Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Official page of the Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife and the Maine Warden Service Please consider this when creating posts and comments. Keep it legal.

Welcome to the Official page for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife! This page is dedicated to promoting hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, and enjoying the Maine outdoors as well as sharing information about MDIFW programs and initiatives. If you're looking for the official source of information about MDIFW, please visit our homepage at: www.mefishwildlife.com

Remember

, this page is a family-friendly forum enjoyed by individuals of all ages. All posts and comments must comply with the MDIFW rules for posting and must meet the requirements below. Use appropriate language. Please do not use profanity or crude language. Comments or posts that are graphic, obscene, explicit, abusive, hateful, or potentially libelous will be removed. Don't get yourself into trouble by defaming others, plotting illegal activities such as poaching, or posting other people's private information. Do not create content of a discriminatory or derogatory nature. Rich debate is important and can be done without being offensive, humiliating, or intimidating based on:
race, ethnicity, nationality, or physical characteristics
gender or sexual orientation
religion or non-religious viewpoints
political opinion
Do not advertise commercial products or services. Advertising includes promotion or endorsements of any financial, commercial, or non-governmental agency. NOTE: MDIFW will permanently remove fans who violate these rules. We do our best to keep up with correspondence on our page, but MDIFW does not have the staff resources to always respond to individual posts. For detailed information about fish and wildlife topics, please visit our website or contact us at (207) 287-8000 Monday-Friday from 8am-5pm. Comments submitted on the MDIFW page are considered public records and are subject to public disclosure. If you post comments on the MDIFW page, you are responsible for any information contained in your comments. You participate at your own risk, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username, and any information provided. We reserve the right to remove any post, comment, photo, video, or link from this page. If you have questions or wish to speak with someone, our contact information is available at: https://www.maine.gov/ifw/about/contact/index.html

Because our page is not monitored 24/7 please remember that if you need immediate assistance from a Maine Game Warden you need to contact your nearest State Police Dispatch center:

Augusta..............................1-800-452-4664
Houlton..............................1-800-924-2261
Bangor................................1-800-432-7381

If your boat is up a creek without a paddler, an IF FOUND sticker answers a lot of questions.Labeling your kayaks, canoe...
06/15/2026

If your boat is up a creek without a paddler, an IF FOUND sticker answers a lot of questions.

Labeling your kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards, assists search and rescue responders in efficiently determining if a true emergency exists, prevents unnecessary searches and associated costs, and gets your paddle craft back home.

Pick up a free IF FOUND sticker from Maine Warden Service or Marine Patrol. Some marinas and sporting goods stores also have stickers available. Learn more at mefishwildlife.com/iffound.

Blending in with spot-on camo is a fawn's survival superpower! Most fawns found alone are not orphaned. Until their wobb...
06/14/2026

Blending in with spot-on camo is a fawn's survival superpower!

Most fawns found alone are not orphaned. Until their wobbly legs can keep up with mom, their only job is to lay low. Mom checks in just a couple times per day for nursing and grooming.

🦌 Give them space.
Hanging around will just make mom nervous and delay dinner. Keep your distance, make sure kids do the same, and bring pets indoors.

❤️ Trust the process.
A wild upbringing with mom is irreplaceable. Trusting mom to do her job is the most important way to ensure a fawn's long-term survival. If you care, leave them there.

🧐 Know the signs.
Learn how to recognize a truly orphaned fawn at mefishwildlife.com/fawn.

☎️ Call us first.
If you think a fawn is truly in trouble, contact us before taking action to get instructions from an MDIFW wildlife conflict agent, wildlife biologist, or game warden.

Just one more week of suspense before your fall plans become clear! It's time to put on your lucky socks for the Maine M...
06/13/2026

Just one more week of suspense before your fall plans become clear! It's time to put on your lucky socks for the Maine Moose Permit Lottery Drawing!

📅June 19-20, 2026
🗺️Acton Fairgrounds

The drawing begins Saturday, June 20 at 1pm. Results will be available online at mefishwildlife.com by 6pm.

While you wait, enjoy all the Acton Fairgrounds has to offer, including great food, live music, fun rides, car shows and more. Bring your champion skills for the youth and adult moose calling competitions!

Event details: me2026mooseloto.com

Shake up your summer by learning to fish! This month is packed with reasons to celebrate Maine fishing—let’s make your s...
06/13/2026

Shake up your summer by learning to fish! This month is packed with reasons to celebrate Maine fishing—let’s make your start on the water one of them.

No gear, no clue, no problem - these two free workshops are built for beginners. Let's do this!

🎣 National Go Fishing Day
Thursday, June 18
Sportsman's Alliance of Maine Outdoor Center
Register: june2026nationalgofishingday.eventbrite.com

🎣 National Women's Fly Fishing Day
Saturday, June 27
Sportsman's Alliance of Maine Outdoor Center
Register: june2026nationalwomensflyfishingday.eventbrite.com

Meet Maine's native turtles!🐢 Painted turtle:A common sight for Maine paddlers, this colorful species is often seen bask...
06/12/2026

Meet Maine's native turtles!

