Fur Harvest Declines Significantly

Shevenell Webb is a new DIF&W wildlife biologist, and her recent post provided information about her and last year’s fur harvest. Here is what Shevenell had to say about herself:

In July 2018, I was hired by MDIFW as the new Furbearer and Small Mammal Biologist. I am from Maine and love to spend time outside with my family hiking, canoeing, raising chickens and pigs, making maple syrup, picking berries, gardening, and bird hunting. In addition to furbearers, I am also responsible for coordinating the management and assessment of small mammals and bats.

After graduating from the University of Maine, I moved to Alberta, Canada and earned my graduate degree at the University of Alberta studying marten fur harvests and landscape change. For a decade, I worked closely with trappers on numerous projects and recently wrapped up a project with trappers to survey wolverines using camera traps. I am grateful for the time I spent learning from trappers while travelling in spectacular northern landscapes and I look forward to working closely with trappers in Maine. 

 Harvest

 Trappers and hunters tagged a lot less animals than they used to in 2017-18. The 2018-19 numbers are not available yet. The first number here is the harvest in 2017-18, and the second number is the harvest in 2009-10.

Beaver  5543  10765

Bobcat  221 281

Coyote  1468  1822

Fisher  352  1149

Red Fox  581  985

Gray Fox  264  253

Marten  519  2703

Mink  536  1498

Otter  656  743

 

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.