Hunting in Maine: 3 Animals To Hunt in the Summer

In the Pine Tree State, summer is a hotbed of activity for boating, fishing, swimming, baseball, and all manner of other outdoor activities. Although hunting in Maine can get overshadowed, hunters still can take animals through archery all summer and begin to set bear bait in mid-summer.

Here are three species of animals and fowl that are legal to hunt during the summer months in Maine.

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1. Bear
Bear can be hunted with bait from Aug. 31 through Sept. 28, 2015, but hunters can start setting that bait as early as Aug. 1, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. This year, the general season for bear hunting, without the use of bait or dogs, begins Aug. 31 and lasts through Nov. 28. Bear trapping is allowed from in September and October. As summer starts to turn to fall, the season for hunting with dogs begins in September and runs through October.

Bears can be taken by firearms or archery. Beyond a general hunting or archery license, a bear hunting permit is required. Limits are two bear per year, one by hunting and one by trapping.

2. Canada Goose and other migratory birds
The first round of migratory bird hunting in Maine traditionally starts during the first week of September, with Canada geese, rails, and snipe among the initial targets.

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Maine law allows for a range of weapons in hunting migratory birds, including rifle, bow and arrow, crossbow and falconry. Rifles used against migratory birds must be no larger than 10-gauge and incapable of holding more than three shells. Dogs, artificial decoys, and manually or mouth-operated bird calls are all permitted as hunting aids. It’s also legal to hunt migratory birds from boats and most other floating craft, so long as motors are turned off and sails are down, according to Maine’s laws on migratory game bird hunting.

A hunting or archery license is required, along with a migratory bird permit.

3. Fox
Although the open season for fox doesn’t start until mid-October 19, hunters outfitted with archery licenses can hunt this species year-round.

In Maine, licensed archers also can pursue most other non-migratory birds and game animals, except deer, outside of their respective open seasons, according to Maine’s archery and crossbow laws.

In the deepest doldrums of summer, a hunter can pick up a bow and arrow to shoot pheasant, ruffed grouse, gray squirrel, snowshoe hare, and other intriguing prey, even though open firearms seasons for those animals won’t start until fall.

This article is for information only. Please check current regulations before hunting.

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