Thursday, July 29, 2010
New State Discharge Law
Getting ready for the season I was target shooting the other day at my range as I and the family has done for years when a state trooper showed up. It seems a neighbor complained and that I was to be informed of the new law on discharge of firearms. Previous law allowed you to target shoot on your own land, and yes I have a back stop. The new law requires you to 100 yards, 300 feet from any type of building or storage area. Well yes there is a building on my neighbors that was within the 100 yard rule. So the range is shut down until the farm tractor can plow another pile of dirt 20 yards out. Make sure you know the new rule, 100 yards regardless of property ownership
Amherst Mountain Plan
Outline below is the information regarding the 5,000 acres of property the state is now holding. As expected things are changing from "the way Maine was". The company has blocked 22-00-00 so no access and now it is blocked from Fletcher Bluff and PC lands. So if you are out fishing, hunting, traveling and such to Bald Bluff or camp to fish, there is only one way to enter the property now and if coming cross country you can not exit out to route 9 anymore. So if driving from Old Town, you have driven 45 miles only to dead end block feet from route 9.
Dear Interested Person:
The Maine Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands invites you to attend a Public Meeting on the Amherst Mountains Community Forest Management Plan on July 13th at 6:00 p.m. at the Bangor Motor Inn & Conference Center located at 701 Hogan Road in Bangor.
The Amherst Mountains Community Forest (AMCF) is a unique state-municipal partnership involving 4,974 acres of forestland surrounding six ponds in the town of Amherst. The parcel was acquired by the Maine Department of Conservation with assistance from the Forest Society of Maine in June of 2009, with funds from the Forest Legacy Program, the Lands for Maine’s Future program and numerous charitable foundations and individuals.
This Amherst Mountains Community Forest Management Plan will append the Bureau’s Eastern Interior Region Management Plan, providing resource protection and management guidance for this property over the next 14-year period. The Plan has been six months in the making and has included a public scoping meting, two Advisory Committee meetings and a focus group meeting with the Town of Amherst’s Community Forest Committee.
The purpose of this final Public Meeting is to receive feedback on a Final Draft Management Plan. BPL staff will present an overview of the proposed plan, followed by an opportunity for members of the public to offer comments.
More information on the management planning process is available at http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/planning/amherstmountains/index.shtml. The Final Draft Plan will be downloadable from this website by July 6th – one week before the Public Meeting. Written comments will be accepted until July 27th – two weeks after the Public Meeting. After this comment period, the Final Plan will be prepared for review and adoption by the Commissioner.
Please contact me directly with questions, requests for paper copies of the Final Draft Plan, or written comments.
Thank you,
Misha Mytar, Senior Planner
Maine Bureau of Parks & Lands
P.O. Box 343
Sullivan, ME 04664
(207) 460-4818
misha.mytar@maine.gov
Dear Interested Person:
The Maine Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands invites you to attend a Public Meeting on the Amherst Mountains Community Forest Management Plan on July 13th at 6:00 p.m. at the Bangor Motor Inn & Conference Center located at 701 Hogan Road in Bangor.
The Amherst Mountains Community Forest (AMCF) is a unique state-municipal partnership involving 4,974 acres of forestland surrounding six ponds in the town of Amherst. The parcel was acquired by the Maine Department of Conservation with assistance from the Forest Society of Maine in June of 2009, with funds from the Forest Legacy Program, the Lands for Maine’s Future program and numerous charitable foundations and individuals.
This Amherst Mountains Community Forest Management Plan will append the Bureau’s Eastern Interior Region Management Plan, providing resource protection and management guidance for this property over the next 14-year period. The Plan has been six months in the making and has included a public scoping meting, two Advisory Committee meetings and a focus group meeting with the Town of Amherst’s Community Forest Committee.
The purpose of this final Public Meeting is to receive feedback on a Final Draft Management Plan. BPL staff will present an overview of the proposed plan, followed by an opportunity for members of the public to offer comments.
More information on the management planning process is available at http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/planning/amherstmountains/index.shtml. The Final Draft Plan will be downloadable from this website by July 6th – one week before the Public Meeting. Written comments will be accepted until July 27th – two weeks after the Public Meeting. After this comment period, the Final Plan will be prepared for review and adoption by the Commissioner.
Please contact me directly with questions, requests for paper copies of the Final Draft Plan, or written comments.
