Another deer season has come and gone and I can now say the deer herds in Western Maine are in deep trouble.

There are naive judges who let poachers off who should have been incarcerated for lengthy jail times; the deer wintering habitat is all but completely cut off; and coyotes run the remaining deer relentlessly.

I have hunted the western mountains for 50 years and will never live long enough to see it change. I doubt my children will, either.

To start the healing properly, there must be judges who understand that the state has an Inland Fish and Wildlife Department who are the real police of the lakes and woods for all the people of the state. Their people should be treated with the respect they deserve in a court room.

Second, people who cut off deer habitat should be forced to replant the exact cover and eating plots they cut, whether it be oak or beech or cedar.

Lastly, coyotes should eradicated as much as possible (I believe they didn’t cross into Maine until the 1970s). Everything short of poisoning should be employed (and the Canadian Lynx is doing very well, indeed, in Canada).

Ollie Emery, Mechanic Falls

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