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When you say most people tag out on moose-- how long can we expect to wait to get a tag out of the lottery once we become residents, and how often after that?
I've been waiting 14 years. Others are picked the first year. Some families get two or three tags a year, most get none.
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Speaking of ticks... are they a concern for people/animals? I hate those things. We have none in AK, but a few summers ago I spent a few days in central WI, and picked 30 ticks off my long-haired dog in one sitting.
Yes. They're bad enough to kill moose. This seems to have been a lower mortality year than last. Biologists will know more by the end of May. Our dogs get Lyme vaccines and tick/flea collars. I find deer ticks on me unless I treat my clothes with permethrin. I picked them out of my hair after ducking through balsams when they were questing. We let our chickens and ducks out to forage to help keep them under control around the house.
If you know enough people who hunt, you can get invited along on their moose hunt. That's another way to bag one.
But yes, the odds of being drawn in the lottery are not real great.
Northern Maine has significantly fewer ticks than central or southern Maine. As of last fall, there had never been any reported cases of Lyme Disease in northern Maine. It's too cold. (It might eventually make it up here, but for now, we don't have to worry too much).
It's funny- when we first looked into destinations in the lower 48, we automatically thought the PNW would be our best bet. In that forum, people were very negative- they said we wouldn't like it. There's no snow and people are not welcoming (true, we wouldn't like it). Then we looked at MT and WY in the rockies. People were very negative in that forum too.. they said we wouldn't like the massive wildfires, rattlesnakes, or living among 100% staunchly conservative people (true, we wouldn't).
I had pretty much decided that maybe there wasn't anywhere in the lower 48 we would want to live. Until I decided to check out Maine, which I knew NOTHING about. I'm so glad I did!
Thanks so much everyone! Lots of options. Next summer we will definitely visit all the towns we're considering. Bethel, Lincoln, Caribou, etc. all sound fantastic, and are all within a day's drive of family.
If you're willing to help narrow it down, or throw out more town names, here's what we're looking for with day-to-day life..
-For recreation, we like to hunt/snowmobile/fish/boat/hike/bike/x-country-ski and would like to do all those things near home. As much public land and trails nearby as possible.
-A pedestrian friendly/bike friendly town would be great- to bike to work, etc. on bike paths or at least sidewalks. Our current town has a 25mph downtown with zero stoplights. We love it!
-No fast food chains please. A local coffee shop would be nice. Local produce, great.
-Good air and water quality? Can we eat any fish we catch? In Western NY, the water was just awful..
-Of course we'd like friends. So the more active outdoorsy families with young children, the better.
That's about it! We are used to living rural and so a big arts/culture scene, movie theaters etc are not important to us.
Thanks again! I really appreciate all the time and thought you all put into your answers.
I used to drive all over the state of Maine with one of my part time jobs for the Federal Gubmint. I don't recall seeing a single bike path in all of my travels. I guess the life long Mainers will have to tell you if they've ever seen one, but for me, they were as elusive as BigFoot.
Pedestrian friendly...hmm. Seems everyone drives everywhere. I didn't see a lot of walkers in any town I went to...well, Portland, but who wants to live in Portland? (Just kidding if you live in Portland.) Even the town I lived in which had sidewalks at least part of the "downtown" area, didn't have a lot of walkers. I know because at one point, my car engine died and I had to walk everywhere for awhile until I saved up to get that situation fixed. I was the only walker.
One thing I want to let you know about since it was a shock to me when I first moved to Maine:
Sometimes, you can't see the lines on the road. When I first moved there and I went to Bangor for supplies, I had no idea what lane I was in or where the turn lanes started, etc. because the lines were so faded or pretty much non-existent. I just hoped. A lot. Right before I moved, (begrudgingly, because Maine is a fantastic state), they had painted the lines again so you could see them. Of course. Right before I move. Why not.
Good air and water? Um...YES! A lot of places you can find well water. Where I lived, the water was very clean coming out of the faucet. I have dogs. They have a water bowl, glass. We lived there for 4 years. While I would, of course, wash the bowl, I never had to scrape off any deposits left behind by the water. Where I am now, I have to use that plumber's stone, whatever it's called, to scrape off the nasty white deposits left in their water dish at least once a month. Maine definitely has much better water than a lot of places that I've been to/lived in. And yes, the air is fresh, clean....you'll see.
Friends: This coming from an "outsider"/"from away" - Mainers are nice. Very nice. BUT, you will also find that many of them, while very nice, will take a little longer to warm up completely as compared to other places you may have lived. I totally understand why, but it is a little disappointing when you just want to befriend so many...because they make it very easy to want to befriend so many. All I can tell you is if you don't try to change things there, because they happen to LIKE the way it is, you'll go far. And as long as you understand personal responsibility, don't be a leech, don't be helpless, (not saying you are), they'll warm up faster.
