A bill that will be heard on Jan. 22 would expand the number of free moose permits issued by the state annually to five and allocate three of them to critically ill Maine kids who want to hunt.
Current law allows for two such permits, which are sent to Hunt of a Lifetime Foundation based in Pennsylvania and Catch-A-Dream Foundation based in Mississippi. Both organizations serve young adults and kids aged 21 and under across the country.
LD 2052, sponsored by Rep. Scott Landry, D-Farmington, specifies that the new permits will benefit Maine kids through a Maine nonprofit, and that the commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will issue them.
Landry, who is serving his third term in the House of Representatives for District 75, is the House chairman of the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.
The three additional permits would be given to Maine kids through a new limited liability company called Moose Maine Kids Dream Hunts, a division of Moose Maine Kids, which offers hunting experiences to critically ill and disabled children across the state, according to program director Ron Greco.
Moose Maine Kids Dream Hunts will work closely with the Maine Children’s Cancer Program, which is part of the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center.
Moose Maine Kids gives Maine youths priority for its hunts and in general serves people up to age 24 who are critically ill or living with a disability, Greco said. The group was formed five years ago and last year raised $30,000 to take kids on hunts for turkeys, bears, deer and pheasants.
If the Legislature passes LD 2052 quickly, kids will go on moose hunts in 2024 as well.
Greco’s fund-raising goal for 2024 is $100,000 so that Moose Maine Kids can buy hunting blinds and other equipment for the youth hunters to use.
The entire program is free to the kids. Last year, approximately 110 youths went on hunts with Moose Maine Kids. The goal this year is to get at least 150 kids on hunts. The group also took some kids to Pennsylvania to hunt last year, he said.
The promise of a bear hunt gave 15-year-old Lucious Nichols of Troy something to look forward to while he fought Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Greco said. Nichols, who is a cancer survivor, went on his bear hunt, but would not pull the trigger unless he was sure it was not a sow or a cub. He didn’t get a bear.
A few weeks later, Grand Lake Hunt in Danforth donated a stag hunt that included two deer. Nichols got his stag and a hind (female) red deer at the hunting preserve. The Maine Association of Taxidermists is mounting the stag for him, Greco said.
It takes at least three or four volunteers for each hunt, and likely more will be needed for a moose hunt, but each brings some kind of expertise, he said. Greco is a registered Maine guide and all of the volunteers have at least basic first aid training.
The group also works with nonprofits such as House in the Woods and other veterans entities.
“I just want to inspire more people to get involved,” he said.
The state also auctions off 10 moose permits each year in a sealed auction. Proceeds got to youth conservation education by paying for kids to attend Bryant Pond or Greenland Point camps. Last year, the auction raised $250,000, according to Mark Latti, communications director for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
The state also offers via lottery a few moose permits for sporting camps and lodges to sell. The number is set each year by a formula tied to the total number of permits available, and the camps and lodges have to meet certain requirements to participate. The program was developed to help sporting establishments that were struggling economically, Latti said.
