Maine Issued 23 percent fewer any-deer permits this year.

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

From year to year, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife tinkers with the number of “any-deer” permits it hands out in an effort to meet department management goals.
Harsh winter hard on the deer? Fewer of those coveted permits — often called “doe permits,” or “doe tags” — are issued. Deer population thriving after a mild winter? The number of permits will increase.
With one of those permits in hand, a hunter is allowed to target non-antlered deer, if they choose. Without the permit, hunters are looking for antlered deer, typically males.
 This year, the department, with input from biologists, will issue just 28,770 any-deer permits. That’s a reduction of 8,415, or 23 percent, from a year ago. It also coincides with a 24 percent reduction in the DIF&W’s doe harvest objective, according to head deer biologist Kyle Ravana.
“The driving force in permits can be attributed to the now-second winter in a row that was above average in terms of severity,” Ravana said in an email. “The 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 winters were the 14th and 11th worst winters for deer, respectively, since the 1950s.”
  Ravana said that last winter, when many parts of the state absorbed snowstorm after snowstorm that piled up feet of snow, an estimated 9.3 percent to 16.9 percent of the state’s deer — depending on region — died.
“The long-term average in Maine is 9.7 percent,” Ravana wrote. “As such, we withdrew permits in order to compensate for a potentially higher level of mortality experienced during this past winter. By doing so, we are providing the deer population with a bit of a cushion to better absorb the increased mortality levels for the year.”
Over the past five years, the level of any-deer permits issued has varied widely as biologists responded to winter conditions and the anticipated loss of deer.
Those totals:
2014: 37,185
2013: 46,710
2012: 34,160
2011: 26,390
2010: 48,825
But while fewer permits will be issued, hunters in more of the state’s 29 Wildlife Management Districts will have shots at earning them. A year ago, permits were only allotted in 12 WMDs. This year, permits will be up for grabs in 15.
Source; John Holyoke Bangor Daily News