “I just enjoyed being out in the woods,” goes another. And you no doubt have heard this one: “I had my chance. Could’ve had a doe, but held out for that buck, and it just didn’t happen.”

These laments are common, even in the best of deer hunting seasons. This year, however, the deer hunter’s lament was more intense than I have heard in years. Wherever I went and whoever I talked to, seasoned, proven deer hunters were echoing the same sentiments: “We hunted hard, in good weather and bad. Never saw a hair and very few tracks.”

In checking with some deer camps with multiple hunters, who hunted a full week, the refrain was much the same. Deer were scarce as hen’s teeth. Before the hunt started, we were prepared for the worst by state deer biologist Lee Kantar. He said that winter deer mortality numbers were up considerably due to “an extremely ugly winter.” But some say the deer situation was even more dire than the biologists had predicted.

Although the final deer kill numbers have not be totaled up yet, hunters I know said that they would be surprised if the 2008 deer harvest even meets Kantar’s expectations, which were for a “moderate harvest.” Last year’s deer kill totaled 28,884. According to Al Wentworth, who keeps deer harvest statistics for the the Maine Antler & Skull Trophy Club, the biggest deer harvest since 2000 was that year with 36,885 deer tagged. Not counting this past fall, the lowest harvest since 2000 was the next year in 2001, when the deer kill fell off to 27,769. This fall’s deer harvest is quite likely to be the lowest in many years. The word around northern Maine is that the deer kill there is down 50 percent from the year before!

What is to be done about Maine’s Big Woods deer problems? Old timers say “Close down the deer season altogether for a few years. Give ’em a chance to rebound.” That was the wildlife management approach back in the 1950s, whenever there was a serious deer population issue. Although the state did take action this past fall by not issuing doe permits in at least eight additional Wildlife Management Districts (WEMDs), Kantar is not a big fan of the wholesale canceling of deer seasons as a way to build the herd. So you are not likely to see that take place.

Bad winters kill deer, and there is not much that sportsmen or wildlife managers can to do. Mother Nature will have her way with us and the deer. But predators, like coyote and bears, kill deer. So does habitat when historical deer wintering areas have been logged to the point where there is no longer winter forage and a protective cover. We can and must do something about excessive deer predation and our disappearing deer wintering areas!

Maine’s Deer Study Task Force submitted its findings and recommendations last fall to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Some of its suggestions were good ones, not the least of which was for a population management strategy for Maine’s robust coyote population. By legislative order, the Fish and Wildlife folks must by Jan. 5 submit its plan to implement the recommendations of the Deer Study Task Force.

For the sake of Maine’s dwindling deer numbers, as well as the state’s rural economy that relies in part on the fall deer hunt, our state legislators need to hold Fish and Wildlife’s feet to the fire on this one. There is much at stake.

The author 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].