"Killing coyotes may temporarily save a few deer for hunters to shoot",,,,,,,,,. "But the Legislature -- not coyotes -- is largely to blame for northern Maine's low deer population".........."In the late 1990s, under pressure from major timberland owners, state government abandoned regulations that capped the amount of harvested wood in deer wintering areas"..... "Without adequate mature coniferous tree cover, deer have little chance of surviving winters with deep snow"...... "Deer populations would rebound by reinstating deer wintering area timber harvest regulations"---Ron Joseph(retired Maine Wildlife Biologist...................Just like everywhere they have been implemented, the so-called fiscal conservatives of Maine led by Gov. Lepage are about to waste $100,000 of residents money shooting and trapping Coyotes..........Bottom line, there will be as many or more Coyotes post bounty program due to the canids ability to produce larger litters when under a human persecution regimine

Maine has a history of wasteful laws that either harm or do little to help fish and wildlife.

By RON JOSEPH;pressherald.com

CAMDEN - On May 21, Gov. LePage signed L.D. 342, "An Act To Reduce Deer Predation." The legislation provides $100,000 to pay bounty hunters to kill coyotes in deer wintering areas in northern Maine. This irresponsible use of taxpayer funds is the latest example of why politicians should leave wildlife management to professional biologists.

Killing coyotes may temporarily "save" a few deer for hunters to shoot. But the Legislature -- not coyotes -- is largely to blame for northern Maine's low deer population.

In the late 1990s, under pressure from major timberland owners, state government abandoned regulations that capped the amount of harvested wood in deer wintering areas. Without adequate mature coniferous tree cover, deer have little chance of surviving winters with deep snow. Deer populations would rebound by reinstating deer wintering area timber harvest regulations.

Eastern Coyote in Maine

But that won't happen in the LePage anti-environmental regulation administration. Instead of addressing the shortage of deer wintering habitat, the governor and Sen. Tom Martin, R-Benton, chair of the Legislature's Fish and Wildlife Committee, propose to appease the deer hunting community by paying nimrods to kill coyotes with traps, rifles and hounds.

The bounty system is a farce. Chandler Woodcock, commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, should have advised the governor against spending public money on a coyote control program that's doomed to fail.Had the governor and legislators done their homework, failures of previous ill-conceived fish and wildlife laws would be obvious. The Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library would have provided valuable pertinent lessons.

• In 1995, the Legislature passed "An Act to Stop The Alewives Restoration Program in the St. Croix River," sponsored by Rep. Harry Bailey, R-Township 27. The law closed fishways to alewife passage in Woodland and Grand Falls.Passage of the law helped a small but vocal group of bass fishing guides, while economically hurting hundreds of lobstermen who depend on alewives for lobster bait. Thousands of pounds of St. Croix alewives were harvested annually.

The legislation caused the collapse of the alewife population 10 years ago and forced lobstermen to purchase alewives and more expensive substitute bait elsewhere.The legislation caused millions of dollars in lost revenue, to say nothing of the state's mounting expense defending the law in legal battles with conservation groups and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

• In July 1989, a northern Somerset County Republican legislator spent taxpayer dollars on gallons of expensive Minnesota wolf urine. His goal -- to reduce moose-automobile collisions -- was commendable, but his method was foolish.

Eastern Coyote sunning in Maine

As the state regional wildlife biologist in Greenville, I was directed by supervisors in Augusta to spread wolf urine on Route 201 to repel moose. The project was the most inane one of my 33-year wildlife career.
For three days, I stood atop a slow-moving Maine Department of Transportation tank truck spraying wolf urine on 20 miles of pavement between Jackman and The Forks. Truth is stranger than fiction, I told myself, while watching streams of wolf urine shoot 50 feet from my hose. It then rained for a week, transforming a legislator's harebrained wildlife idea into a complete debacle. The state had literally peed public money into the wind.

• Bears have long been a favorite target of Maine lawmakers. In 1832, the Legislature passed "An Act To Encourage The Destruction Of Bears, Wildcats and Loupcerviers (Lynx). "The law required the state treasurer to reimburse town clerks $3 for each bear head submitted by bounty hunters and $1 for the head of each bobcat or lynx. Today, in spite of several bear bounty laws between 1832 and 1954, Maine's bear population is among the largest in the country, proving that bounties are a colossal waste of public dollars. Bobcat populations are also healthy.

• Porcupines were added to the state's bounty list by Maine legislators in 1904. A set of porcupine feet fetched 50 cents in 1954. Porcupines are as abundant now as before bounty laws. What was gained paying hunters to kill bears, bobcats and porcupines?

Coyote populations will also remain unchanged after the governor and Legislature squander $100,000 on coyote bounties in 2013.

Gov. LePage and Republican legislators preach fiscal discipline and then waste taxpayer money on logic-defying wildlife legislation. Maine politicians are destined to repeat mistakes because new eager-beaver legislators with no scientific background whatsoever ignore the history of expensive failed policies of previous senseless fish and wildlife laws.

Ron Joseph of Camden is a retired Maine wildlife biologist.