A Great Day Smelting

Rainbow smelts (Osmeris mordax) are found in a variety of habitats in Maine from well oxygenated lakes to tidal estuaries. They feed mainly on plankton and tiny crustaceans and provide an important food source for a variety of predatory creatures such as landlocked salmon, mink, loons and many more.

A freshly landed sea smelt

The Anglers' Society got out over the weekend at Leighton's Smelt Camps in Dresden chasing sea smelts. "Smelting", as most fishermen refer to it, is a winter tradition in Maine. There are a handful of commercial smelt camps in the vicinity of Merrymeeting Bay where one can rent a shack for a six hour tide in hopes of catching smelts. Lines are usually hung from the ceiling baited with cut sand worms and fish are hand lined in when a sign of a bite is detected. When the fishing is good, it can be hard to keep all of the lines in the water.

Tyler, Amelia, Sierra, and Destiny briefly took their eyes off the lines for a photo. 

The smelts we were chasing are the same species found statewide. However, these "sea smelts" spend part of their lives in a saltwater estuary feeding and growing to a larger average size before running back up river to tributary streams for their spring spawn. Their natural migration from a natal freshwater river to the ocean and back again makes them Anadromous. We have many native anadromous species in Maine including but not limited to atlantic salmon, striped bass, alewives,  lampreys, Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon. Sea smelts spend the winter under the ice of frozen tidal rivers awaiting their spring spawning runs into smaller tributary streams. Mainers have utilized this food source for generations dating back to the Native Americans.

Jake with his first smelt

We fried up and ate some smelts on Saturday and kept some for bait on upcoming outings. We even brought three home alive as the newest addition to Mr. Bryant's touch tank in the Marine Biology classroom. They have adjusted well to the tank and serve as great ambassadors to an often overlooked migratory fish species found in nearly all of Maine's tidal rivers.

The newest additions to the T.A. touch tank

A Winter Walk in the Woods

We wrap up the Maine Fish and Wildlife course with a mini unit on winter survival and ecology. I struggle to express just how amazing it is that creatures are able to survive the rigors of a Maine winter. The adaptations they possess to get them through are truly awe inspiring. With students having wrapped up their final exams, we spent the last classes of the semester in the T.A. forest looking for signs of life in a winter landscape that can seem desolate at first glance. With a lack of fresh snow on the ground and bitter cold keeping everything frozen solid, tracks were not as prevalent as they could have been but there were certainly some prints left over to analyze.

An old fox track preserved in the snow

A pair of coyotes crossed the once slushy venal pool leaving evidence of their travel frozen in the ice

I had hoped to show kids some signs of porcupine activity in a traditionally productive spot. These winter survivors are at home in the trees and prefer large eastern hemlocks in the winter. The tree's naturally thick branches provide a wind break and the hemlock needles are an important winter food source. Fresh cuttings of hemlock twigs and ample oval shaped scat pellets on the ground are a sure sign of porcupine activity in the winter. Individuals can spend days or weeks in the same tree  creating an obvious buildup of scat and twigs. Deer, who yard up for the winter in the same type of habitat, benefit from the hemlock twigs dropped to the forest floor by the porcupines. 

Discarded hemlock twigs and porcupine scat led us to the active trees 

Luckily, we quickly found signs of porcupine activity. I put the kids to work scouring every nook and cranny of the hemlocks with the most sign underneath them. Eventually, we located two porcupines resting in the same tree. After a closer look through binoculars, what initially looked like a nondescript dark blob materialized into a snoozing creature unimpressed by the sudden commotion below. It is not every day that plans involving wildlife work out so perfectly. Just finding the evidence of feeding porcupines would have been great but to locate and observe two felt extra special. I brought my camera with the long lens hoping to get some photos of the porcupines on day two but they were not as cooperative for my maroon day students.

Students gaining an appreciation for the challenges Maine's wildlife face in winter

Special thanks to Allie Gross for freezing her fingers off taking photos for today's entry. 

A Fall Tradition

Joogetcherdeeryet? A question heard around the state this time of year which translates to "Have you harvested your one allotted white-tailed deer at this point in the season?". Mainers have a way of simplifying long sentences into a single jumbled word that takes on its own meaning when muttered in the right circles. As a lifelong outdoorsman, November is a special time of year for me with the opening of regular firearms season for deer. Here at T.A. we have a solid cohort of kids who take part in this fall tradition but the number of young hunters I see in my classes seems to get smaller and smaller each year. This is a troubling trend as the future of our wildlife management system in the U.S., arguably the most successful in the world, relies almost solely on revenues generated by hunters and anglers. Without young people getting into hunting and fishing, the future of these activities and the bountiful wildlife we have come to expect across the continent could be in jeopardy.

Cody with a nice buck he caught up with after football practice. 

