Lures of Outdoors: Beware of unpredictable ice this late in season

As the winter months come to a close, this past week’s variable temperatures mean that the condition of ice on the Bay State’s waterbodies is unpredictable and can be treacherous. Already there have been several reports of people on foot or on snowmobiles falling through ice. Outdoor enthusiasts need to play it safe and check ice carefully before venturing onto ice-covered waters. Clear, blue ice is the strongest ice. Slush or snow (white) ice is only one-half the strength of blue ice and can be very unstable. “Honeycombed” ice, which occurs in the spring or during major winter thaws as the ice is melting, is the most dangerous ice. This type of ice is best avoided unless you are certain there is a safe layer of solid ice beneath the honeycombed surface. Assess ice safety by using an ice chisel to chop a hole in the ice to determine its thickness and condition. Make sure you continue to do this as you go further out on to the ice, because the thickness of the ice will not be uniform all over the pond or lake. Be aware that ice tends to be thinner on lakes and ponds where there are spring holes, inlets or outlets. Don’t venture on to ice-bound rivers or streams because the currents make ice thickness unpredictable.Preliminary deer harvest numbers for Maine show a decrease of 14% from the 2008 harvest with an initial tally of 18,045 deer taken by hunters. “To put this into perspective, we must consider that the 2008 and 2009 winters represent the most severe back-to-back winters since 1971-72,” according to IF&W Deer Biologist Lee Kantar. Long winters with deep snows have a tremendous impact on the overwinter survival of deer. Both the expected regional declines in deer abundance and the adverse hunting conditions ? two weeks of poor hunting conditions during the firearms season ? played a role in the fall 2009 harvest decline. Decreases in the deer harvest from 2008 also were expected given the 16% decrease in any-deer permits for Maine’s hunters (reducing overall success rates). The reductions in any-deer permits for 2009 were necessary to allow the deer herd to begin to recover. Relative to adjacent provincial and state jurisdictions, the decline in Maine’s deer harvest was less in comparison to our Canadian neighbors in Quebec and New Brunswick whose deer harvests declined greater than 30% during the same time period, but was greater than the decline in New Hampshire’s deer harvest (decrease of approximately 5%). For 2009, Department biologists projected a statewide harvest of approximately 19,289 deer. The annual deer harvest projections by department biologists in the late spring result from an analysis of mortality and reproductive rates, harvest trends, and any deer permit allocations to meet Wildlife Management District (WMD) goals and objectives. Thus our initial number for statewide harvest was 6% less than projected.In closing I have to mention that if you are a skier, don’t be fooled by looking out your window for snow. We spent last weekend in with our friends Joan and Ernie in Jackson, NH where there is more snow than I have ever seen at one time in my life. There was so much snow that at times it seemed as if we were in another world. A few weeks ago we were getting rain and flooding and they got 4 feet of snow. The snow banks were so high that they covered the speed limit signs, and the skiing conditions were superb, especially at Wildcat Mountain where 51 inches of snow fell. Some of us skied while others snowshoed and at the end of the day we all dined, drank and shared stories and memories with some wonderful people. Thanks again JEMAll for now