Tony Makris already knows he’ll be gunning for a Maine moose come October.

Other hunters won’t find out until Wednesday if they will. That’s when the state holds its annual lottery to hand out the hunting permits. About 85,000 people applied; 3,000 permits will be issued.

But Makris already has his in the bag.

He made sure of it.

He paid big money for it: $9,200. That’s about $10 a pound for an average Maine bull. He was top bidder in this year’s Maine Moose Permit Auction. Four others bid at least $7,100 each to snag the other permits.

Makris wants to shoot a Maine moose badly enough that he’s flying all the way from the Wild West — Tulsa, Okla. — to tromp upcountry woods. And he isn’t coming alone. He’s bringing a camera crew from the television show he hosts, Under Wild Skies, which airs on ESPN-TV Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. They’ll film his moose hunt for broadcast in summer 2000.

Coming Sept. 18 is an episode in which Makris hunts ruffed grouse and woodcock near Jackman. It was shot last fall.