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They win, a village wins
By STEVE SOLLOWAY
Portland Press Herald

CAPE ELIZABETH — He bought a truck with his race winnings some 10 years ago. Whether it was a big Ford or a small Toyota isn't important.

What Peter Ndirangu did with it is.

He brought it to his small village in Kenya. Here, he said, is our truck. It will take us to market. We will call the truck Chicago.

Without Ndirangu's third-place finish in the 1997 Chicago Marathon, a village would not have received its gift.

Ndirangu told this story to his host family when he came to Maine to run in the first Beach to Beacon 10K in 1998. He finished third. Bob Harrison listened and never forgot.

Every year thereafter, Harrison would ask his guest runner a rather personal question.

What do you do with the money you win?

The answers were different yet the same.

William Kiptum built a school. Joseph Kimani built a high altitude training center that included a dormitory. Wilson Kiprotich asked where he could find a Massey-Ferguson dealership in the Portland area. He wanted to price a farm tractor for his village. He knew the exact model. And by the way, how much would it cost to ship it to, oh, Kenya?

He ended up buying the tractor in the United Kingdom.

Duncan Kibet, last year's Beach to Beacon winner, opened an orphanage with a doctor who is his friend. At last count, 66 children call it their sanctuary. Kenya was torn by violence after its recent elections.

"I wanted to help the children," said Kibet. "Some have parents who can't care for them. Now there are some who have no parents. Some kids disappeared."

Kibet has plans for a bigger orphanage and more children. His race earnings can't pay the costs. Others will help, he said.

Harrison stood nearby, listening.

"I'm in awe, absolutely in awe. These guys are world citizens. They travel to places that without running, they never would have gone to. Yet they remain intimately, inextricably connected to their villages."

They don't have the earning power of professional golfers, tennis players or race car drivers. Ed Muge, another Kenyan, earned $10,000 for his Beach to Beach win Saturday. He will use some of his earnings this season to buy farmland for his parents.

Other 10K races can pay $30,000 to win. The Boston Marathon pays $100,000 to its winner. Between race winnings and personal contracts to sponsors, the best of the elite runners, say the Tiger Woods of road racing, can earn $1 million.

But just like in golf, there is only one Tiger Woods.

Kibet checked his Blackberry after we talked. He said he was the first to have one in Kenya. His soon-to-be purchased i-Phone may be a first, he thinks. To American ears, that's hard to believe. Kenya does have a ruling upper class, even if it is small.

"In Kenya you can live really well on $20,000 for a year," said Larry Barthlow, the elite athlete coordinator who recruits the top runners to the Beach to Beacon.

"You can have maids. You can employ a lot of people. Each runner is a little industry."

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=202701&ac=PHnws

Any-deer permit system confusing
By BOB HUMPHREY
Portland Press Herald

Tomorrow's the big day. Second only to the annual moose lottery in terms of interest and importance to Maine hunters. It's the day the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife draws any-deer permits.

Biologically, the any-deer- permit system has been an almost unqualified success since its inception in 1986. Politically, things have not run quite so smoothly.

It has long been the whipping boy of disgruntled sportsmen, most often those who failed to draw a permit, or didn't kill (or even see) a buck. In the latter case they complain there are too many does. In the former, they claim the lottery system is rigged, or somehow unfair – much the same as those who aren't fortunate enough to be selected for a moose permit. Neither contention has any basis in fact.

It's a complicated system based partly on sound management principles and partly on equitable distribution of opportunity. First the department must determine how many permits to make available. They do this using a complex formula that incorporates previous kill data, winter severity and anticipated hunting pressure.

Then they must use a system to distribute the permits fairly. Both steps must take into account the most contemporary management practices, a dynamic resource and an ever-changing landscape. As a result, each year the system becomes more complicated and convoluted.

SIX-STAGE DRAWING

According to the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Web site, recipients are determined by a six-stage random computerized drawing that goes chronologically as follows:

STAGE 1 is for holders of a Superpack license and is held before any other permits are drawn. Superpack deer permits are for a second deer, which must be antlerless, and successful applicants remain eligible for all successive stages except the last, bonus permits. Unallocated permits are transferred to the second- and third-stage lotteries.

Originally, this extra deer was to be included as part of the Superpack license. However, because of last winter's severity, some wildlife management districts will not receive any any-deer permits this year. As a result, Superpack license holders will receive up to only 2.5 percent of the permits available in WMDs with more than 5,000 permits. This year that's only three districts.

Furthermore, emergency legislation enacted after Superpack licenses went on sale changed this so that Superpack bonus licenses will be awarded only after all other permits have been given out. For those of you who spent $200 on a Superpack expecting an extra deer, unless you applied for WMDs 17, 22 or 23, thank you for your contribution to fish and wildlife conservation.

STAGE 2 is for landowners. Formerly, up to 20 percent of the any-deer permits in a particular district were set aside for owners of 25 or more contiguous acres of land who allow hunting access to that land. Those not selected are still eligible for the general draw. A product of the first Governor's Council on Landowner Relations, it was a way of saying "thanks" to the thousands of hunting landowners who share their land and the deer on it with the public. Surprisingly, some land users failed to grasp the logic, and complained that landowners were given an unfair advantage. The good news is this year the percentage was increased to 25 percent. The bad news: Thanks to a severe winter, that's 25 percent of a significantly smaller total.

