Maine deer hunters with hopes of harvesting both a buck and a doe during the upcoming season will be feverishly searching the list on Tuesday when the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife releases the results of the antlerless permit lottery.
Results of the random drawing will be available at 9 a.m. at bangordailynews.com and on the DIF&W website at mefishwildlife.com.
Lottery results will include the winners’ first and last name, town of residence, the Wildlife Management District the permit is for and hunting license number.
Antlerless lottery permits must be claimed and paid for ($12 permit, $2 agent fee) by 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 12. Recipients will then receive their permit number.
Any permits not claimed by the recipient by the deadline will be forfeited. Permit recipients will receive their permit number upon payment to claim it.
If you weren’t selected in the lottery you’ll still have an opportunity to pursue one of the extra permits. That includes permits that weren’t awarded in zones where there were more permits than applicants.
Extra permits will be available for purchase online only on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Sept. 19.
All proceeds from the antlerless permits go to the Maine Deer Management Fund, which helps finance the acquisition and management of deer wintering areas, primarily in northern Maine. Those areas include critical habitat for white-tailed deer, which use them during the winter to avoid harsh winds and deep snow.
This year, the state will issue as many as 108,070 permits to shoot 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.
The number of permits available in 2023 is 5 percent higher than in 2022. 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 WMD, 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, as Maine exceeded its adult doe harvest objective of 13,807 last year when hunters shot 13,883 adult females.
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.
Antlerless deer permits may not be swapped or transferred.
