Our Maine Heritage: Who drew the first-ever moose permit?

On Saturday, hundreds of Mainers will flock to Bethel for an annual event that will determine which hunters get to head afield in search of moose this fall.

The moose permit drawing is a tradition that began back in 1980, when the state sponsored its first lottery for those coveted licenses.

Todd Rogers of Cub Scout Pack 11 in Brewer draws the first ticket in a special lottery state officials staged Tuesday night at the Bangor Auditorium to determine who can legally hunt moose in Maine in the fall.  A total of 39,269 Maine residents applied to be one of the 700 who will be licensed to hunt moose Sept. 22-27. It will be the first moose-hunting season since 1935. Also shown are Greg Palman and Dick Greene, both of the Penobscot Conservation Club in Brewer, and Janet Potter of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY CARROLL HALL

Todd Rogers of Cub Scout Pack 11 in Brewer draws the first ticket in a special lottery state officials staged Tuesday night at the Bangor Auditorium to determine who can legally hunt moose in Maine in the fall. A total of 39,269 Maine residents applied to be one of the 700 who will be licensed to hunt moose Sept. 22-27. It will be the first moose-hunting season since 1935. Also shown are Greg Palman and Dick Greene, both of the Penobscot Conservation Club in Brewer, and Janet Potter of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY CARROLL HALL

In today’s Our Maine Heritage photo, we take you back to that day — July 15, 1980 according to BDN files — and a scene you haven’t seen replicated for years.

On that day, young Todd Rogers of Brewer, a member of Cub Scout Pack 11, drew the first winning name from an actual drum that was used to mix up the entries. Also shown: Greg Palman and Dick Greene of the Penobscot County Association and Janet Potter of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

That first “experimental” hunt included just 700 hunters — 39,269 Mainers applied — and a single six-day hunting season was offered in September.

This year, 2,740 hunters will receive permits, and a number of hunting sessions are scheduled. And the manual-selection of permits? That’s also a thing of the past. Nowadays, a computer selects the winning hunters, and names are read aloud from lists that are provided to the presenters at the lottery.

 

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.