The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is now accepting applications online for its annual September 9th drawing for any-deer hunting permits. The application deadline is midnight on August 17th. MDIF&W no longer mails applications, so hunters shopping for a doe permit need to be on their toes. To apply online go to: www.mefishwildlife.com. Applicants who don’t have computers may mail an application, but you’ll need to get a computer-savvy friend to print you a “hard” application off the website. The early deadline for mailed applications is 5 p.m. on July 27th.

How many any-deer permits are being issued this year? Is it worth the effort?

Well, like the man said, ” It sure ain’t like the old days” when Maine was blessed with a robust deer population. Again this year the Department will be decreasing its any-deer permit allocation by 23 percent from 2014. ( In 2014, any-deer permits issued were decreased by 23 percent).

This fall the Department will issue 28,700 any-deer permits in about half of the 29 wildlife management districts. Last fall 37,185 any-deer permits were issued. Back-to-back harsh winters have reportedly taken a toll of our whitetail numbers, especially in the big woods. Of course, last winter was a record breaker for prolonged cold, which can take a toll of already depressed deer numbers.

Although you have to dig deep to find them, there are some small shafts of sunlight peaking through the relentlessly gloomy deer picture. Last fall’s deer harvest was the second highest total in the past six years. There were 22,490 deer tagged last fall as compared with a low in 2009 of 18,092. Somewhat surprising — but pleasing — is the fact that the Department has seen fit to issue a limited number of any-deer permits in two wildlife management districts in eastern Aroostook County! According to Department spokesmen, “biological data and field observations by staff suggest that these WMD’s have experienced population (deer) growth.”

The 2015 firearms season for deer begins with a Youth Day Saturday, Oct. 24th. Youth may take a buck statewide or an antlerless deer in districts where doe permits are issued. Maine Residents Only Day, which figuratively throws the nonresident deer hunter under the bus and ought to be relegated to the dust bin, begins a half hour before sunrise on Saturday, Oct. 24th. Regular firearms season for all licensed hunters runs November 2 through Nov. 28th.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM  101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is paul@sportingjournal.com . He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.”