Thank you,
Misha Mytar, Senior Planner
Maine Bureau of Parks & Lands
P.O. Box 343
Sullivan, ME 04664
(207) 460-4818
misha.mytar@maine.gov
Downeast Brooks
Wow I had a nice feed of brook trout last night. The boys had been down route 9 on a brook near the Machias and found some nice fourteen inch fish in the fast water. The brook was off the 52-00-00 road near the West Branch. Talk about another wonderful campsite, both Airline and West Branch are not used much time of year, nor during deer or trapping season in the fall and they are free to use.
Allagash and Chamberlain
Well back for another trip to Chamberlain and Telos Lake. Water level was fishable, but the temperature was over 90 degrees and unbearable. I love the area so much I had applied for a ranger position on the waterway, so the kids and I decided to make a week of fishing, while also doing the interview. The other campers and gate folks must have thought I was nuts changing into a suit and walking around the campground getting ready for the interview. My good friend the Fire Chief in Bangor once told me that if you can't dress up one day in your life for an interview, something was wrong. So in the pouring rain, I cleaned up, shaved and put the suit and tie together, along with black loffers.
After the interview we fished Harrington Lake, there is brand new boat ramp to Harringon, on a shale road base (another flat). At the outlet of Harrington Katahdin Forest has a wonderful campground with lots of sites - in three days no other parties were present. The road to the dam has been gated this year, but the gates are down and the water level is back up to the way it was a few years ago, adding about six feet more water around the lake. Harrington is a deep lake at the south end with wonderful views of our big mountain, trout, togue and white fish roam the lake, along with cray fish. We saw no other boats or fisherman.
Since it was so hot, I tried to keep the tent cool and did not install the rain fly. Remember Murphys Law, while it rained and rained starting at 2am, enough to fill the tub of the tent and all the sleeping bags before we could get a fly up - we had a tough time finding the fly at 2am, so a trip to Millinocket to dry gear and eat at Pelletiers Log House.
Chamberlain and Telos are our prime fishing holes, at the south end of Telos out in front of High Bank and up the lake across from Lock Dam. As we hit the big lake in our 19 foot boat I openned the motor up, seeing a few canoers paddling the shore I went to throttle down - no luck the boat was wide open and roaring. So I pulled the emergency switch to kill it. It appears that the rotted throttle cable I meant to replace last year had let go. So in standing on the rear platform I cut the cable and went to work with a pair of vicegrips. I had Zach start the boat as I attempted to smoothly operate the power - no luck, back wide open again - the live bait being trolled at 30 mph was not happy, nor was I as I was standing on the platform holding on for the ride. Next thought was using a string to pull the throttle forward as it spring loaded to return. I was hoping to troll at 2mph, this didn't work either, so we limped back to the campsite, loaded and headed home.
After the interview we fished Harrington Lake, there is brand new boat ramp to Harringon, on a shale road base (another flat). At the outlet of Harrington Katahdin Forest has a wonderful campground with lots of sites - in three days no other parties were present. The road to the dam has been gated this year, but the gates are down and the water level is back up to the way it was a few years ago, adding about six feet more water around the lake. Harrington is a deep lake at the south end with wonderful views of our big mountain, trout, togue and white fish roam the lake, along with cray fish. We saw no other boats or fisherman.
Since it was so hot, I tried to keep the tent cool and did not install the rain fly. Remember Murphys Law, while it rained and rained starting at 2am, enough to fill the tub of the tent and all the sleeping bags before we could get a fly up - we had a tough time finding the fly at 2am, so a trip to Millinocket to dry gear and eat at Pelletiers Log House.
Chamberlain and Telos are our prime fishing holes, at the south end of Telos out in front of High Bank and up the lake across from Lock Dam. As we hit the big lake in our 19 foot boat I openned the motor up, seeing a few canoers paddling the shore I went to throttle down - no luck the boat was wide open and roaring. So I pulled the emergency switch to kill it. It appears that the rotted throttle cable I meant to replace last year had let go. So in standing on the rear platform I cut the cable and went to work with a pair of vicegrips. I had Zach start the boat as I attempted to smoothly operate the power - no luck, back wide open again - the live bait being trolled at 30 mph was not happy, nor was I as I was standing on the platform holding on for the ride. Next thought was using a string to pull the throttle forward as it spring loaded to return. I was hoping to troll at 2mph, this didn't work either, so we limped back to the campsite, loaded and headed home.
Bear Baiting
Well here we are on the eve of another bait season. Thirty days until season opens. If you haven't had a chance to read my book "Black Bear Hunting and Baiting" there are a few still on sale at Blue Seal Feeds or you can read it for free online at the home page (in word).
