Mark Squire, 62, of Albion weighs a deer shot by his wife, Sarah, on opening day of deer hunting Saturday for Maine residents, at Tobey’s Grocery in China. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Saturday was the first day Maine residents could bag a deer during firearms hunting season.

It was also the first time that hunters were warned that any deer they harvested in parts of Albion, Freedom, Unity and Unity Township would not be safe to eat due to the presence of so-called forever chemicals, known commonly by the acronym PFAS.

But many hunters at tagging stations near the area Saturday morning were mostly excited about their quick, successful start to the monthlong firearms hunting season, saying they either steered clear of two new “Do Not Eat” advisory areas or simply accepted any potential risk.

Dan McKeen, 62, of Benton was among a dozen or so hunters who brought in deer to be registered between 9:30 and 10 a.m. at the Troy General Store. The store, at 1129 Bangor Road in Troy, is one of the closest tagging stations to the “Do Not Eat” advisories, a few miles northwest of the one largely in Unity Township.

Dan McKeen’s son, Mark McKeen, 37, of Jackman shot the mature doe in Unity — on land outside the two areas covered by the advisories.

“At my age, I don’t care. I’ve been eating it all my life,” the elder McKeen said. “What’s going to change?”

His son agreed: “It’s healthier than whatever we buy in the grocery store,” Mark McKeen said.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, in conjunction with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, issued the two “Do Not Eat” advisories for deer and wild turkey from the areas in eastern Kennebec and western Waldo counties a little more than a week before deer hunting with firearms season began for Maine residents. The firearms season for deer opens to all on Monday and runs through Nov. 30; fall wild turkey season started in September and closes Thursday.

One of the new advisory areas is a 5.4-square-mile area near Route 139 in northwest Unity and the eastern half of Unity Township. The other is 4.3-square-mile area near U.S. Route 202 on the south side of Unity and extending into parts of Albion and Freedom.

The two new advisories were the first issued since 2021, when state officials issued a similar warning for 25 square miles in parts of Fairfield and Skowhegan. A portion of that advisory area remains in place, and state officials say they do not know how long any of the three current advisories will last.

The two new “Do Not Eat” areas were determined after testing of 54 deer and 55 turkeys in the area for PFAS, an abbreviation for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, according to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Found in many kinds of consumer products, PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are slow to break down and are found in soil, water, plants and animals. The substances are known to increase the risk of cancer and other health conditions.

State officials have been sampling wildlife in central Maine around the new advisory areas to determine the impact of PFAS on animals, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said. The advisory areas align with areas known to be contaminated by high levels of PFAS through the spreading of municipal and industrial sludge on farms, a practice banned in Maine as of 2022.

Deer move around, of course, but most would likely stay within an area smaller than the size of the new advisory areas, at least in the summer, according to information from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The summer range of white-tailed deer in Maine varies from 150 to 2,000 acres, or about 0.25 to three square miles, though typically it is about 500 to 600 acres, or a little less than one square mile.

As deer move from areas where they live during the summer to suitable winter ranges, they may move less than a mile to more than 25 miles, the department says on its website. About 94% of Maine is considered deer habitat, though winter habitat varies from 2 to 25% in various parts of the state.

Mark Squire, 62, of Albion prepares to weigh a deer Saturday at Tobey’s Grocery on opening day for Maine residents in China. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Some hunters took a measured approach in considering the PFAS advisory, saying they considered the specific place they chose to hunt Saturday.

At Tobey’s Grocery on Route 3 in South China, a popular tagging station several miles south of the “Do Not Eat” advisory areas, husband and wife Sarah Squire, 60, and Mark Squire, 62, were weighing in a deer shot while hunting off their land in Albion. That is where they usually hunt, the two said.

Sarah Squire said the property is on the southern side of Albion, away from the small portion of the town under the advisory.

“I called the DEP plus the game wardens,” she said. “And, they said we were actually safe.”

Inside the store, Jennifer Bernhardt, 36, of Baldwin, was waiting in line for a tag for a buck harvested from family-owned land in Vassalboro, where she is from originally. The Kennebec County town is southwest of the “Do Not Eat” areas.

Bernhardt, who started hunting when she met her husband and estimated she has hunted deer for about seven years, said the PFAS advisory did not affect her plans.

Brian Seavey, 38, of Troy sits in the back of his truck next to a 10-point buck he shot Saturday morning on his land in Troy. Seavey tagged the deer at the Troy General Store. Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

“It’s not near us,” Bernhardt said. “And we keep an eye on our deer. They’re the ones that have been in this same spot, like all year. They’re there pretty consistently.”

Back in Troy, Brian Seavey, 38, brought in a 10-point buck he bagged on his land in Troy.

Seavey, who said he always hunts on the season’s opening day, said he was not worried about the nearby “Do Not Eat” advisory.

“I just don’t really care about it, I guess,” he said.

At the Troy General Store in Troy on Saturday morning, Kaleigh Clemons, 13, of Pittsfield, stands with her grandfather, Paul Woodbury, 69, of Burnham, with the buck Clemons shot on opening day of firearms season for Maine residents. Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

Around the same time as Seavey, Kaleigh Clemons, 13, of Pittsfield had tagged an eight-point buck she shot on her grandfather’s land in Burnham. Last year, she bagged a deer that weighed about the same, about 150 pounds, Clemons said.

Clemons’ grandfather, Paul Woodbury, 69, said he recognized that the “Do Not Eat” zones are partially in Unity, the next town over from where he lives. But he was not concerned about any PFAS contamination.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Buck the odds, I guess.”