AUGUSTA — Hunters, sporting camps and guides who derive an income from leading moose hunts will get a boost from the state next year with the addition of a third week to the season.

The extra week would be held in northern, central and southern Aroostook County and in northern Penobscot and Washington counties, where some say it’s needed most to boost the economy due to a declining number of deer hunters.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory Council will hold a public meeting on when to hold that third week during a special meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22, at the department’s main headquarters at 284 State St. in Augusta.

At a meeting on Dec. 3, the council adopted the third week in October as the additional week of moose hunting in Wildlife Management Districts 2, 3, 6 and 11, as proposed by Commissioner Roland Martin.

Since then, Martin has changed his mind, and is asking the council to reconsider that position. He wants the matter brought back before the council to consider setting the season on the first week of the deer season, excluding residents-only day.

So, for 2010, the third week of moose season would be Nov. 1 through Nov. 6.

George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, said Thursday by e-mail that he had asked Martin on Tuesday to schedule the third week of the moose hunt in November instead of October.

“Scheduling the hunt in October, when camps and the north woods are full of grouse hunters will not help, and will also put more pressure on grouse populations in that area,” Smith wrote in a Dec. 15 letter to Martin.

“A November moose hunt makes much more sense, and will give a small but desperately needed boost to northern Maine’s economy,” he wrote.

To support SAM’s request, Matt Libby of Libby Camps in Ashland, who is a former Advisory Council member, explained in a letter to Martin on Wednesday why the third week should be in November instead of October.

Libby, a fifth-generation sporting camp owner, said the business side of deer hunting in northern Maine has severely declined.

“We may always have a decent third week due to the rut and a few big bucks left, but the rest of the season is nearly nonexistent,” Libby wrote. “Our economy in northern Maine needs all the help we can get.”

He said that in 1900 when his great-grandfather ran Libby Camps, Maine’s moose hunt started Oct. 15 and ran through November.

The argument then, Libby said, was that it was too easy to shoot moose during the rut and there would be more opportunity to hunt by starting the season later.

“The argument works equally well today,” he said. “I still think we need the ‘rut’ hunt in September, but I believe we could have more permits allocated in the future with a lower expected kill in November.”

“An October hunt for us and many camps in the north, conflicts with the many bird hunters we are blessed with,” Libby said. “Dumping more moose hunters in an area with a lot of bird hunters is not a good formula for a continued moose hunt.”

He added that too many hunters in an area “is like rush-hour traffic — it spawns stress and rash decisions, and does not create the quality hunt that Maine has been known for over the years.”

Smith said that at the Deer Task Force meeting on Dec. 3, Libby made a compelling argument “that the extra moose hunting opportunity should be offered in November to help sporting camps, guides and others to replace deer hunters who are no longer coming to that area to hunt whitetails in November.”

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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