Read the rest here: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=209484&ac=Outdoors

Same time next year, or making the most of the moonlight – you decide
By BOB HUMPHREY
Portland Press Herald

Timing of the rut is one of the most hotly debated topics in deer camps across the country -- second only to what caliber rifle is best for deer.

Much of the fascination is human nature, the need to explain things we cannot understand. It's also seen as something of a magic bullet, if you'll pardon the pun. Understand what triggers the rut, and you can more accurately predict deer behavior. Theories abound, and substantiating evidence runs the gamut from folklore to hard science.

Long-standing scientific doctrine holds that the whitetail rut is fairly synchronous, occurring at relatively the same time from one year to the next -- at least, in the northern two-thirds of the whitetail's range.

The trigger, according to proponents, is photoperiodism. In the simplest of terms, the amount of daylight decreases, triggering certain physiological changes in both bucks and does.

Bucks produce more testosterone, does more estrogen. Bucks are ready to breed early on, while the doe's system is more precise. She will only be receptive to a buck's amorous advances at a specific time, and for a very short duration.

According to conventional wisdom, this occurs at the time same every year, between Nov. 15 and Nov. 25 -- all other things being equal.

A more recent theory, which has gained considerable attention, pays more heed to the moon. This moon theory also cites photoperiodism as the controlling factor. However, its proponents contend that it is the more subtle and variable changes in moonlight, not sunlight, that are the ultimate trigger.

They agree that over the long term (decades), the rut generally occurs at the same time every year in late October to early December. Within that general window, however, there are minor annual fluctuations in when the rut occurs, and how intense it is. Changes in daylight are consistent from year to year, so there must be some other factor at work.

They figure it's the moon. In fact, timing of the full and new moons varies considerably from one year to the next. Moonlight is light, and therefore could influence hormonal changes. Furthermore, moonlight wanes at a much faster rate than sunlight.

According to their theory, peak breeding occurs 10 days after the second full moon after the fall equinox. To substantiate their claim, they compared moon phases over several years with reams of anecdotal observation on rutting behavior and found a strong correlation.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=217379&ac=Outdoors

Bagging a buck in Maine vs. Minnesota
By BOB HUMPHREY
Portland Press Herald

I got an e-mail last fall from a friend, Steve Gruber, who lives in Bemidji, Minn. He wanted to share some pictures of the deer he and his two sons killed on the opening weekend of their firearms season.

Even before looking at the pictures I was a tad jealous, and skeptical. Three hunters in the same family all tagging out on the first weekend is pretty incredulous. I was even more astounded when I opened the attachments and saw that all three had killed mature bucks of eight points or better.

"That's not unusual," Steve said when I called him to confirm the story. What was unusual was the buck his younger son killed, a legitimate record-book specimen. "I was proud of him," said Steve. "He passed up several good bucks waiting for that deer."

That's hard to fathom when you hunt in Maine. In any given fall, fewer than half of our deer hunters will even see a decent buck, or any buck for that matter. Only 10 percent will be successful at taking any deer. Slightly more than half of them will kill a buck, the majority of which will be less than 2 years old.

In 2007, 204,099 licensed Maine hunters killed 28,884 deer, including 16,103 antlered bucks. Roughly 50 percent were yearling bucks sporting their first set of antlers. About 13 percent were mature bucks.

MORE ANTLERED BUCKS

In contrast, an estimated 482,613 Minnesota hunters killed 260,434 deer, including 108,623 antlered bucks. At 86,943 square miles, Minnesota is almost three times bigger than Maine.

But even if we triple our deer kill, we only get 87,000 deer and 48,000 bucks.

Several months later, I bumped into a couple of writers from Wisconsin at the SHOT show in Vegas. I was bemoaning another tough Maine season when one chimed in.

"My daughter came home from college for the weekend this fall to bowhunt with me," he said. "She passed up eight bucks the first evening and saw 15 the second day."

I cringed, ashamed to admit that most Maine hunters won't see 15 deer of any sex or age in an average season, or even several seasons for that matter.

Maine has always been an exceptional state: sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. That is certainly the case when it comes to deer hunting.

Once, it was considered one of North America's premier whitetail destinations, one of the few places where hunters had the odds of killing a mature buck.

The odds of success on such a deer have always been low, but on a relative scale compared to the rest of the country, Maine ranked pretty high. Those odds haven't changed significantly. What has changed is the rest of the country.

While deer populations and odds of success on mature whitetails have remained relatively stable in Maine, they've skyrocketed just about everywhere else, particularly in the Midwest and upper Midwest.

Wisconsin hosts an estimated 1.4 million whitetails with densities ranging from 15 to 45-plus deer per square mile, and leads all states and provinces with 5,093 all-time Pope & Young Club entries (for archery) and seven of the top 10 overall record book PYC and Boone & Crockett (firearms) entries.