I would like to offer a few suggestions to the sportsman in search of a black bear. First bait sites are hard to come by, if you are on land other than yours, you must have permission. Most large landowners, especially paper companies charge a fee per bait site of $100 and bait sites are leased on a square mile basis. Baiters can get pretty terrorial to say the least, especially when paying hundreds of dollars to lease a site and are responsible for all liter and tresspass laws. So please take care and make sure you have proper permission and labeling of your site in accordance with the law. Having bait sites, closer than a mile apart result in overlapping of the bear to multiple baits and in fact reduces chances as the bear can get all the bait it wants.
This is a berry year, meaning there is a lot of natural food for bear. That is both good and bad for the baiter. It may take a little extra to get your bear coming, but once it finds you then it is important to keep the bait coming.
Type of bait and lures to use is as wide open as the size of the bear. How the site looks and the clean up is important to me. I perferr to use natural baits and ground cubbles with logs. This results in no mess and no litter issues. A lot of folks use barrells/drums and all sorts of products. This creates a huge mess and lots of work, when all you need a 3 lb coffee can of bait a day or so. Remember the black bear stomach is relatively small, not much bigger than a few donuts. Bears are not meat eaters, in fact they perferr grains, nuts and grass over carrion. Not to say the beaver doesn't work well.
Thought should be given to the amount of bait you will need and how you plan to tend the site once started. I go through about (2) drums per bait per year, or 5 gallons a day at a hard working site, this is pasteries. Natual bait can be done with a coffee can a day. So really think this through, do you really want to get pasteries that are wrapped and the work that goes into that. If you elect to do this, I would suggest moving the television outside, get a board three feet long, rest the board on your chair or stool and drive a nail in between your legs. You can slice a package open on the nail, bend and dump to a pail on the right side of the chair and put the wrapper in a pail on the left side of the chair. This is redneck baiting.
Location of site is the next step and takes a while to learn, I can all but bet when you find an area, someone else already has permission or is nearby. Study topo maps looking for wet holes/swamps and ridges of beech nuts. Think that is you were 300 pounds with a fur coat where you would want to be in 70-80 degree weather. The law requires that bait sites be at least 50 yards off a trail or road and there are other restrictions on dumps and such.
Next we will talk locations and tending the site. You can get all this and more in the book for free. Remember Know The Law!
I would like to offer a few suggestions to the sportsman in search of a black bear. First bait sites are hard to come by, if you are on land other than yours, you must have permission. Most large landowners, especially paper companies charge a fee per bait site of $100 and bait sites are leased on a square mile basis. Baiters can get pretty terrorial to say the least, especially when paying hundreds of dollars to lease a site and are responsible for all liter and tresspass laws. So please take care and make sure you have proper permission and labeling of your site in accordance with the law. Having bait sites, closer than a mile apart result in overlapping of the bear to multiple baits and in fact reduces chances as the bear can get all the bait it wants.
This is a berry year, meaning there is a lot of natural food for bear. That is both good and bad for the baiter. It may take a little extra to get your bear coming, but once it finds you then it is important to keep the bait coming.
Type of bait and lures to use is as wide open as the size of the bear. How the site looks and the clean up is important to me. I perferr to use natural baits and ground cubbles with logs. This results in no mess and no litter issues. A lot of folks use barrells/drums and all sorts of products. This creates a huge mess and lots of work, when all you need a 3 lb coffee can of bait a day or so. Remember the black bear stomach is relatively small, not much bigger than a few donuts. Bears are not meat eaters, in fact they perferr grains, nuts and grass over carrion. Not to say the beaver doesn't work well.
Thought should be given to the amount of bait you will need and how you plan to tend the site once started. I go through about (2) drums per bait per year, or 5 gallons a day at a hard working site, this is pasteries. Natual bait can be done with a coffee can a day. So really think this through, do you really want to get pasteries that are wrapped and the work that goes into that. If you elect to do this, I would suggest moving the television outside, get a board three feet long, rest the board on your chair or stool and drive a nail in between your legs. You can slice a package open on the nail, bend and dump to a pail on the right side of the chair and put the wrapper in a pail on the left side of the chair. This is redneck baiting.
Location of site is the next step and takes a while to learn, I can all but bet when you find an area, someone else already has permission or is nearby. Study topo maps looking for wet holes/swamps and ridges of beech nuts. Think that is you were 300 pounds with a fur coat where you would want to be in 70-80 degree weather. The law requires that bait sites be at least 50 yards off a trail or road and there are other restrictions on dumps and such.
Next we will talk locations and tending the site. You can get all this and more in the book for free. Remember Know The Law!
Deer Permits
Reminder that you have only one day remaining to send in for your any deer permit, or if done on line until August 16th. If you can read this you can do the on line permit request and its free!
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