SCARBOROUGH – Among the couple hundred prospective moose hunters who gathered at Scarborough Downs on Thursday night to listen for a familiar name, there were plenty who viewed a Maine moose permit the same way they’ve always viewed it.

Unlikely … improbable … impossible.

Many, you see, enter this state-run permit lottery every year, and have since 1980. And many are still waiting for their name to pop out of the (now computerized) hopper for the first time.

Sharon Elwell of Buxton is not one of those hunters. In fact, if he’d told many of those in attendance about his track record, they may well have run him out of town … even before he found out he’d won … again.

“This is the third one,” Elwell said with a sheepish grin. “My wife’s been drawn twice, too. Last year she didn’t put in because she felt so bad for the other people. I don’t feel bad. I love the moose meat.”

Elwell said he had no explanation for his family’s luck.

“It’s just luck. It’s that guy up above, I guess,” Elwell said.

Elwell had never attended a moose lottery in the past, but decided to head to Scarborough on Thursday. And he admitted that despite his past luck, he didn’t expect much more than an enjoyable buffet dinner this year.

“I certainly was [surprised],” he said.

This year – in the 26th lottery over the last 27 years – 65,181 prospective hunters applied for a coveted permit – 46,413 Mainers and 18,768 non-residents The modern moose hunt began in 1980, was suspended in 1981, and has been held annually since then.

In the well-appointed Scarborough Downs clubhouse, periodic bursts of applause and cheers broke out when any of the lucky winners was present.

That was the case early in the evening, when Larry Butera of Brewer let out a loud whoop after his stepson, Dakota Bartlett, had his name drawn.

Bartlett, a wiry 12-year-old, has had plenty of hunting success in the past, bagging an 8-point buck, a doe and a coyote over the past three years.

And Butera estimated he has been on about 20 moose hunts – most as a sub-permittee – with his co-workers.

The secret, Bartlett said, is simple.

“Being lucky,” he said.

Mainers were allowed to buy one, three, or six chances in the lottery, while non-residents can buy unlimited blocks of 10. Only 278 of the moose permits are awarded to non-residents, however, making their rate of success much lower than that of residents.

To participate in the lottery, Mainers can buy a one-chance ticket for $7, three-chance tickets for $12, and six-chance for $22. Non-residents pay $15 for one-chance, $25 for three, $35 for six and $55 for 10.

This year’s odds: If you were a Mainer, you had a 1-in-126 shot at earning a permit for each chance you purchased or earned (hunters earn an extra chance each year their name isn’t drawn). Overall, however, each Mainer had a 1-in-23 chance of actually being drawn. Non-residents had a 1-in-697 probability for each chance they bought or earned.

Mark Ostermann, the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s programmer and analyst, said a resident who applied every year since 1998 and purchased the maximum of six chances had a 1-in-9 shot at a moose permit.

In addition to the 2,825 permits that were awarded Thursday night, five permits were sold in a sealed-bid auction to raise money to help send 300 Maine youngsters to the Maine Conservation School at Bryant Pond. That auction raised $54,306, with the winning bids ranging from $11,175 to $10,500.