hunting in Maine

Dani

Dani

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Hey y'all.....

I can't go west this year because of work (WTH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY does it have to be such a pain in my butt???? I know, I know I am being a big baby....I'm okay with that right now). Anyway, after looking at my subpoenas, it's looking like the earliest I might be able to schedule time off is for early November. And if I scheduled around Veterans Day, that gives me a "free" day for time off work. Long story short, I was initially looking at grouse hunting in the southern Appalachians. Then I thought about it and thought, well if I want bird contacts, go much further north. And use the week in January that I was thinking about for something else...like woodcock in LA or SC.

Soooooooo early November in Maine for grouse? What might I expect for weather? Does anyone have any suggestions on where I might consider hunting in Maine for grouse? I'm sure the leaves will all be down by then? I don't know if I will have two dogs or not. I will have Belle but I am not sure when Reggie will be ready to come home. I have a note in with the trainer on if they have a better idea on "when".

If I get up that way, I'd love to meet up with Troy (if he's available) for a duck hunt and I sent him a note. I'm not sure if there will be any other folk up that way who might want to get together for dinner, if nothing else.

Thoughts are appreciated....

Dani
 
Sounds like a great trip!
Bears: depends on the weather. In PA, bear season is mid-November, if I remember correctly they normally denned up around December 1 there. But I wouldn't worry about bears. They generally avoid people with dogs
 
Maine for grouse is a pretty big subject, because it's a large state with diverse covers and weather. The great thing is, most private land is available to the public, if it's not posted or painted with a purple slash it's ok to hunt. Best to ask if there's a house nearby though, just courtesy. There are some no hunting game sanctuary lands, they're spread out around the state. They are tiny in the overall scheme of things, but best to check first. There are maps on the IF&W site.

In the south part of the state and along the coast (downeast) the weather should be crisp autumn. Up north and west it might be cold and possibly a little snow, but not likely until the week of Thanksgiving. With the global warming thing though, it might be warm. [:\]In any event don't expect to supplement your tan.

The month of November is deer season. Put orange on the dog as well as yourself. The woods can be pretty dark and a flash of white gets attention. Not as many bird hunters as early, but there's plenty of land to hunt anyway. I wouldn't worry about bears, they get pretty spooky by November or are taking the nap. Quill pigs is my big worry, luckily my dogs haven't wrestled one. Yet. Knock on wood. My lab Gunner hates woodchucks with a passion for reasons unknown, I hope he doesn't mistake old porky for a clover pig.

My camp is in the Greenville area. I don't know if I can get up there at that time, since we normally go for Thanksgiving week. I need to work sometime. ;-) Should I be able to get there, I'd enjoy a get together and a hunt. If you're interested in the NW area of the state, please let me know and I'll give you a few suggestions. The area is vast, the hardest decision you'll have is should I stop here, or drive around the next corner?
 
Dani said:
Oh yeah. Will the bears be hibernating yet?
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Don't worry about bears--they are nowhere near as scary as snakes!

Maine has a shit load of bears, and they get hunted hard with a season that just started. I see bear shit and tracks everywhere in the woods during the fishing season. A few years back there was a mama and three yearlings denned up about 40 feet from a suburban house in a subdivision in Old Town.

That said, compared to other states, we have comparatively few bear issues. Bears knock over bird feeders, and they raise hell with bee hives imported for blueberry or other farms, and they get into the garbage from time to time.

But other than those I have seen in the road while driving, and bears on garbage dumpsters back when state parks here had dumpsters in every camp ground, I have never seen a bear in the woods in Maine, and never had one bother my campsites or any camp I was staying in.

I saw a lot of bears when I lived in NJ, and have had bears after my food while camping in Michigan, Ontario, the Adirondacks, and California. Never in Maine. Most campers here don't even bother to hang food except at heavily used campsites.

With the exception of people who run hounds for bears, I almost never hear of negative bear/dog encounters.

Early November may still have bears running around, especially in a year when there is a good mast crop and the bears are still feeding on acorns, beech nuts, etc. A few bears get shot every year incidentally by Maine deer hunters in November. But I would not worry about your safety or your dogs. I'm not saying bear encounters never happen, but they are really rare. Lots of friends with dogs have had issues with porcupines, skunks, feral cats and even woodchucks. Can't think of any who have had bear issues.


