Hunters hoping to harvest two deer this year should visit the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website in the coming weeks. The antlerless deer permit lottery is now open.
This year, the state will issue as many as 108,070 permits to shoot an antlerless deer. It’s part of a management initiative designed to lower deer densities in urban areas of southern and central Maine where the large number of animals cause more vehicle collisions and other conflicts with humans.
“It’s the does that drive the deer population, the engine that moves the population up and down,” said DIF&W deer biologist Nathan Bieber.
The number of permits available in 2023 is 5 percent higher than a year ago. The increase is intended to offset the number of permits that will be awarded, but not claimed and paid for by hunters.
Under a revamped process initiated by DIF&W in 2022, hunters who receive a permit are allowed to harvest an antlerless deer in a designated Wildlife Management Area, and also may take an antlered deer anywhere in Maine during the season.
That change was made to motivate hunters to take an antlerless deer rather than passing on that opportunity in favor of shooting a buck. It proved successful. Maine exceeded its adult doe harvest objective of 13,807 last year when hunters shot 13,883 adult females.
“It seems like hunters were generally more willing to take a doe if it was an additional deer, allowing them to extend their season and keep buck hunting,” Bieber said.
The move also played a role in the overall statewide deer harvest as hunters killed a record 43,787 deer last year, an increase of 12.4 percent over the 38,947 taken in 2021.
“Having been around 18 percent below objective on average over the last six years, we were very pleased to hit our target number [of does] in the first year of these changes,” said Bieber, who cautioned that the state needs to monitor the effort to determine its potential long-term success.
Lottery applications must be completed online by 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 1. There is no fee to apply.
After the drawing on Aug. 15, successful applicants must claim and purchase the permit for $12 (plus $2 agent fee) by 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 12. Antlerless permits not issued through the lottery will be available for purchase starting Sept. 19 at mefishwildlife.com on a first-come, first-served basis.
Applicants encountered frustration last October when the state website crashed under the crush of hunters trying to buy one of the additional permits. The sale was postponed and held six days later.
A law passed in 2022 requires the proceeds from the sale of antlerless deer to be used to help fund the purchase and management of deer wintering areas, primarily in northern Maine. Such tracts of forest help deer survive the cold, snowy winter months.
One other change in terms of antlerless deer for 2023 is a new law that allows hunters participating on one of the two Youth Deer Hunting Days, Friday, Oct. 20, and Saturday, Oct. 21, to harvest an antlerless deer, without a permit, statewide.
Bieber said the number of does taken on the youth days are not expected to have a significant impact on the total harvest.
