SCARBOROUGH, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --
The Maine Warden Service purchased 30 new "spotting scopes" through matching funds from the Outdoor Heritage Fund to help them better enforce hunting and fishing laws across the state.
The scopes are essentially a high-powered telescope. Wardens said it is an essential tool, and has better magnification power than binoculars.
"Any sort of intentional violation, we're able to see it. It's a great enforcement tool. It's important for us to be able to see the violation as it takes place," said Warden Eric Blanchard.
Wardens typically pick a concealed place to set up the scope, and look through it to observe hunters and fishers.
"When you set it up on the duck blind, it's like you're actually duck hunting with the people. It's crystal clear." said Blanchard.
The Outdoor Heritage Fund matched the amount of money from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to purchase the scopes. Each of the 15 sections of IF&W across Maine received two scopes. Before the funding, wardens bought these scopes with their own money, said Blanchard. The scope and tripod can cost about $450, according to Blanchard. Because of the high magnification power, the scopes cannot be handheld, and must be put on a tripod. The state also received 30 of those as part of the funding.
"Wardens throughout the state have use spotting scopes a lot, and made some very, very good fish and game cases with that equipment. By putting 30 more in the state, it's just going to protect the natural resource of the state of Maine that much better," said Blanchard.
Warden Blanchard hopes this tool will help them catch more small violations, to prevent them from becoming a larger problem.
"It's in order to protect the population as a whole. So you protect one, and hopefully you protect more by doing that," said Blanchard.
The Outdoor Heritage Fund gets some of its money from state lottery sales.
