Aroostook County Maine deer hunt

daughenbaugh hunter · 07-22-2009, 10:44 PM

I own land in Linneus maine. but i havent been there in 4 yrs, i was wondering for any of you Northern Maine guys has the Deer Hunting gotten any better? because my deer luck there is horrible. i see more moose than anything. and in aroostook is it still only Buck hunt? Thanks for any info i can get

Phil from Maine · 07-23-2009, 04:20 AM

Yes, it is still bucks only, as well as the archery hunt being bucks only. I have heard about them making the youth day hunt there as bucks only as well now. The last 2 winters has been really hard on the deer herd and Aroostook County has had it's share of hard winters as well. Although while checking for moose signs the deer signs look promising to me anyways. There is not alot of young deer showing up though. If you come up to Maine I wish you some good luck..

daughenbaugh hunter · 07-23-2009, 05:48 AM

you know phil maybe it is just me but i kind of regret buying the land i did now. Maine is a beautiful state and i think they are chocked full of wild game. great bear a moose hunting if you pull the lottery for the Moose. i like the partridge hunting too. But for me as i believe i may have told you before the whitetail hunting their is very sad. It seems to me once you leave aroostook county the deer are everywhere. when i leave linneus i take the old rt2 south to get out of the state mostly for the scenic view. but when i get around Lincoln and orono etc i see alot of Deer all the time. even in peoples yards. i lived in northern maine for about 2 yrs before coming back to illinois. and in 2 yrs i only seen 1 buck. do u think tht Aroostook is that much different than where lincoln is in weather? or is it mismanagedment of the deer population with the buck only. i have never seen a hard Rut there either. My brother in law who lives and grew up there near new limerick says it is the moose population that has killed of the deer, and it seems all my hunting buddies up there believe the same way. what do u think i should do? Illinois we are spoiled i shoot a high class deer every yr with my bow. i do everything everyone tells me about the maine hunt. sit in the swamps sit along logging rds fresh cut still all i see is moose 100s of them. heck i even see canadian lynx alot no deer

Phil from Maine · 07-23-2009, 12:11 PM

I am south of Aroostook County, and live in Washington County. We have the same problem, it is the heavey winters we are having as well as predators such as coyotes being the number 1 issue. Top that with less yarding areas from poor management of our deer yards and you have a big issue with deer populations. Although when you concider that Northern Maine had recieved over 200 inches of snow 2 years ago. The deer herd took a very hard hit. Last year really wasn't much better either. During the snow of 2 years ago even some moose was lost to the weather.I had a pic from back then on here where a moose was shoveled out of the snow. It had to be put down as it was stuck in the snow to long. That stuff can be a problem for us, but what we end up with is large deer that are strong enough to survive. I also find deer following and running across moose tracks here. I am thinking it is to try and loose the coyotes that are chasing after them. I am guess the coyote will pick up the moose scent so the deer can run free from them? I did find a yearling deer while brook fishing early this summer that coyotes had put down though. Top all that with bobcats and bears the deer are having it hard.

skybuster20ga · 07-23-2009, 02:00 PM

FROM ABOUT SKOWHEEGAN NORTH THE LAST TWO WINTERS HAVE BEEN PRETTY ROUGH. MY FATHER AND I SPEND 10 DAYS EACH NOVEMBER HUNTING IN EUSTIS ANd bingham areas and last yera in eustis we went about 30 miles on north flagstaff rd at idle speed checkin for tracks and we only saw one deer track crossing and it was a small doe at that. usually we kil atleast one good buck up there. then we got talking to the bioligists and they said they figured a 40% winter kill. hundreds were found dead in several yards. wasnt good at all. we did end up seeing a coupl deer but they were baldies. i think this year ill take some time to hunt but not up there for deer. i think they need some time to come back and thats gonna take a while and moderate winters to boot.

crokit · 07-24-2009, 06:07 AM

One issue I've found the past several years, hunting N of Moosehead Lake below Russell Mountain: The lumber companys are destroying vast acres of prime, documented yarding areas. How in Gods name are the Game Managers allowing this? The almighty dollar silences people for only so long. The sportsman in that region need to take the issue by the horns.