On a more positive note, there are still kids getting out into the woods in search of their first deer, a milestone in a hunter's life that they will never forget. Deer hunting in Maine is no easy task, ask anyone who has sat still in the November woods, freezing for hours at a time, just hoping to catch a glimpse of a deer. The overall success rate for deer hunters in Maine comes in around 15%. Our annual harvest has hovered between 18-27,000 deer in the last decade which at first glance feels like a huge number of deer. However, when compared to states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania which regularly top 300,000 deer harvested per year, one can begin to appreciate the challenge involved with "tagging out" in Maine.

Tony with his first deer, achieving his goal while on crutches with a broken leg made his accomplishment even more memorable. 

In my Maine Fish and Wildlife class, we use real harvest data to analyze what regions of the state have the best deer habitat and the methods used by biologist to manage our population. White-tailed deer are the most popular game animal in North America and for good reason. They are delicious table fare and provide a season's worth of food after being processed. On years that I am lucky enough to harvest a deer, we have a sampling in class. It is great to see kids who would otherwise never have the chance to try venison not only try it out but love it. Creating the connection between an actual animal and meat on a plate is eerily foreign to many young people.

Stephen got a nice doe in early November

One of the coolest parts of my job is being the go-to person for each kid to share their success with. Having someone at school who gets genuinely pumped up about their accomplishment is important and I feel lucky to be that person. I love hearing stories of success and failure from kids as they come in after each weekend during the season. Those highs and lows are what make hunting so exciting. You learn something new every time you step into the woods. Humans are natural story tellers and hunting stories have been part of who we are for thousands of years. A kid re-living his weekend deer hunt with his teacher is not that far removed from the tales told around camp fires by the first hunters in North America 10,000 years ago. Let's hope our fall tradition continues for a few more millennia.

Cole tagged out with a beautiful 8pt buck before school one morning.

Fall Trout Action

The Thornton Academy Anglers' Society got out for its last open water outing of 2018 last weekend. We utilized the recently updated state stocking report to select a local pond that had been stocked with a pile of trout about a week prior to our arrival. The Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and wildlife fish culturists are busy this time of year releasing fish all over the state in preparation for the upcoming ice fishing season. Several years back, in an effort to increase angler opportunity, the state began leaving many of these waters open to fishing throughout the late fall. Anglers are only allowed to use artificial lures and all trout and salmon must be released.

Marcus with a nice male brook trout

We hit the water early and got a bit of a slow start. It was windy out there and we were continually blown to the other end of the pond. Finally, I heard a hoot from across the way and saw Nolan land a nice trout. I breathed a sigh of relief as at least one person had caught a fish and we wouldn't be skunked. A few minutes later in the same cove, I noticed Marcus and Cody each had a trout on. By the time I got to them there were two big brookies in the net. At that point we had them dialed in and nearly every kid had caught a trout or two by the end of the morning.

Cody with a healthy female brook trout

Catching all of those trout with the club was so awesome but being able to share that experience with my students in Maine Fish & Wildlife class and relate it to the concepts we are currently learning is just perfect. During our latest unit, kids have been learning about sexual dimorphism and primary/secondary sexual characteristics. Male brook trout develop a vibrant color pattern, thick body, and hooked lower jaw (called a kype) during the fall spawning season. Females, while colorful, don't take it nearly to the same extremes. This is a classic example of sexual dimorphism through a secondary sexual characteristic. Being able to share our experience with my classes on Monday helped to drive home these concepts. I get real pumped up about making those connections and I hope the kids feel the same way.

A male brook trout in fall spawning colors, an example of a secondary sexual characteristic.

Squirrel Project Update

With trapping all wrapped up and 15 fresh collars fitted to TA's squirrels, it is time to begin phase two of our annual squirrel monitoring project. During this phase of our mark/recapture study, we monitor feeders with trail cameras, keeping track of the number of squirrels visiting the feeder and whether or not they are wearing a collar. A typical mark/recapture study would use a second round of trapping to gain an idea of the ratio of collared to non-collared squirrels in the population. When I designed the study, I chose to use the trail camera technique with the idea that squirrels that have been previously handled would be less likely to be trapped again. One of the major assumptions in this research is that all squirrels have the same likelihood of being captured. Those educated squirrels avoiding our traps would be a major source of error. The trail camera allows us to "capture" any squirrel that climbs onto the feeder without them ever realizing it. The basic formula we use to estimate our population (known as the Lincoln-Petersen Index) is shown below.

  M (Number of Marked Individuals)                R (Collard Squirrels Recaptured on Camera)

        ----------------------------------------------       =       --------------------------------------------------------

     N (Total Number of Squirrels in Pop.)             T (Total number of "captures" on Camera)

My lab aide, Cody Agro, is tasked with keeping the feeders full and sifting through thousands of photos of squirrels, looking closely for collars, and recording data in our shared spreadsheet. He is off to a great start with some interesting findings already. 

