AUGUSTA, Maine – Twenty years after Maine revived moose hunting on an experimental basis, the herd has grown to a point where four times as many of the ungainly animals are being hunted and a two-week season is being scheduled.

Even before this fall’s one-week hunt takes place, the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife commissioner’s advisory council authorized new rules Wednesday for the 2001 season.

During next year’s season, a one-week hunt will be held during the second week of October in the southwestern and central districts of Maine’s moose hunting zone, which is limited to the northern part of the state.

In the northern and eastern districts, split moose hunts will be held for one week in late September and the second week in October.

The new rules keep the same season length in areas around Greenville, but the season will be lengthened in Downeast areas where the hunting acreage is expanding. The new rules also have the effect of spreading hunters out more, reducing conflicts with other moose, bear and grouse hunters and anglers and tourists, the game agency said.

The number of permits to be issued for 2001 will not be determined until after this fall’s season, which will be held Oct. 9-14. Biologists want to gauge the size and health of the moose herd after this fall’s season, and update census figures this winter, before setting new permit numbers.

Three-thousand permits have been awarded for this fall’s moose hunt, more than four times the number issued for the 1980 season when a one-week, experimental hunt was held.

Moose hunting had been outlawed in Maine since 1935 after the number of moose dwindled. A residents-only season was held in 1980, when 700 permits were issued.

The number of permits was increased to 1,000 during the first regular season in 1982, and the Legislature since then has gradually nudged the harvest limit upward.

The Legislature also has authorized the fish and game department to set major rules for the moose hunt, rather than doing it itself.

This fall will be the second season in which the state is issuing a certain number of “antlerless” moose permits, which allow the killing of only young males or females.

Under the new rules, the number of antlerless permits can be increased next year. The restriction helps to preserve big bulls and aids management along highway corridors where the number of car-moose collisions is high.