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Many in Moose Lottery Would Give Southern Maine a Try

June 24, 2009 - AUGUSTA -- Nearly half the 56,600 people who applied for a moose permit this year indicated they would be willing to hunt in southern Maine, state officials said, even though most would rather not if given the choice.

There were 3,015 hunters given permits in Thursday's moose-hunt lottery in Fort Kent.

Of those who entered for the chance to hunt moose this fall, nearly 25,000 – 44 percent – indicated they would be willing to hunt in the southern Maine district.

Last November, for the first time in 29 years, the modern-day hunt was extended south to help reduce the number of car-moose collisions in parts of southern Maine. The new zone extends from Lovell down to Parsonsfield in York County, and from the Sebago Lake area east to Auburn and north to West Paris in Oxford County. Two other zones were opened in the midcoast.

The southern Maine zone, where just 25 permits are allotted, had just a 56 percent hunter success rate last November. That fell far short of the typical statewide success rate of more than 80 percent.

The moose hunt in the new districts is held in November to coincide with deer season. In Maine's other districts, the moose hunt takes place in either September or October.

Maine moose biologist Lee Kantar said that although there are challenges to hunting in the southern zone – more posted land and a season that takes place when the rut is over and moose are less active – there are also advantages.

Hunters may take a moose of either sex – in other areas of the state they are assigned either a bull or cow. And because it doesn't involve driving miles of logging roads, the southern Maine hunt can be less expensive.

"The southern district in November are (towns) that are different than northern Maine, in both habitat and human activity," Kantar said. "It's hard to think of a southern Maine moose hunt. In (southwestern Maine), there is probably decent habitat. As you go more toward the coast, it gets to be poor quality."

Since the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has not surveyed hunters, it is anybody's guess why so many checked the southern district on their application this year, Kantar said.

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife staffer Mark Ostermann, who runs the lottery, said most hunters would rather not hunt moose in southern Maine. At last year's lottery, which took place in Kittery, the southern Maine permits were the last to be handed out, he said.

The computerized lottery allots permits based on the hunter's choice of district and which permits are left when a hunter's name is drawn.

"It's not as desirable, because the southern Maine moose hunt has a lower success rate. There are a lot fewer moose there than there are up north," Ostermann said.

By DEIRDRE FLEMING, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, June 19, 2009


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