Unless you are a blackpowder hunted, this fall’s deer hunt is over. Deer or no deer, that’s not all bad. There are some good things that accrue at the end of the hunt. No more grating alarm clocks stirring you slumber at 4 a.m. No more teeth-chattering vigils in cold treestands. No more toiletless mornings beside cold stumps.

And no more hunters’ heaps.

What’s a hunter’s heap? This is a November household phenomenon that is the perennial dread of housewives, especially those who don’t hunt. Most diehard deer hunters – like squirrels piling up winter nuts – generate a heap. My heap seems to grow larger with advancing age. It consists of knee-high rubber boots, two pair of wool socks, longjohns, a wool shirt, suspendered wool trouses, a sweater, a wool jacket, an orange vest and hat, gloves, a stump cushion, rifle and shells, and a daypack.

My wife coined that term “hunter’s heap” in the early years of our marriage before she took up deer hunting. “Take care if your heap,” she would admonish day after day during November. Wanting to please her, despite my hunt-day fatigue, I would dutifully pick up the heap and simlpy move it to another cranny in the house, hopefully one that was out of her sight. Now that she hunts, though, we have become a two-heap household and, thankfully, she has learned to co-exist with mutual piles of November hunt gear.

Beyond the heap, what kind of deer season was it?

The answer to the question depends on who you talk with. Acording to Mark Latti, press officer for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the November deer kill was expected to be less than las fall. It may even be below the Departmental harvest predictions this year of about 35,000 whitetails. The fal of 2002 was one of the biggest Maine deer harvests in 20 years. More than 38,000 deer were tagged. Anecdotal evidence – tagging station reports and comments from game wardens – suggests that this fall’s deer kill is down. Many tagging stations are reporting deer totals that are 15-30 percent below last year.

On the other hand, maine deer biologist Gerry Lavigne couseled me yesterday not to jump to any “rash conclusions.” Lavigne has a way with numbers and forecasting when it comes to Maine’s deer kill and he is adamant: “It is just too early to tell,” says Lavigne.

We do know that eather plays a pivotal role in Maine’s annual deer take. Lavigne concedes this. And November weather was not on the side of the deer hunter. Too much rain. Too darn warm. No snow, even at elevations. And during two of the four high-harvest Saturdays, it was windy enough to fly small planes with no engines. Combine all of this with last year’s tough winter with prolonged cold (more than 40 nights with below zero tempreatures) and you have the makings of a reduced harvest.

Needless to say, too, hunter effort plays a big part in the deer kill. Uncooperative weather keeps many hunters out of the woods. Having hunted deer most all of November in both the North Woods and the central farm country, I am convinced that hunter effort was down this fall. In fact, over the past few years I have noticed what seems to ve a significant decline in the number of deer hunters taking to the woods! Obviously, nothing will bring the annual deer harvest down faster than hunters who don’t hunt!

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb. (Columnists, unlike scientists like Lavigne, have the latitude at times to jump to conclusions.) With blackpowder deer kills representing only about 3-4 repcent of the total fall harvest, these yet-to-be reported figures are practically negligible. So I’ll bet that this fall’s deer harvest will do well to break 30,000.

This is not say that it was not a good hunt. For my money, deer or no deer, the November deer hunt is always a pleasant, memory-rich period of the year punctuated with lots of scenery, solitude, and clean air. Although neither Diane nor I brought home any venison this year, we saw enough of those wonderful wary whitetails to keep it interesting.

My hunting log book for this November reports: 6 doe sightings, two large buck sightings, and one shot taken, unsuccessfully. On Day One a large doe stepped up onto a spruce knoll and stood within 10 feet of my ground blind. On Day Three I spooked an 8-pointer from his swale bed. No shots taken in either case. Slower reflexes or a waning passion for the kill? Perhaps a little of both.

If you got a deer, congratulations. You no doubt earned the right to enjoy some pan-fried vension steaks this winter. If you came home empty-handed like me, don’t let it get you down. Lord willing, there will be other Novembers lying ahead with unfulfilled promise and high expectation. Meanwhile, clean up the heap, oil Old Betsy, and sleep in on Saturdays.

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 Department of Fish and Wildlife.

His email address is [email protected].