I think you will find it is different depending on the location. Our coastal towns tend to have a much wider class separation as there are large vacation homes for wealthy people and then more traditional homes of the locals. In smaller, more inland towns, I think the lines are a bit more blended. I live in a small town (under 1000 people) and the vast majority of the people live in trailers or smaller homes. There are of course larger homes too, but its quite common in Maine to see a beautiful large home and then a broken down trailer as a neighbor.

I think in most smaller Maine towns, you will have a mix of working class, poor, older retired individuals, and younger families. Most people here do not tend to flash their wealth, if they have any--there is simply no reason to as nobody really cares. So the neighbor has a new loaded Ford F150, good for them, I wouldn't want that payment. That's about all you'll get from someone and they move on with their lives.

You are completely right, though I will say deer in different parts of the state seem to behave a bit differently. I've hunted in the western mountains where yes, deer absolutely travel for miles almost constantly. Its incredibly rare to see the same deer in the same area because they are always on the move for food.

I also hunt in the north-central part of the state, surrounded by farmlands. Those deer do not travel nearly as much because food is readily available in the numerous corn and potato fields. I've had the same set of deer hanging around my property for about the last year or so. I have a large corn field adjacent to my property and just up the road from that are potato fields. I catch them on my camera all the time, and the doe is very recognizable as she has a certain pattern of white fur above her nose. Maybe its because she also has 2 young ones with her and they haven't detached yet, but their behavior when food is readily available does seem to change when compared to more sparse areas of food in the mountains.

Of course once snow is on the ground, all bets are off and you are right. Providing them with food is actually a good thing to keep them healthy. I don't disagree with you, just making (maybe poor) assumptions on how people (non-hunters) view food plots in general.

Still, we live in a state with some very contrasting views on hunting. Many implants to the state disapprove and would prefer to make our state an untouched wilderneess while failing to understand how much researsearch goes into maintaining the populations of animals like deer and moose throughout the state. If left alone, the populations would get out of hand and cause far more problems than good. If over hunted, we'll lose out on a wonderful tradition here.

I think you are getting downvoted because while you aren't technically breaking any laws, you are in a bit of a grey area. You are certainly attracting them to the same area you intend to hunt. While you may not have any food out during the hunting season, they are still going to go back to your site looking for food since its there the rest of the year. Its not illegal, but its a bit scummy.

That being said, as a fellow and avid hunter, I get where you are coming from. Any advantage, even a tiny one, helps put food in the freezer, and I'd rather eat venison or moose any day than what you get in the stores. But some people don't like thinking about what it takes to do that.

>But I can see where it could be a problem with certain people/game wardens

Exactly this. This will greatly depend on the warden in your area. Some won't care, others will find a way to make you guilty. Most fall in the middle with the tendancy to consider you guilty until you prove otherwise.

If your plan is to eventually hunt where you are feeding deer, be very careful how you go about this. Its very illegal to do that.

Its pretty cold. Its cold enough any wet or dampness on your skin (think inside your nose, wet hair) will freeze pretty quickly. Frostbite can set in very quickly at these temperatures, so you just need to be careful being outside for too long when its that cold.

When I was in high school, I used to do cross country ski racing on the school team. There were many times when it was -15 or so outside, and all we got to wear was some long underwear and nylon speed suits. That was bitter cold. The technology for all that stuff has changed a lot in the last 20 years and its probably not so bad now, but as a kid, it was sometimes so cold it hurt.

The biggest problem with Maine winters, to me as a lifelong Mainer, are not the cold weather or the storms but the lack of light. The best way to defeat this is to get outside, but if you are not accustomed to the weather, it can be shocking, especially in the coldest parts of winter which we are about to enter.

Your best bet to stay warm is to dress in layers, as many people have mentioned. You want a nice jacket/parka that is well insulated and has an outside layer that is resistant to wind and rain/melting snow. LL Bean, Cabelas, North Face, Columbia are all great options. Visit the LL Bean Factory outlet in Freeport for decent deals on jackets. Another place to check out is Mardens and Renys. They have sales all the time on winter gear.

Boots are another important thing to keep your feet warm. While they may not be the most stylish, Muck and Bog winter boots are far and away the best things to own for cold, snowy winters. LL Bean 'duck boots' suck. They are not warm, even the insulated ones aren't that great. What is nice about Mucks or Bogs are they are completely water resistant and they keep your feet warm, even with a lighter pair of socks. That being said, a nice pair of warm wool socks will keep your feet warm. But, I noticed if I wear them my feet tend to sweat--and sweat is your biggest enemy in the witner. So I prefer wearing a ligher pair of socks and more cold resistant boots.

You also want to get some warm gloves. Everyone is a bit different here, but what I find the most effective is to get a thin pair of cotton liner gloves (they are pretty cheap at Walmart, just look like thin little cloth gloves) and then wear a heavier pair of warmer gloves over them on really cold days.

We've actually had a very mild winter so far. Generally this time of year we should be hanging around the 20s or 30s during the day and in the 10s or so at night. January and February are typically are coldest months though where we can sometimes get down into the -20s at night and maybe peak at 0 during the day. This is somewhat dependent on your location in the state too, the coast and southern part of the state tend to be a bit less harsh than inland.

The most important thing to be prepared is a generator. Its really essential in Maine since its a heavily wooded state with a significant portion of its grid surrounded by trees. If its a whole home setup, its much lower maintenance and worry versus a portable one connected to an interlock or transfer switch, but both setups are perfectly valid to keep a home running for days or even weeks. If you are trying to save money, a portable generator in the 8-10k watt range is generally sufficient. You may be slightly limited in some areas--like you cannot run an electric range, dryer, and hot water heater at once, but you can still live life pretty much normally. If its a portable generator, you also want at least 2 gas cans that can hold 5+ gallons of fuel. And if its available in your area, use non-ethanol gas as its stable for much longer and is a far better option for small gasoline engines.

As for other needs--you should try go have some shelf stable foods like rice, beans, beef/chicken/vegetable stock, canned foods, pastas. A chest freezer with some meats, frozen veggies, and other foods is also good to have. If you are on a private well and have a generator connected to the house, you won't have to worry about water as much, but its always good to have a few gallons of bottled water too. If you have pets, be sure to keep some backup food for them too.

Finally, have plenty of fresh batteries, LED flashlights and lanterns, keep some charged battery packs for phones.

For an extra tip, if you have the money, a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) is very nice to have connected to your internet equipment. There are many times we will lose power for maybe 1-2 hours in a heavy thunderstorm or bigger snowstorm, and even a relitavely inexpensive UPS ($150 or so) will keep your modem and router running for 3-4 hours easily. Its more than enough to let you report the outage to the power company and keep informed about their progress.

I've lived in Maine my whole life. What I find different today versus growing up as a kid is we lose power much less often now than we did as kids, but the severity of the storms that cause widespread outages are much more significant and cause more damage. The biggest storms in my childhood were in 1991 from Hurricane Bob and the Ice Storm of 1998. Both times we lost power for over 2 weeks, as did much of the state. But, it was also common to lose power for a day or two from something as simple as a thunderstorm or some light snow and wind. The difference today is the power companies are doing a better job of keeping trees and branches back from power lines, but, as climate change impacts us, the storms hitting us are more severe causing much more damage to trees due to wildly flucutating temperatures and higher winds. So, I think more storms with widespread damage will continue to increase as things continue to change and it will be even more imporant to handle the aftermath and be prepared.