🐢 Painted turtle:
A common sight for Maine paddlers, this colorful species is often seen basking on logs in the sun.

🐢 Common snapping turtle:
Maine's largest turtle looks prehistoric, and its family roots date back 60–100 million years to when they would have shared the Earth with dinosaurs.

🐢 Blanding's turtle:
Maine's rarest turtle, recognized by their bright yellow throat, doesn't reproduce until at least 14 years old, contributing to their risk as an Endangered species.

🐢 Wood turtles:
The striking shell and bold orange coloration of the wood turtle makes them a target for the illegal pet trade, an added conservation concern on top of habitat loss and road mortality.

🐢 Spotted turtle:
Like snowflakes, no two spotted turtles are alike. They start life with one yellow spot on each section of their shell, but develop their own a unique pattern of as many as 100 polka dots over time.

🐢 Eastern musk turtle:
Maine's smallest turtle, nicknamed the "stinkpot", is known for their high-domed shell, pointed face, highly aquatic lifestyle, and feisty attitude that comes with a foul smell.

06/11/2026

Maine turtles are hitting the pavement on a mission to find their favorite nesting spots. Be the best turtle crossing guard you can be by remembering these three golden rules:

1️⃣Safety first
Watch for traffic and only stop to help when it’s safe to do so. Go hands-free when possible – snow shovels make great snapping turtle scoopers! If you do need to handle a turtle, support the shell – tails aren’t handles!

2️⃣Don’t bang a uey
Always help turtles cross in the direction they were traveling, otherwise they’ll head right back into traffic after you go.

3️⃣Trust their GPS
Help turtles cross where you found them, and let them get on with their plan. Moving turtles to your choice of "nice looking pond" doesn't stop their quest to nest. Relocation may cause a longer trip on an unfamiliar route, with even more dangerous crossings.

Stay safe out there. Thank you for caring about turtles!

It's Wild Turtle Week! Will you take the turtle pledge? 🐢 Keep wild turtles wild. Never take a turtle home from the wild...
06/10/2026

It's Wild Turtle Week! Will you take the turtle pledge?

🐢 Keep wild turtles wild. Never take a turtle home from the wild.
🐢 If it's safe to do so, help turtles cross the road. Always move them in the direction they were going without relocating them to a new area. They know where they want to go!
🐢 Never release a pet turtle in the wild. This could negatively impact native species.
🐢 Learn about turtles and contribute observations to the Maine Amphibian and Reptile Atlas Project: mefishwildlife.com/atlas
🐢 Protect turtle habitat by cleaning up trash and leaving no trace.
🐢 Share this post to encourage others to take the pledge.

Need a new place to fish? Try our app!With ME Outdoors, you'll spend less time planning and more time fishing. A few tap...
06/09/2026

Need a new place to fish? Try our app!

With ME Outdoors, you'll spend less time planning and more time fishing. A few taps in the app, and you'll be on your way to your new favorite spot.

🗺️ Search a map for water access sites.
🐟 Find out where the stocking trucks have been.
📖 Access the fishing report for pro tips.
☑️ Check current regulations.

Purchase and store licenses for the whole family right on your phone when you download ME Outdoors from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

We're banding together for peregrine falcon conservation!Every year, we collaborate with MaineDOT, and the Biodiversity ...
06/08/2026

We're banding together for peregrine falcon conservation!

Every year, we collaborate with MaineDOT, and the Biodiversity Research Institute to monitor nest sites in urban landscapes, band chicks, and collect biological samples where birds are accessible. This effort is part of decades of conservation work that supports Maine's State Endangered peregrine falcon.

Banding helps biologists learn more about peregrine movements and survival. Each chick is carefully fitted with a silver federal band on the left leg, engraved with a unique identification number, and a color band on the right leg, inscribed with a unique letter and number combination.

Biologists are trained and certified to band birds, but anyone can report them! If you are lucky enough to spot a peregrine falcon through your binoculars, look for a band.

All federal bird bands can be reported at www.reportband.gov.
Please report color bands on peregrine falcons directly to our raptor biologist at [email protected].

It's National Black Bear Day!We've spent the last 50 years getting to know Maine's black bears, and we have to say... th...
06/06/2026

It's National Black Bear Day!

We've spent the last 50 years getting to know Maine's black bears, and we have to say... they truly are a part of what makes the Maine woods such a special place!

Generations of Maine biologists have dedicated their lives to studying black bears. The goal? A healthy and sustainable population with opportunities for future generations to enjoy black bears while minimizing human-wildlife conflict.

Take a look at what the last 50 years of Maine black bear research has accomplished, and what it means to those who have been a part of it in our short documentary, Fifty Seasons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt_he4pRrag

Address

353 Water Street
Augusta, ME
04330

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

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