MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 1, 2023
There was a time when northern Maine had a well-deserved reputation across the country as one of the premier deer hunting destinations. That’s no longer the case. Most of the harvest now comes from the southern half. Last year, the legislature passed, and Gov. Janet Mills signed, a bill drafted by the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine that will provide $40 million over the next four years to the Land for Maine’s Future program to purchase lands with deer wintering areas as a priority. The new antlerless permit program, first implemented for the fall 2022 hunt, will provide roughly another $1 million. All those funds can be matched with federal funding at a 3:1 ratio, meaning over $160 million available to purchase deer wintering habitat in northern and eastern Maine. ~ Bob Humphrey