Finally! Six candidates for Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife are scheduled to be interviewed on Thursday, December 23.

Last Thursday, Governor-elect Paul LePage told me he’d have an IF&W Commissioner by the end of the month, and that interviews were scheduled for this week. For these interviews, LePage has added some people who are not on the Transition Advisory Team.

Sportsmen and other outdoor recreationists may get a couple of Christmas presents this week from Governor-elect Paul LePage: Commissioners of the Departments of Marine Resources and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week (December 20 and 21), members of the LePage transition team are interviewing commissioner candidates for the Department of Marine Resources.

Nine applicants will be interviewed for the position of Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources. Incumbent Commissioner George LaPointe tops the list.

Two of the three parcels involved in a complicated deal between Roxanne Quimby (through her Elliotsville Plantation corporation), the Trust for Public Land, and Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, are finally ready to change hands.

It took all afternoon on December 13, at a hastily called meeting at the Department of Conservation, for the parties to agree on revisions to the original deal. The Board of the Land for Maine’s Future program approved its part of the revised deal a day later.

A conference of landowners and recreationists last week demonstrated that ATVs remain a significant problem in Maine. Abusive ATV riders are a plague for landowners and a serious problem for those who enjoy outdoor recreation and lose access to their favorite private lands because of ATV abuse.

Steve Abbott has decided he doesn’t want to be Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, a position he was offered recently by Governor-elect Paul LaPage.

Insiders say LaPage has three other candidates for this important position at the top of his list: Chandler Woodcock, Craig McLaughlin, and Art Wheaton.

Several outstanding Maine sportsmen have taken key positions at the State House.

Attorney General William Schneider loves to hunt and enjoyed a great experience this year in Arizona where he took an Antelope. At the State House last week, Bill was obviously excited about his planned 2011 hunt – his first in Africa. Bill, who doesn’t let his wheelchair slow him down, has lined up an outfitter with a special van that will get him into some great hunts in South Africa. Bill is a long-time member of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM).

I have confirmed that Bill Beardsley will be presented Tuesday as Governor Paul LePage’s choice to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Conservation.

On November 30, I reported Beardsley as the likely choice, and consider this an exceptionally good appointment.

Thirty-five Mainers have been tapped to serve as a “Transition Advisory Team” for Governor-elect Paul LePage who presented the team at a November 23 press conference at the State House.

   

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My deer hunting had been going so well. I’d seen deer nearly every day. In fact I’d seen this particular buck twice.

The first time, he chased a doe right past my tree stand, literally passing right underneath me. My rifle and scope were useless, he was moving so fast. He whipped past me in seconds. I did notice a look of panic on the doe’s face, and I don’t think it was because she saw me. She didn’t want anything to do with that buck!

I have just learned that Governor-elect Paul LePage will present the team of people who will interview candidates for administration positions in state agencies at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, November 23, at the State Capitol.

As many as four dozen people may be involved in this process, with small groups assigned to specific agencies. They are expected to interview all candidates for commissioner positions and submit recommendations to LePage.