As for your bird questions, there are definitely still partridge around in November, and you'll have less competition than in October because the locals will mostly be hunting deer. (I love November duck hunting here because all my local spots clear out.) Leaves will be off the trees, and partridge will have been shot at already and be pretty wary, running or flushing way out in front of the dogs. Bring your tight chokes for longer shots.

Woodcock season runs to November 21 here this year. They'll still be around but tend to be feast or famine in the later part of the season. If you are hunting a cover where flight birds on their way south just dropped in, it will be cosmic. But most of the local birds will be gone by then.

A couple of things to remember.

(1) No Sunday hunting in Maine. If you want to hunt 7 days, make your trip somewhere along the NH border and spend your Sundays across the state line. Rangeley area in Maine also gives you access to Coos County NH with a short drive. (But don't expect solitude.)
(2) In general), the farther north you go, the more and less pressured birds you will find. Ditto for getting farther from populations centers and nearby logging roads easily accessed by road hunters. But in November, you stand a good chance of having snow on the ground in the north country. I recall a 12" snow storm on Halloween even down on the coast. You can really get yourself stuck if you are deep in the woods when 12-18" of snow falls.
(3) You can also head way east. Check out the Grand Lake Stream area, and Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. Lower elevation, warmer, close to the coast, but still quite remote. (Not so much right close to Grand Lake Stream, but get 20-30 miles out and the crowds will thin.
(4) Don't count on cell service once you are off pavement--and even on paved roads, there are big holes in coverage.
(5) It was a miserable wet spring and summer here. My guess is partridge numbers will be down this year.
(6) Northern Maine has a lot of spruce grouse, which are not legal to shoot here. Make sure you know the difference. (Local rule--it it flies, it's probably a ruffed grouse. If it stays on the ground, or flies 8 feet to tree branch, probably a spruce grouse. (Although ruffed grouse in unpressured areas can also be pretty numb. (Number than a hake, as the local saying goes.)

If your travels take you through Brunswick or Augusta area, get in touch and we can at least meet for coffee or beer or lunch as you pass through. Early November is generally not prime duck hunting season, but I can get you out if you like. I'd offer to show you some upland covers, but the truth is I don't hunt upland much. (No dog as I am allergic.) The colder, nastier, and snowier it is while you are here, the better the chances for good duck numbers, and the tougher it will be to get back into the deep woods for upland birds

.
 
Agreed on former comments. I've been hunting fort Kent area since about 2013. It's a long haul from CT, but is always worth it. I've hunted Rangley area, and while scenic, there were way too many hunters. Go far out. Go to the north Maine woods. November might be a bit cold, we usually go Columbus Day time. Last year we went to Errol, NH. Lots of snow there in November. I saw one single grouse over 4 days, with a well trained Brittany. Take it for what it's worth.

Also plenty of Meese out there. Always fun to see them when you're from the Dixie of New England.
 
I've hunted in the North Maine Woods the last 3 years. I camped and hunted out of my truck. Last fall's trip was a mess after I got a flat tire on Golden Rd less than a mile after the check point. Drove back to Millinocket and ended up staying in a hotel for a night waiting for a set of better tires to come in from Bangor. I'll be heading up again in mid October.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuDtp4e1MOo

Shoot me a PM and I'll do my best to answer any questions I can.
 
I haven't hunted that late, so no information on that. I may go in October this year, but I'm not overly excited about getting on the road since I just I just got home from being in Wyoming for 3 months.

The only thing I'd add to the helpful and detailed comments here is that even though a lot of birds are shot off the road, it seems like in many areas they like the areas immediately around roads (clover and cover) better than areas further back. I think I've hiked past a lot of birds trying to find birds in out of the way areas. This may not apply to what is going on in November.

You can shoot the birds right off most of the gravel "roads" as long as you are out of your truck, so you may want to plan bringing a nice short barreled and easy loading gun specifically for road scraping them. :).
 
I'm gonna expound a little on something Jeff mentioned. Much of Maine has had a miserably wet spring and summer. Typically wet years are not great for grouse brood survival. My wife or I walk our pointing lab at least 4 miles every day, through areas where traditionally the dog points several birds every day. One or both of us is in the Greenville or Millinocket area for the entire summer so we put in lots of miles. As of Sunday when I returned to CT, the total bird count this season is two. Perhaps the birds are back in the green growth feeding on mushrooms, which is a bumper crop, but I'm not optimistic. Or maybe Gunners nose has failed....although it still works fine for treats.[smile] Sorry to be Johnny Raincloud.
 
