In this 2018, file photo, a pair of bull moose face off over rights to patch of mud where they were feeding at the Umbagog Wildlife Refuge in New Hampshire, near the Maine border. Moose are a month or more ahead of deer in preparing for the fall breeding season in Maine, which peaks in September. The first round of moose hunters is also preparing for their fall foray into the north woods. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

Sure, there’s a meteorological calendar based on hours of daylight or some such nonsense, but Mainers mark the change of seasons by other less official signs.

Spring begins two weeks after the last snowfall. Granted, sometimes the calendar gets set back, but that’s Maine. Summer starts when the kids get out of school, which can vary depending on how old they are and what school they attend. For those without kids it’s when the buses stop running. Fall begins with hunting season.

For flora and fauna it actually starts sooner. As the days grow shorter, herbaceous plants stop growing and go to seed, ensuring the next generation. That often occurs before the last hay cut of the season, another sign of summer’s end.

Motoring my way out of the Royal River toward offshore fishing grounds in early August I see flocks of sandpipers and plovers, who have already begun their southward autumn migration. Close behind them will be waders like snipe and rails, and waterfowl like blue-winged teal, most of which are gone before waterfowl season starts.

Despite wearing a dense fur coat, bears have already begun the process of laying on winter fat, first from ripe berries and later from beech nuts and other hard mast. Baiting season starts at the end of July, which is clearly still summer. Then hunting season starts a month later. It sometimes seems a little odd sitting in lush, green woods, swatting mosquitoes and wiping sweat from your brow while awaiting the timber ghost, but it is fall.

Deer antlers, the fastest growing tissue in the animal kingdom, cease their annual production. Blood supply to their velvety coating is cut off and the outer layer is shed, revealing a crown of hard bone. That may occur in late August or early September. They too are switching their diet to higher-calorie foods; first soft mast like apples, then acorns and beech nuts. Meanwhile, they are preparing for the rut.

Food becomes a priority as residents fatten up for the coming winter, which begins on or about the time of the first plowable snow. Meanwhile, migrants are fueling up for their trip south, whether it be teal headed for Argentina or Canada geese headed for coastal waters.

While we’re still wearing shorts and mowing the lawn, moose are a month or more ahead of deer in preparing for the fall breeding season, which peaks in September. The first round of moose hunters are also preparing for their fall foray into the north woods.

For the domesticated, it’s just another transition, a time to put the mower away and break out the leaf blower, get in a few more rounds of golf and make sure you have a plow guy lined up. For hunters, it’s a glorious time of year. The season we’ve waited for is close at hand. It’s time to tend bear baits, practice your bow shooting, tune up the moose calls and mend decoy lines.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and Registered Maine Guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at: bob@bobhumphrey.com