Personally, I didn't have a lot of problems making friends in Maine. I do know that others have who were also "from away" or "outsiders", but I moved to Maine because I wanted to live that lifestyle, which is different from a lot of places, obviously different than bigger cities where everyone has an entitlement mentality. I wanted the peace, I wanted the quiet, I wanted to be left alone when I wanted to be left alone, and I wanted friendly people. Maine has friendly people in spades. I could write pages of my experiences with friendly people, and how fricken charming I found most of them. I love the people of Maine - they "live and let live"...they actually do that, don't just say it.
Also, from my experience, I lived in a "suburb" (if you can call it that), of Bangor. People snowmobiled all the time there, even right next to the road. As I don't snowmobile, I'm not sure what the rules are, but you would be surprised where you can see them doing it. Memory is fading a bit on my experiences that I had, but I do believe there were signs for snowmobilers in the area...so, just saying, you don't necessarily have to be way out in the middle of the woods to do that.
In response to a later post that you wrote: I know the attitudes in the PNW. Why do that to yourself? Never met so many miserable lots in my life. Not all, but a lot! Plus, taxes are really high, everything really is expensive there, and while it does have some beautiful areas, it's more worth a visit than to live in.
Oh, and politics? Yeah, you might see signs in yards, but no one goes about spouting politics day and night like you see in many other areas, (ie: PNW), non stop until you want to scream. They vote who they vote for and leave it at that. No one is lecturing you, trying to sway you, or anything of the sort. Whatever politics you have, that's your business.
I absolutely LOVED Maine. When I get out of the hell hole that I'm in, I will either move to Alaska, (funny that you are coming from there - maybe I'll hit you up when the time comes to tell me a few things), or back to Maine. I was only there for 4 years, but I never felt so at home so fast, even if the Mainers will always consider me an "outsider".
I think you will really like it there.
Last edited by Three Wolves In Snow; 04-06-2018 at 03:03 PM..
I led a backpacking trip with 3 of my buddies in Alaska back in the good ol' days - about 30 years ago. We did 1 week in Glacier Bay, 1 week in Denali and 1 week in Wrangell St Elias. Now of course we were up in the mountains, near glaciers much of the time, and it was overcast and raining almost the whole trip, all of which likely made it colder. But it was the last week in July and the first two weeks of August, and it definitely never made it north of the mid-50s the whole trip, and most days had highs in the 40s. We even had some snowfall at night in Wrangell St Elias (2nd week in Aug), and we noticed that the Dall Sheep in Denali had their coats starting to turn white already - first week in August! Maine is cold for the lower 48, but not like that. The late summer weather we had in AK was like the mid-November weather in Maine.
I led a backpacking trip with 3 of my buddies in Alaska back in the good ol' days - about 30 years ago. We did 1 week in Glacier Bay, 1 week in Denali and 1 week in Wrangell St Elias. Now of course we were up in the mountains, near glaciers much of the time, and it was overcast and raining almost the whole trip, all of which likely made it colder. But it was the last week in July and the first two weeks of August, and it definitely never made it north of the mid-50s the whole trip, and most days had highs in the 40s. We even had some snowfall at night in Wrangell St Elias (2nd week in Aug), and we noticed that the Dall Sheep in Denali had their coats starting to turn white already - first week in August! Maine is cold for the lower 48, but not like that. The late summer weather we had in AK was like the mid-November weather in Maine.
That's part of the reason I want to move to AK...the weather. I love cold weather. I felt like I was the only person in Maine who was delighted that there was 5-6 months of snow ( late October to early April). Everyone else was groaning, I was beside myself with joy.
I used to drive all over the state of Maine with one of my part time jobs for the Federal Gubmint. I don't recall seeing a single bike path in all of my travels. I guess the life long Mainers will have to tell you if they've ever seen one, but for me, they were as elusive as BigFoot.
Pedestrian friendly...hmm. Seems everyone drives everywhere. I didn't see a lot of walkers in any town I went to...well, Portland, but who wants to live in Portland? (Just kidding if you live in Portland.) Even the town I lived in which had sidewalks at least part of the "downtown" area, didn't have a lot of walkers. I know because at one point, my car engine died and I had to walk everywhere for awhile until I saved up to get that situation fixed. I was the only walker.
One thing I want to let you know about since it was a shock to me when I first moved to Maine:
Sometimes, you can't see the lines on the road. When I first moved there and I went to Bangor for supplies, I had no idea what lane I was in or where the turn lanes started, etc. because the lines were so faded or pretty much non-existent. I just hoped. A lot. Right before I moved, (begrudgingly, because Maine is a fantastic state), they had painted the lines again so you could see them. Of course. Right before I move. Why not.