Illinois has a deer herd of 800,000, and from 1980 through 2001 produced more firearms entries than any other state. Iowa boasts eight of the top 20 archery bucks and is second only to Illinois in the number of firearms entries from 1980 to 2001 (507).

Kansas has produced 10 of the top 20 nontypical archery-record whitetails, and from 1980 to 2001 yielded 235 firearms entries -- seventh-best in the nation. On average, Mainers take two or three B&C firearms bucks per year. In terms of P&Y archery records for typical bucks, Maine ranks 38th out of 43 states.

Granted, you can't compare Maine to Midwestern states that are farther south and dominated by agricultural land. Maine has much poorer habitat and more severe winters.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=218947&ac=Outdoors


2006 Press Herald file

Moose hunt heads south on Saturday
By DEIRDRE FLEMING
Portland Press Herald

Maine's new moose season moves to southern Maine on Saturday. It has been more than six years in the making, but even as hunters take to the field to cull the moose herds on southern Maine's roads, guides say it won't be as easy for sportsmen to hunt them here as it is for them up north.

This fall, hunters will take to the field from Lovell down to Parsonsfield in York County, and from Cumberland County over to West Paris in Oxford County. The hunt will also extend into the midcoast region.

Registered Maine Guides who live in southern Maine say there are, in fact, many challenges hunters face down here. In southern Maine, there is less moose habitat, fewer access points to hunting land -- and fewer moose.

"It is going to be like a traditional deer hunt," said Paul Hutchins, who lives in North Sebago and sees a lot of moose signs on his land.

And given that the moose rut is over at this point in the fall, hunters will have a harder time finding moose moving around. Guides say calling a moose may be downright impossible.

In addition, while hunters in the North Woods can drive for miles searching for moose on the system of logging roads, down here, they're not going to see moose unless they get out of their trucks and walk around. And then, there will be fewer moose to find.

"It can be a problem accessing the land of private individuals, rather than big lumber companies. There is a population of moose, but you don't see them," said Mark Dufresne, a Registered Maine Guide in Saco.

Maine moose biologist Lee Kantar said there are fewer than one moose per square mile in the new southern Maine moose hunting districts, whereas in the northern tip of Maine there are as many as three to five moose per square mile.

"It's going to be a different mindset for folks. They'll want to adjust," Kantar said. "District 15, at least you have the edge of the White Mountains. But you also have West Paris and Auburn. How many moose are you going to see in Auburn?"

Of course, knowing what moose are looking for may help, guides say.

"You can still get a response when calling, but the call is more of a companionship call than a breeding call," said Hutchins in North Sebago. "With softer cow calls and calf calls, you can get interest. Because we don't have the concentration (of moose) down here, when they do hear one, they'll want to check it out."

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=218948&ac=Outdoors

Don't have to hunt too far for fond father-son memory
By BOB HUMPHREY
Portland Press Herald

The big doe didn't arrive so much as she materialized. She'd been right in front of us the whole time; we just couldn't see her lying in the tall grass and sedges. It wasn't until she rose from her bed and stepped from behind the tree that we saw her, already in range. The suddenness of it took us both by surprise, and had our hearts racing.

The hunt actually began almost a year earlier, on a bitter cold morning. My then 10-year-old son, Ben, and I sat for a couple of hours without any deer sightings. Although he wouldn't admit it, I could tell he was cold, so I suggested we take a walk around the bog, and got no argument.

We'd nearly circumnavigated the sea of dense grass and alders when I heard a commotion ahead. The brush was too thick to see through, but there was little doubt the sound was one or more deer making a hasty escape. We moved toward an opening, but it was too late. They were gone.

It wasn't the outcome I'd hoped for, but I saw an opportunity.

"Wow, that was close," I said excitedly, hoping to bolster the boy's enthusiasm. He agreed, revealing no sign of disappointment at the close call.

"We'll have to remember this spot," I continued. "We'll come back here next summer and put up a stand. You think this would be a good place?" I asked. He agreed, with a smile.

It was some eight months later when I asked Ben if he'd help me put up a stand. "Sure," he said, always eager for any activity related to hunting.

The day couldn't have been much more opposite than our previous visit -- temperatures in the mid-80s and muggy. We looked the area over, then together decided on a suitable tree to lean the double ladder stand against. While I secured belts and straps, Ben trimmed some shooting lanes. (Ten-year-old boys are fascinated with cutting and chopping, so it was a labor of love for him.) When we were done, we stepped back and looked the scene over.

"You think we can kill a deer here?" I asked. He merely nodded in the affirmative.

The fateful day finally arrived Nov. 1. I had been away on an Illinois bowhunt and missed youth day, so this was our first deer hunt of the fall together. We tried an old favorite spot of mine in the morning with no luck.

The demons of the past were rising again. The poor kid had hunted every day he could the previous year, even through the December muzzleloader season, but never got a shot. He didn't seem to mind too much, but I knew all that work with no reward could eventually discourage him. He needed some incentive, and success. He'd put in his time and effort, and deserved it.

That's when I remembered the double ladder stand. He'd earned the first hunt out of it.

We made our way quickly to within 100 yards or so, then stopped.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=220370&ac=Outdoors