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Big Game Management Plan Keeping Hunters Happy and Animals Healthy

Mainers participating in a newly released big game management plan say that they are largely happy with the state's current hunting regulations as long as animal populations remain healthy and robust.

Judy Camuso, wildlife director for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said opinions from hunters and non-hunters were surveyed over the past three years to produce the report intended to guide department policy to manage the state's bear, moose, deer and turkeys.

"The overriding theme from all of the public input was that people want healthy wildlife populations, they want health over abundance, and they want health over opportunity, so they would rather see fewer animals if that's healthier for the animals. They still want to see more, but only in line with as long as it's healthy," Camuso said.

The department will provide a 30-day comment period on the plan that can be viewed on the IF&W website.