Cody sifting through photos and recording data

A week in, we have had plenty of activity on our campus feeder but only two individual squirrels have been documented. This aspect of our research is really cool. Many people wonder if they are seeing the same squirrels in their backyard day after day and in this case it seems as though we are. Both squirrels are wearing collars. One is a male collared on October 2nd sporting a yellow collar (2018) with all white beads. The other is a squirrel wearing an orange collar from 2016! This means this squirrel is at least 2.5 years old, an old timer by squirrel standards, we think. This individual has been seen around campus a few times this fall. I was really hoping to get a fresh collar on it this year but we never caught it during our initial trapping. It seems as though this is one of the those previously educated squirrels our trail camera method seeks to make up for. If not for a distinct scar on its back and a notch in its left ear, it would be hard to tell if this was the same individual over and over again. 

An orange collared squirrel from 2016 on the feeder last week

A male from the class of 2018 on the feeder last week 

We are just a few days into phase two of the research this year and the big questions are already popping up? Where are the other nine squirrels collared within 100 yards of this feeder site this year? Having only collared individuals on camera suggests we have caught and collared every squirrel in the population, something we know from daily observation is not the case. I suspect that as the season rolls along and food becomes limited, our feeder site will draw more squirrels. Only time will tell, stay tuned!

TAAS Outing on the Saco

The Thornton Academy Anglers' Society was in action this past Sunday (10/7) on the Saco River in Steep Falls continuing to develop our canoe skills and chasing the last bass of the waning season. The fall foliage was beginning to peak along the river which made for a beautiful backdrop. We had some new members on the outing with us today including sophomore, Jake Lowe, who boated the lunker of the trip soon after pushing off from shore.

Jake with his 16" Saco River smallmouth

All in all, the fishing was to be expected for early October, hot in isolated spots and slow in others. Almost everyone had landed a fish or two by the end of the trip. Reigning angler of the year, Tyler Gilbert, earned high hook for the day with 12 fish boated. Tyler caught all of those fish while working solo in his canoe, a testament to his experience on the water.

A pair of TAAS canoes work the shoreline on a misty autumn morning

This trip was extra special as we had my father along chaperoning. He's responsible for instilling and fostering my passion for the outdoors, something I strive to pay forward with my TAAS kids today. We spent countless hours fishing the Saco River together as I was growing up so it was neat to share our old stomping grounds with the club. A big thank you has to also go out to the Dyer family of Steep Falls for granting us permission to access the river through their property. Without gracious landowners like the Dyers, Maine's outdoor heritage would not be the same. Landowner relations and appreciation are another key component in the lessons I work to teach TAAS members. Ensuring that our next generation of outdoorsmen/women are thoughtful stewards of the land is what conservation is all about.

From Left to Right: Julien, Marcus, Nolan, Chloe, Nathan, Matt, Jake, Justin, Xavier, Andrew, and Tyler pose for a group photo after a great morning on the river.  

Fast Action Squirrel Trapping

With the local squirrel population at a high point in its natural cycle and limited natural food available this fall, I had a feeling that trapping may be a bit easier than in the past couple of seasons. Still, we went into this week with cautious optimism. Squirrel trapping, much like fishing involves skill and a little luck. My initial hunch was proven true with the first three days of trapping being stellar.

Despite rain on  Monday and Tuesday, we have now captured 7 total squirrels and placed 5 fresh collars on individuals. Honestly, we should have placed 6 but I was duped by one squirrel who made a quick U-turn and sprang form the handling cone before I could get it secured. Moments like these are humbling with 27 scrutinous teenagers looking on. Tuesday proved to be a banner day with all four traps producing a capture, a first in our program.

Preparing to measure the hind foot length of a T.A. Squirrel, 10/3/18

Wednesday had the potential for another great day with all four traps again triggered but only two captured squirrels. As you can imagine, squirrels are clever creatures who often attempt to reach in from the side of the trap to get at the bait without entering. Often they hit the tripper and shut the trap preventing them from being able to enter at all. It can be frustrating to make our rounds and find multiple traps closed but empty. In an effort to combat this, we brush the traps in with branches to make it a little more difficult for the squirrels to reach the bait from the side. The "brushing-in" of traps also serves to make the squirrels feel more secure entering the trap. In years past we have found that bare traps sitting out in the open capture fewer squirrels than ones draped in branches.

Placing a collar on a T.A. squirrel, 10/3/18. Notice the orange beads used for individual identification. 

One of the squirrels captured on Wednesday was our first recapture of the year. A male that had been captured and collared in the same location the day before. At the time of this writing, we have fitted 5 squirrels with yellow collars, each with a different bead color for individual identification later on.

The moment a newly collared squirrel is released, 10/3/18. 

Special thanks to Hannah Kirk for sharing her great photos documenting squirrel handling procedures and my daughter, Scarlett, for sharing her beads for the good of science.