People sun themselves and a few people swim in the water at a significantly less crowded Old Orchard Beach on Sept. 6. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Maine saw about 9% fewer tourists this summer compared to 2023, in part because of less available housing and fewer visitors staying with friends and family or in second homes.

The state’s tourism office released its summer visitor tracking report and found that while there were fewer tourists this past summer, they spent more. People staying in paid accommodations spent more than usual, resulting in only a slight decrease in overall spending compared to last year.

The total direct spending for summer 2024 was $5,152,155,100.

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Tourists also spent less time in Maine. The total number of visitor days dropped 15.5%, largely because not as many people stayed for long periods of time in second homes or with friends and family, according to the report.

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For most Maine deer hunters, a fantasy buck is in their mind’s eye. This is the trophy buck that will tip the tagging station scale in excess of 200 pounds.

We have all seen him in our daydreams, a big-racked, thick-necked bruiser of a deer ghosting his way through a tangled cedar bog as the morning mist mixes with his frosty breath.

Some of us are not die-hard trophy deer hunters. Oh, we’d love to have this fantasy buck in our crosshairs, but a doe or a young deer in the freezer will often do.

After more than 60 years of  deer hunting, and after having hung a few on the game pole, I have a perfect record of never having tagged one weighing more than 200 pounds, and I may never.

But this November, I am still skulking about in the deer woods.

For a number of years now, some hunters have lobbied hard for the state to impose antler restrictions in an effort to bring about a more plentiful age class of older, larger bucks. There are some downsides to antler restrictions, and Maine deer biologists as a rule do not support the policy.

There may be another way to grow larger bucks in Maine. It’s simple really: let the young ones grow.

This week the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife issued a press release encouraging deer hunters this fall to take a doe for the freezer and let the young bucks go. The department cited the new permit system that allows licensed hunters to have up to three antlerless deer permits. Filling your freezer with does will let young bucks mature into big bucks.

The MDIF&W pointed out that its biological data show the average yearling buck has three or four antler points, while a 2-year-old buck has six or seven. There’s a difference in weight, too. A yearling averages a dressed weight of 122.5 pounds, while a 2-year-old buck will dress out to about 148.6 pounds.

“While the most significant antler development takes place between the yearling and 2-year-old age classes, it’s not until around year 5 that our Maine bucks begin to approach their peak antler growth potential,” the department said. That’s the age they reach peak weight too, approaching 200 pounds.

There is some deer harvest data to suggest that we may not need antler restrictions to cultivate larger bucks in our whitetail population.

According to MDIF&W, there has been a discernible decline in the harvesting of yearling bucks. It was most pronounced in last fall’s deer harvest data.

It may well be that the deer hunter’s new two-deer option — a buck and a doe — may work to produce larger deer as hunters put a doe in the freezer and then hold out for that buck of a lifetime.

V. Paul Reynolds is of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network.

The average costs of heating fuels have stayed steady since October, Maine sellers report.

Price surveys of companies selling firewood, heating oil, kerosene and propane are published by the state Governor’s Energy Office every other week during the heating season. So far, averages are almost the same as last month, the lowest November cost since 2021.

That’s a change from the previous two Novembers, when prices spiked around this time, causing anxiety and uncertainty for some homeowners. Prices sometimes rose later in the winter before 2021, so there’s still a chance they will climb again.

The average price for heating oil across the state is $3.37 as of Tuesday, two cents less than last month. It’s a few cents less in central, northern and Down East Maine, and a few more in the southern part of the state.

Seasoned firewood remains around an average of $350 per cord, including delivery charges. An average house could use five or six cords per winter.

Kerosene averages $4.23 a unit and propane $3.27, within 10 cents of last month’s prices; costs are also higher in the southern part of the state and lower elsewhere for these fuels.

Among traditional heat sources, firewood is the most efficient, the governor’s office has said. At $350 per cord, firewood costs $15.91 per million Btu, the cheapest option except for the lowest end of natural gas costs.

Next most efficient are wood pellets, at $22.12 per million Btu, followed by heating oil at $24.30, kerosene at $31.33 and propane at $35.80. Electric heat pumps range from $24.03 to $28.99 depending on the unit’s efficiency, according to the office.

For people struggling to afford firewood, some regions are setting up “wood banks,” which offer free wood, like a food pantry for heating supplies. Volunteers hope to have more of them set up across the state in future years.

There’s also still time to apply for state heating aid if you haven’t yet. Local nonprofits or your town office may have aid programs for weatherizing your home or helping with fuel costs, too.