While the statutory season is over, serious deer hunters know the pursuit of whitetails is a a year-round endeavor. In addition to filling the void between seasons, offseason scouting offers valuable clues to the game we pursue. The information can be useful to the individual hunter, but participating in citizen science programs can also aid in management efforts.

Scouting immediately after the season offers distinct benefits. Deer are still following roughly the same patterns, and by now there’s usually enough snow on the ground to better betray their daily movements and areas of concentration. Following the heaviest trails, you’ll often find more subtle clues like rubs. Shallow, oval depressions in the snow give away bedding areas. Even brown pellets and yellow snow stand out more starkly.

Some deer have already started dropping and as winter’s cold sets in, more will shed their antlers. Hunting for them can tell you not only which bucks made it through the season, but where their hideouts are. With a little training, you can even teach your bird dog to seek them out, which gives them a welcome winter workout as well.

Much of management is based on science and if you live in the northern half of Maine, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) has just launched a new citizen science program. Participation in the Northern Maine Wintering Deer Survey is simple. From Jan. 1 through March 31, you need only to report the location, date and time, number of deer seen (dead or alive) and whether you have seen deer at this location before through IFW’s website. This information will help the agency better understand where deer are wintering and inform potential land acquisition, conservation and management efforts.

By late summer the deer hunter’s thoughts and efforts are already turning toward scouting and the approaching season. Meanwhile, there’s another citizen science project you can participate in. Similar to the winter survey, IFW invites hunters to be a “deer spy,” reporting location, date and time, and the number of does, bucks and fawns observed between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. The information helps determine local population status and how to more accurately manage the deer in certain areas through allotments of antlerless permits.

Once the real season kicks in, you’ll be principally preoccupied with procuring protein. If you’re keeping a log, and you should be, you can also share some observations with yet another citizen science program, the Rut Watch. Hunters can share the location, date and time of rut sign and behavior like rubs, scrapes, sparring, chasing and breeding. Among other things, the information helps hone in peak breeding periods, which is useful to both biologists and hunters.

As winter sets in, you could be sitting by the woodstove working on a jigsaw puzzle. Or you could get out and about. Every observation provides another piece of the puzzle, and with each piece the picture becomes clearer. You’ll be helping yourself, the resource and those who manage it.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and Registered Maine Guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at: bob@bobhumphrey.com