The Bowdoin Orient

December 1, 2000
Volume CXXXII, Number 10

'Tis the season for deer

by ADAM URENECK, STAFF WRITER

   To most Bowdoin students, November in Maine represents leafless trees, cold drizzle, and approaching finals. To Mainers, it means deer season. Annually, hunters polish off their rifles and put on blaze orange to search for a big buck.
   In 1998, 209,992 hunters went into the great Maine woods. Nearly two hundred and ten thousand armed citizens left their homes to search for a deer. A common question often asked is, "Aren't the woods a war zone? Why aren't people shot?"
   The reality is that some people are accidentally shot. Four people were wounded or killed this last year alone, despite the required blaze orange outfits. Does this mean that Bowdoin students should not exit their cozy dorms? No, but be careful when you enter the woods. A couple of simple precautions could prevent disaster.
   First of all, if you feel as though you need to take a quick cross-country run, don't wear white mittens and a gray sweatshirt. You'll look like a white tail deer prancing through the woods.
   Wear unnatural colors, such as light blues, reds, and yellow. Most important, remember to put on some item of clothing that is blaze orange. The local Wal-Mart or convenience store has an entire aisle dedicated to such items.
   Four different forms of weaponry-the shotgun, the rifle, the bow, and the muzzleloader-take deer. The type of device one chooses depends on the difficulty the hunter wishes to make the hunt (the bow being the hardest to use and the rifle being the easiest), the regulation for the town in which the hunter plans to hunt, and the season allotted by the state.
   Brunswick, because of its higher human population density, requires hunters to use shotguns and bows only. Shotguns fire a rifled slug or buckshot, which could be accurate up to 100 yards, if you're lucky. A rifle bullet, on the other hand, is accurate up to 250 yards away and can travel up to a mile before hitting the dirt.
   A total of 31,473 deer were shot last year; a success rate of 17.8 percent for hunters. The number of deer shot in Maine is comparatively low compared to more southern and western states, though.
   In Texas, over half a million deer are shot each year. This is precisely why men and women from around the country come to Maine to hunt deer. It's hard to shoot a deer here. Maine also boasts some of the largest white tail deer in the country. An average-size deer in Pennsylvania is 30 pounds less than the average Maine deer-a fact that most Mainers are proud to tell.
   Some sections of the state are much more productive than others. Vassalboro, a small farming community just north of Waterville, boasts the highest deer kill of any other town in Maine with 256 slain deer.
   Washington County, a wasteland for deer hunters filled with coyotes and blueberry barrens, has many towns that don't report a single deer shot. How many deer were killed in Brunswick?
   In 1999, 138 deer were harvested from the scattered coastal pines. This is a high number, compared to the northern end of the state, given Brunswick's limited hunting space.
   Brunswick, like many other southern coastal towns, has one of the highest deer densities in the state. In fact, extra deer permits were issued for bow hunters the last two years. The coastal islands in Casco Bay had to call in sharpshooters to cure deer overpopulation.
   Deer hunting in Maine is an established tradition that seems almost anachronistic in an age of packaged hamburger and supermarkets. Why then do deer hunters purchase $500 rifles, spend $25 on ammunition and $200 for clothing?
   The answer is simple-because their fathers did it.