SJ Fairbank said:
I'm gonna expound a little on something Jeff mentioned. Much of Maine has had a miserably wet spring and summer. Typically wet years are not great for grouse brood survival. My wife or I walk our pointing lab at least 4 miles every day, through areas where traditionally the dog points several birds every day. One or both of us is in the Greenville or Millinocket area for the entire summer so we put in lots of miles. As of Sunday when I returned to CT, the total bird count this season is two. Perhaps the birds are back in the green growth feeding on mushrooms, which is a bumper crop, but I'm not optimistic. Or maybe Gunners nose has failed....although it still works fine for treats.[:)] Sorry to be Johnny Raincloud.
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That info is appreciated!!!!
 
Later in the fall might be the ticket, leaves will be down and and colder weather should thin out the mushrooms.

When I hunted in 2020 it had been a dry end of summer and fall, so by mid October leaves were all but gone in the northern half of the state. There were lots of road birds being killed. pic from October 8th 2020
Mountain View.jpg

2021 and 2022 had better rainfall in the summer and fall and the leaves were still very thick. Less birds were being seen on the roads. The woods were full of mushrooms those years, giants 10-12 inches across the caps.
Pic from Oct. 7 2021
20211007_143558.jpeg20211008_085525.jpg

Grouse crop contents from 2021
20211009_124913.jpeg
 
I wish you luck Charles. I've hunted grouse in northern Maine almost every year since the late 60's. For comparison, 2021 and 22 were among the best years in the last 20. Let's hope they're fattening up on those mushrooms.

Even with the lack of sightings so far, I'll be there to give it the old college try. I'm getting to the age where there may not be too many next years of trudging up and down hills. One of my best friends and I have made it a tradition for some years, and the dog would never forgive me if I told him we weren't going. Plus there's always a glass of scotch by the fireplace, and lies about the old days to tell and retell.
 
For another point of comparison, my wife and I spent a week in late September IN 2020 staying at a sporting camp in the Allagash region to hike and fish. Ruffed grouse were as thick as I have ever seen. We started taking over/under bets on how many we'd see in the road on our drive from camp out the main road, about 3 miles. The under never won, and numbers were typically between 15 and 20. It was like a plague. Our last day was 2 days before the partridge opener, and if I'd had a shotgun with me, I'd have extended for the best day of upland hunting in my life. Alas, the shotgun was 4 hours south in my gun cabinet. That was a near-record drought summer. A pool I usually fish at the base of a waterfall was full of stagnant water with a trickle over the falls, and water gurgling through the cobbles but mostly not visible below. If not for the spruce and fir, I'd have thought I was somewhere in the desert SW.

EDITED TO ADD CRITICAL CONTEXT THAT WAS IN MY BRAIN BUT DID NOT MAKE IT OUT OF MY FINGERS. THOSE COSMICALLY HIGH PARTRIDGE NUMBERS IN THE ALLAGASH REGION WERE IN LATE SEPTEMBER 2020. Anyone who knows me would know I would never the cat out of the bag and attract a crowd if they were there this year. [;)]
 
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Jeff,

I think you're right on, it seems that dry springs/early summers favor a good grouse population. I remember years ago there were theories about a nexus between rabbit populations and bird populations. The theory was that more rabbits means more predators, which cause the rabbit population to crash and the predators switch to alternate prey (birds). I could never tell for sure. I have seen hawks kill grouse many times, but I have no idea if there is/was a connection to rabbit populations. So, my best success at prognosticating the number of grouse has been weather based.

Heck, we'll get out there anyway. Hunters need to be eternal optimists, there must be a bird under the next tree up the hill.
 
Thanks a ton y'all for your help!!!! I really appreciate it.

As far as bird numbers go.....I can promise you that y'all have more grouse than we do down here. Even in down years. I do hope that I can get Belle on birds though so the info about the wet spring and summer is helpful.

I'm not overly worried about deer hunters in the woods at the same time. Our deer season down here is as long as the small game season so if I want to hunt birds, I'm always hunting in areas where the possibility is that there is a deer hunter hanging around. That said, I'll make sure the dogs are wearing their orange as well. Reggie may or may not be ready to go at the time frame that I am thinking of going. I talked with the breeder/trainer and they said maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe. So, we'll see.

Good luck Charles. Hope to hear that you had a great year up there. Shadow is a handsome fella too.
 
I think you are going to have a great time. You cannot beat the Maine partridge hunting experience. Remember the name change when you cross the state line so people know what you're talking about:)
 
i've been told you gotta say it right too....something like pahtridge
 
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