A proposal to extend Maine’s bobcat hunting season and beaver trapping season is being considered by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The proposed rule would lengthen the state’s bobcat hunting season statewide by one week, as well as lengthen the beaver trapping season by two weeks in certain areas of the state.
The proposal recently was discussed at a public hearing on Sept. 26 in Portland. Specifically, the DIF&W is proposing to add one week to the end of the bobcat hunting season statewide, which would make the season dates Dec. 1 to Feb. 21. This proposed rule would not affect current dates for Maine’s bobcat trapping season.
Also, in Wildlife Management Districts 15, 16, 20-26 and 29, where the beaver trapping season opens on Nov. 15 and runs until March 31, the DIF&W is proposing to open the beaver trapping season in these districts on the first day of general trapping season, Oct. 30, giving trappers about two more weeks of beaver trapping and aligning the start of the beaver season with the trapping seasons for other furbearers.
“There were over 60 people in attendance and comments on both sides — in favor of the proposal and opposed to it,” Becky Orff, secretary specialist for the DIF&W, said.
DIF&W is still accepting comments on the proposal. The public comment period ends on Oct. 6.
“The Department regularly adjusts furbearer hunting and trapping regulations in response to emerging scientific information, changes in trapper participation and biological data collection,” the DIF&W states in the proposal.
In this particular case, the DIF&W is responding to reduced harvest of certain species and decreasing trapping participation, which biologists believe is because of low fur prices — especially for beaver pelts — and new trapping regulations.
“Therefore, we are proposing several adjustments to current furbearer trapping and hunting seasons in an effort to allow more opportunity for hunters and trappers to pursue some species,” the DIF&W states in the proposal.
In 2015, trapping regulations were altered for several species in Maine to reduce the chance of accidentally capturing the Canada lynx, which is listed as a threatened species by the federal government. These changes included the banning of killer-type traps to capture bobcats, which the DIF&W expects will result in a reduced harvest of bobcats in Maine over the long term.
Meanwhile, metrics used to track bobcat populations in Maine “suggest a stable increasing population,” the DIF&W states in the proposal.
“Like most species in the country, we monitor the bobcat population by their population indices, and to do that we use harvest data,” Cory Mosby, DIF&W furbearer biologist, said. “That’s the first piece. And then to support that, we also hear anecdotally from regional staff and wardens that they are seeing more bobcats on the landscape than they did 10 to 15 years ago.”
The bobcat harvest numbers in Maine over the past 10 years have varied greatly from a high of 410 bobcats harvested in the 2007-2008 hunting and trapping seasons, to a low of 124 bobcats harvested in the 2013-2014 hunting and trapping seasons. In the most recent bobcat hunting and trapping season, 236 bobcats were harvested. Looking at those harvest numbers alone, some wildlife advocates have expressed concerns about the state’s bobcat population because fewer bobcats have been harvested recently than in years past, but Mosby said that harvest numbers don’t give a clear picture of a population.
“A lot of factors influence harvest,” Mosby said. “If fewer people are trapping and hunting, you’d see a lower overall harvest, so we look at the number of people who have pursued bobcats in a given year and how many have harvested a bobcat. Through those numbers, we can see a [bobcat] population trend that has been increasing. … It’s important to not just look at an overall harvest number.”
In addition to extending the bobcat hunting season and beaver trapping season, the proposed rule also would require hunters and trappers to submit teeth from all bobcats, fishers, martens and otters they harvest. These teeth, which may be provided as an individual tooth or connected to the lower jaw of the animal, will be submitted in conjunction with a tag that provides the following information: month of kill, species, sex, WMD of kill and town of kill.
This information will help department biologists monitor the impact of hunting and trapping on each of these species and help to ensure that they are being managed sustainably, according to the DIF&W.
After the public comment period closes on Oct. 6, DIF&W Commissioner Chandler Woodcock will meet with the DIF&W Advisory Council to discuss the proposed rule.
“Our advisory council meets this Friday, so the commissioner will be discussing the proposal and comments on Friday and making a decision after that at some point,” Nathan Webb, DIF&W special projects coordinator, said.
Public comments on the DIF&W’s season extension proposals can be submitted until 5 p.m. on Oct. 6, by email at Becky.Orff@maine.gov, by mail at 284 State Street 41 SHS, Augusta, ME 04333, or by fax at 207-287-6395. The public also is welcome to ask questions by calling Becky Orff at 207-287-5202.