Modernized moose lottery sparks debate

AUGUSTA – The hum of an electric motor turning a large metal drum holding moose permit forms was replaced by relative silence Tuesday during the 1995 moose permit lottery conducted by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at the state armory here.

The moose permit drawing entered the modern era. It was conducted with state-of-the-art computer technology. The names of 1,395 winners – 1,257 Mainers and 138 non-residents – had already been randomly selected by a DIFW computer during the half-hour before the 5:30 p.m. event

Five other permits were auctioned off earlier this year, raising $41,202 to send 200 Maine youngsters to Maine Conservation Camp this summer.

An estimated 125 people, substantially fewer than previous turnouts, showed up to listen as members of the fish and wildlife department and a couple of local politicians took turns reading the names of the permit winners.

Donald Dow of China was the first person drawn in Tuesday’s event, but none of the people in attendance were selected.

Reaction to the new selection process varied among those in attendance, many of whom make the drawing an annual event.

“They’re ruined the whole evening. I’d never come back again,” said Joe Firlotte of Winthrop, who has attended the drawing since it was first held here in 1982, when his name was drawn.

“I might as well have stayed home and read it in the paper in the morning,” continued Firlotte. “(Before) the whole process was interesting. The kids pulled the tickets out and you had boards up there to follow the zones as they filled up. I don’t know why they bother to do it here anymore.”

However, other would-be moose hunters in attendance were glad to know the new process virtually eliminated the possibility of human error in awarding the permits.

“This way, you don’t have names getting stuck to the side of the drum,” said Dale Burgess of Winthrop, who received a permit in 1984 and has attended the drawing several times. “It’s more or less like the doe permits.”

The state received 89,074 moose permit applications this year, 71,275 of which came from Maine residents, officials said. That represents a decrease of 5,458 after last year’s record 94,532 applicants.

There were 17,799 non-resident applications from people as far away as Belgium, Scotland, Denmark, Alaska, Italy and Hawaii. All sought the chance to bag North America’s largest game animal.

Maine’s 1995 moose season, the 15th since it was reintroduced on an experimental basis in 1980, is scheduled Oct. 2-7. Only 700 resident permits were issued that first year.

Next fall, 1,400 permit holders and their subpermittees will be in the woods, 200 more than last year. Next year, 1,500 permits will be up for grabs under changes implemented by the Legislature in 1994.

Jim Connolly of Corinth, the DIFW’s computer services supervisor, explained it took the computers about an hour to generate a random list, select the names and print them out. The DIFW has used computers to select doe hunting permit winners since 1987.

Bucky Owen, Maine’s commissioner of fisheries and wildlife, said his department elected to use computers primarily to assure fairness in awarding moose permits.

“It’s a fairer randomization process,” Owen said. “Everybody has absolutely an equal chance. The fairness issue is what’s most important to us, but when you have 1,500 permits, it drags it out so long, too.”

Tuesday’s drawing lasted 2 hours, 20 minutes, about 30 minutes less than in the past.