The last discipline we introduced to K9 Luna and K9 Gordon were evidence searches or “article searches.” Evidence searches are used to locate anything from a hat to a firearm and everything in between. The K9s have been trained to indicate on anything with human scent. This is an extremely useful tool for fish and wildlife enforcement. The more common articles that we search for are shell casings, shotgun shells and wads, knives, and other outdoor equipment.

I’m sure many of you have hit the road at the crack of dawn to start a fishing trip and realized you didn’t have your fishing lawbook. Did you go out of your way to stop by a gas station or town office hoping they’d be open and have a copy? Or turn around to head home and waste even more of your precious fishing time? To me, neither of those options are ideal, and I’d rather not worry about remembering the lawbook along with my fishing gear, life jackets, snacks, sunscreen, bug spray…the list seems endless. I guess I could put a copy in my boat that never leaves the boat and remains in pristine condition? Yeah right!

His leap was like something from a football playback, but instead of cradling a pigskin, he was lunging toward a flash of black rocketing through the tall grass, living up to its name, the black racer. I never expected catching snakes would require such agility, speed, and coordination. I used to catch snakes as a child, usually for my mom or step-mom who would burst out in a screech while gardening, yelling for me to remove it. I would gladly oblige, taking the time to check over the snake and bring it into the woods to be released. But I never had the speed nor the commitment to bound through the air, landing on my side, surely losing my breath after falling to the hard ground.

Lieutenant Aaron Cross

Lieutenant Aaron Cross began his career with the Maine Warden Service in 2007 as a district warden and was soon promoted

As we progress in training, we have begun to introduce new search techniques to the dogs. This past week we introduced the concept of an air scent search or “hasty” search. Unlike tracking, air scent searches are done off lead and are used to search large areas or if the last known point of the missing person isn’t exact.

By Tim Obrey, Regional Fisheries Supervisor, Moosehead Lake Region

By Tim Obrey, Regional Fisheries Supervisor, Moosehead Lake Region

We had two focal areas as we discussed the current Moosehead Lake brook trout fishery:

By Tim Obrey, Regional Fisheries Supervisor, Moosehead Lake Region

By Wildlife Biologist, Deer Specialist, Nathan Bieber

Atlasing in August can be really tricky as early migrants are already on the move south, late nesters are just getting started, and even some species trying to sneak in an extra brood before the season ends. This post will highlight some of the important things to keep in mind while atlasing in August.

Year round, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologists are going above via helicopters and beyond on ATVs, boats, snowmobiles and foot to implement several adaptive methods of population monitoring for Maine’s beloved and iconic mammal, the moose.