Good air and water? Um...YES! A lot of places you can find well water. Where I lived, the water was very clean coming out of the faucet. I have dogs. They have a water bowl, glass. We lived there for 4 years. While I would, of course, wash the bowl, I never had to scrape off any deposits left behind by the water. Where I am now, I have to use that plumber's stone, whatever it's called, to scrape off the nasty white deposits left in their water dish at least once a month. Maine definitely has much better water than a lot of places that I've been to/lived in. And yes, the air is fresh, clean....you'll see.
Friends: This coming from an "outsider"/"from away" - Mainers are nice. Very nice. BUT, you will also find that many of them, while very nice, will take a little longer to warm up completely as compared to other places you may have lived. I totally understand why, but it is a little disappointing when you just want to befriend so many...because they make it very easy to want to befriend so many. All I can tell you is if you don't try to change things there, because they happen to LIKE the way it is, you'll go far. And as long as you understand personal responsibility, don't be a leech, don't be helpless, (not saying you are), they'll warm up faster.
Personally, I didn't have a lot of problems making friends in Maine. I do know that others have who were also "from away" or "outsiders", but I moved to Maine because I wanted to live that lifestyle, which is different from a lot of places, obviously different than bigger cities where everyone has an entitlement mentality. I wanted the peace, I wanted the quiet, I wanted to be left alone when I wanted to be left alone, and I wanted friendly people. Maine has friendly people in spades. I could write pages of my experiences with friendly people, and how fricken charming I found most of them. I love the people of Maine - they "live and let live"...they actually do that, don't just say it.
Also, from my experience, I lived in a "suburb" (if you can call it that), of Bangor. People snowmobiled all the time there, even right next to the road. As I don't snowmobile, I'm not sure what the rules are, but you would be surprised where you can see them doing it. Memory is fading a bit on my experiences that I had, but I do believe there were signs for snowmobilers in the area...so, just saying, you don't necessarily have to be way out in the middle of the woods to do that.
In response to a later post that you wrote: I know the attitudes in the PNW. Why do that to yourself? Never met so many miserable lots in my life. Not all, but a lot! Plus, taxes are really high, everything really is expensive there, and while it does have some beautiful areas, it's more worth a visit than to live in.
Oh, and politics? Yeah, you might see signs in yards, but no one goes about spouting politics day and night like you see in many other areas, (ie: PNW), non stop until you want to scream. They vote who they vote for and leave it at that. No one is lecturing you, trying to sway you, or anything of the sort. Whatever politics you have, that's your business.
I absolutely LOVED Maine. When I get out of the hell hole that I'm in, I will either move to Alaska, (funny that you are coming from there - maybe I'll hit you up when the time comes to tell me a few things), or back to Maine. I was only there for 4 years, but I never felt so at home so fast, even if the Mainers will always consider me an "outsider".
I think you will really like it there.
Three Wolves in the Snow/GatorMomma is right about Mainers. They do mind their own business. Celebrities enjoy spending time in Maine because they don't get bothered. She's also right about being perceived as an outsider. I was raised there, but my parents moved there from Massachusetts. They're now in New Hampshire. They said they always felt a bit like outsiders because they were from away, didn't go to high school with the locals... But they made lifelong friendships that they have continued since moving to NH.
That's part of the reason I want to move to AK...the weather. I love cold weather. I felt like I was the only person in Maine who was delighted that there was 5-6 months of snow ( late October to early April). Everyone else was groaning, I was beside myself with joy.
Alaska *is* very beautiful and is a great place to see large animals - the best place in North America in fact. In my 20s and 30s I was looking for adventure and would have moved up there for the right situation. Now I am nearly 60 and I think you can have it! *lol*. It would take wild horses to drag me up there to live year round at this point. As someone else mentioned, it's not just the cold, it's the darkness (during the real winter months). We didn't encounter that, but with it getting dark around 11pm during our trip, it was easy to imagine just a few hours of light as the flip side of the few hours of darkness that we experienced. Seasonal Affective Disorder and substance abuse are more common up there than further south for this reason.
"I used to drive all over the state of Maine with one of my part time jobs for the Federal Gubmint. I don't recall seeing a single bike path in all of my travels. I guess the life long Mainers will have to tell you if they've ever seen one, but for me, they were as elusive as BigFoot."
I have never seen a bicycle path north of the Volvo Line. The only one I know of north of Portland is the John Baldacci path where he had the down east rail line torn out and made into a bicycle path.
I am biased to The County, there are some challenges in being in the County for example if you have a serious medical issue, or you need surgery going to Portland is the better bet.
Last edited by FlowerPower00; 04-07-2018 at 05:25 AM..
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So the more active outdoorsy families with young children, the better.
