Deer hunters may scout year-round, but many folks wait until mid to late September when acorns, beechnuts, apples and other mast crops ripen. At that time, whitetails settle into a fall routine with a near-military precision until hunting pressure, the rut or deepening snow alters their regimen.

Not to belabor the point, but bow hunters scouting for the statewide archery opener on Oct. 2 have been poking around the woods for weeks. However, they may be no further ahead than rifle hunters just starting to scout now for their Nov. 1 season kickoff because deer are just now settling on which forage proves abundant this fall.

Inexperienced deer hunters often make a huge scouting mistake now:

Folks find abandoned apple orchards where whitetails are feeding on ripening fruit, and in the foraging process, these ungulates leave a jillion heart-shaped tracks, partially eaten apples and most importantly small piles of those brown pellets that resemble Junior Mints.

Hunters in the know realize that droppings are the most significant deer sign, and in fact, wildlife biologists have a formula for determining whitetail population densities by counting feces pellets in a measured area. So, abundant droppings excite veteran hunters.

Tracks prove less reliable. A couple deer can leave tracks galore, fooling hunters into thinking a dozen deer are using an area.

Which reminds me of a quick anecdote:

In New Brunswick many years ago, a bottomland fir thicket near a beech ridge laden with beechnuts had tracks everywhere, dotting the shallow, damp snow. So many prints would make novice hunters think that a big herd was hiding in the conifer tangle next to the mast crop.

However, one big doe had a huge scar on her right, front hoof, easy to see in the damp tracking medium. That identifying mark helped me figure out that all the tracks in the thicket came from the one doe and her one fawn, which the guide and I had seen more than once. This one incident proved a perfect example of two deer making a herd of tracks.

All the sign in abandoned orchards excite hunters, who settle into the foraging area for the season and expect an animal to feed in broad daylight. However, deer usually wait until after dark before coming to the dining table, so orchard sitting can turn into a long season of fruitless waiting.

Sure, deer may show up anytime of day, so with luck, a hunter in an abandoned orchard may shoot a deer at high noon. In short, exceptions to rules exist, but don't they always? Folks need a better plan for success.

A hunter often experiences better luck by setting up on the trail to and from the feed, and to tip the odds even more, a wise hunter forgets orchards because everyone and their uncle hunts them.

Veteran hunters find a hardwood ridge far from roads, an area with abundant hard mast such as acorns or beechnuts. Such a place must lie adjacent to a large bottomland of swale filled with alder and maybe leatherleaf -- the perfect setup. Start scouting such an area hard and find trails to and from the food and bedding areas.

Deer can wile away the day in the protection of a wet, tangled meadow, waiting until near-dark before heading toward high-protein nuts. The hunter who waits on a trail to and from the bedding area in the swamp and the feeding spot on the ridge has an excellent chance of shooting a deer.

The trick begins with taking a stand within sight of a heavily traveled deer trail, and it goes without saying that the hunter should sit downwind to prevailing winds so a deer traveling the trail cannot smell the lurking human. With such a plan, it matters little whether a hunter has a ground stand or tree stand, but I prefer the latter.

Often, the trail between the sleeping area and food extends onto a finger of land poking into the swamp. Deer love to come from the bedding area onto a peninsula before reaching higher ground and climbing onto the ridge.

At the junction of the peninsula and rising ridge makes a grand spot for an ambush. Why? Deer may start moving early from the swamp, and a hunter can get a crack at a trophy before dark.

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Last week, Jennifer Rooks, host of "Maine Watch," invited David Vail of Bowdoin College onto her show to discuss Maine tourism.

A recognized authority on the economics of this industry, Vail offered viewers the good with the bad when a state such as Maine follows this path to generate money.

Vail touched upon one obvious pitfall. According to Vail, he conducted a study that showed 40 percent of our tourism jobs pay a livable wage, which leaves a whopping 60 percent of the workers underpaid.

Vail emphasized that skilled, motivated people in tourism can give quality service, but obviously, Maine is falling short 60 percent of the time. These workers must make a better wage for tourism to flourish.

Vail also touched upon other negatives in heavily visited tourist areas, including price inflation, culture clashes and traffic congestion.

The first one hurts low-income folks because basic life necessities such as food, clothing and energy cost more, and often, these people cannot come up with the cash for essentials.

Another biggie includes rapidly escalating property values, which may push low-income families out of a town where their relatives have lived for generations.

Traffic congestion in summer drives locals nuts, too. Have you been in Boothbay Harbor or Bar Harbor in recent years? You gotta feel sorry of these poor folks.

Vail also said that hunting, fishing, camping, snowmobiling and alpine skiing interests are declining, and the future of Maine tourism will be ecotourism, that sustainable, nature-based economy that aims to leave habitat just as folks found it -- pristine.

Vail even intimated that a live moose may be more valuable than a dead one -- an unpopular concept in a state with such a long hunting tradition.

Ken Allen, of Belgrade Lakes, is a writer, editor and photographer.