KITTERY, Maine — When Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife commissioner Chandler Woodcock stepped to the podium on Saturday afternoon, he asked hundreds of prospective moose hunters a question.
“How many of you haven’t won yet?” Woodcock asked before kicking off the annual moose-permit lottery. Around the Kittery Trading Post crowd, hands popped up. First 10, then 20, then more.
“Let’s see if we can do something about that in a few minutes,” Woodcock said before reading the first of the 2,140 names of those who will be moose-hunting this fall.
It didn’t take long before he did just that: And while one of those lucky hunters has only been in the lottery for a few years, he was still plenty grateful to have the opportunity. And so were his grandparents.
That winner was 13-year-old Michael Gray of Addison. In fact, Gray considered himself lucky to even attend the drawing.
“I’m really excited about it,” Michael Gray said. “I was on a class trip, and [my grandparents] picked me up in Kennebunk [after the class trip to Boston] and this was my birthday gift from them. I really like hunting.”
His grandparents, Danny and Juanita Gray, also of Addison, were happy that their gift had turned out as well as it had, but they admitted that the family has had exceptional luck in the lottery.
Juanita Gray has been drawn twice, including last year. Danny Gray was drawn two years ago. And Michael’s father has also had two moose permits.
Still, every permit is special, Juanita explained, wiping tears from her eyes.
“It’s family time. We do it as a family,” she said. “This is his 14th birthday, and he’ll always remember.”
About 500 prospective hunters gathered under and outside a tent at Kittery Trading Post for this year’s lottery. Some wore cardboard antlers that were provided by the DIF&W, and many showed up early to listen to a moose-hunting seminar and visit vendors who had set up on the store’s property.
Maine’s modern moose hunt was first held on an experimental basis in 1980. That year, 700 Maine residents were awarded permits, and 636 of them — 91 percent — successfully filled their tags.
After a one-year hiatus during which the DIF&W studied that experimental hunt, moose hunting was established as an annual season in 1982. The high-water mark for entrants in the lottery came in 1994, when 94,532 people applied for a moose permit.
Results of the lottery will are available at the BDN website.
The Grays weren’t the only lucky family in attendance. While some entrants wait years (sometimes in vain), hoping to have their names called, the Kennedy family of Alton had a day to remember.
Tammy Kennedy startled many in the audience with an enthusiastic victory whoop when her name was drawn. Her son, Jamie, had already been drawn earlier in the proceedings.
His reaction was much more subdued, he said. And unfortunately, he was standing right beside his mom when she celebrated.
“I still can’t hear out of this ear,” he said with a grin.
Tammy Kennedy has been in the lottery since 2003, but had not had her name drawn until Saturday.
That hasn’t kept the Kennedys from attending the lottery each year.
“We go [to the lottery] every year,” Tammy Kennedy said. “We went up to Presque Isle. We came down here.”
Both Kennedys were drawn for Wildlife Management District 1, in far northern Maine, but in different seasons. The pair said they’ll spend two full weeks in Allagash for their hunts, as they have for other family hunts in the past.
In 2016, the 2,140 hunters will be assigned to a particular district, for a specific gender of moose, during a predetermined season.
This year, the moose season is split into three six-day sessions and one monthlong season.
The breakdown of seasons:
— Sept. 26-Oct. 1, with 720 winners hunting in eight of the state’s Wildlife Management Districts.
— Oct. 10-15, with 1,095 hunters spreading out across 18 WMDs.
— Oct. 24-29, with 220 hunters in five WMDs.
— Oct. 31-Nov. 26, with 105 hunters participating in five more southerly zones.
Those hunters whose names were drawn do not earn their permits for free. They have merely won the right to purchase that moose-hunting license. Maine residents will pay $52 for their permits this year, while nonresidents will pay $585.
As has become the department’s custom, Woodcock also shared the location of the 2017 moose permit lottery. After visiting the southernmost town in Maine this year, the event will return the the northern part of the state in a year: Caribou was named the host city.
