Alternates fill 60 lost moose slots

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So, you didn’t get your moose permit again this year and you’re understandably distraught. But don’t fret. If you’re one of 60 lucky men, women, and kids, I’ve got some great news for you: You’re going hunting after all.

On Monday, the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife sent out a press release which said, essentially, “Oops.”

OK, the press release was actually a lot more in-depth and professional than that. But the crux of the matter is this: Due to a miscue, the department neglected to assign any in-state hunters to Wildlife Management District 19 during the September season.

Those 60 who received a permit are listed at the end of this column.

An eagle-eyed woman from southern Maine (who, it seems, had more than a bit of time on her hands, since she sat down and counted all 2,825 names she expected to be on the moose-permit list) came up 60 names short and called the DIF&W.

And after poking around a bit, the DIF&W was able to figure out where it’d gone wrong.

“They started looking at how it could have happened and then it became clear that in one category, no one was picked,” said public relations specialist Mark Latti of the DIF&W. That category: resident permits for WMD 19, September season, antlered moose only.

Seven nonresident permits (10 percent of the total for the WMD) had been allotted, and the other 90 percent, which were to go to Mainers, had not. That meant that 60 more permits were up for grabs.

The state filled those slots by moving the first 60 alternates up the list.

WMD 19 is in extreme eastern Maine, sits between Route 6 and Route 9 and stretches from the Canadian border to Lee and Alligator Lake.

Latti said the fact that at least a few folks apparently actually sit down and count all the names on the list each year shows the popularity of the yearly moose-permit lottery, which was held last week in Scarborough.

“Anybody who wonders just how important the moose lottery is to people, I think that illustrates it, that somebody would take the time to see how many permits had been issued,” Latti said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

The good news will undoubtedly come as a huge surprise to many who had given up hope of moose hunting this year.

Brody Valley, 11, of Holden, was one such alternate. He greeted the news that he’d be hunting with one word.

“Awesome,” Valley said.

Valley said he already thought the moose lottery was pretty exciting.

“I was still glad that I was an alternate,” he said.

Brody, the son of Joe and Cindy Valley, comes from a hunting family with a history of success in the moose lottery.

And Cindy Valley said that while her son didn’t show much outward emotion while granting a phone interview on Monday afternoon, he did get excited as soon as he hung up.

“He was holding it back,” Cindy Valley said. “When he got off the phone he was kicking up his heels, saying, ‘I got a moose permit! I got a moose permit!'”

The Valley clan will likely eat well this fall as Brody’s uncle Tony Valley earned a permit for WMD 4 during Thursday’s lottery.

Brody Valley said his father has also been drawn, and the mount of that moose used to be on the wall of their Holden home.

Cindy Valley explained that after Joe shot a 21-point deer with his bow, the moose came down, and the deer mount went up in its place.

That coveted piece of wall space may be a point of contention again if Brody has his way: He said he hopes to put his moose there if his hunt is successful.

Latti said that after the mistake was detected, DIF&W staffers went back through the list of names drawn to make sure none of the hunters whose names were drawn subsequently eliminated themselves from contention for a permit by selecting only Zone 19 on their application.

The later in the lottery a person’s name is drawn, the less apt they are to receive their first choice of zone, season, or gender. If a hunter is extremely specific about the hunt they want to take, and isn’t willing to accept other options, they will be skipped over if their preferences can’t be met. Another hunter then fills that slot.

“It’s a possibility that someone could have chosen that as their first choice, [and] since permits weren’t selected [for WMD 19], they were put into their second choice,” Latti said. “What we do know for sure is that nobody was shut out of a permit because of this.”

The following Maine resident hunters have been selected to receive moose permits in WMD 19 and will be allowed to hunt for antlered moose during the September season:

Ronald A. Albert, Eagle Lake, James C. Allard, Brunswick, Tony A. Bachelder, Buckfield, Noah M. Bernard, Fort Fairfield, Richard M. Bissell, Bangor, Terry L. Blair Jr., Whitefield, Amy L. Brady, Sherman, C.W. Brown, Jefferson, Donald Caron, Waterville, Dolores M. Carver, Boothbay, Bruce A. Chamberlin, Gloucester, William E. Chapman, Warren, Kenneth W. Chase, Sebago, Phillip G. Cincotta, North Yarmouth, Beatrice M. Cormier, Portage Lake, Judith Delano, Brewer, Harry A. Diehl, Presque Isle, Michael J. Eaton, Litchfield, Dena R. Flanagan, Kittery, Donald D. Fortin, Turner, Richard L. Gamache, Greenville, Patrick R. Gardner, East Machias, Thomas M. Gerard, Madawaska, Kirk P. Gettig, Readfield, Jon A. Giguere, China, Janet S. Gill, Denmark, Darrell W. Gray, Milford, Paul L. Hanna, Belgrade, Leon L. Haskell, Greenbush, Clifford H. Hemingway III, Harrison;

Loren J. Johnston, Presque Isle, Gordon W. Joslyn, Brownville, Mark O. Kierstead, Eastport, Jamie L. Knight, Jay, Dennis L. Labbe, Nobleboro, Norman W. Lajoie, Augusta, Kenneth E. Lyford Jr., Frankfort, Kevin J. Lyons, Chester, David M. Macomber, Dove-Foxcroft, Michael D. Mayo, Turner, Paul E. McCleary, Milo, Michael D. McDonald, Dedham, Jared W. Mitchell, Rockport, Shaun A. Munroe, Winslow, Brandon G. Olsen, Waldoboro, Tara A. Pawley, South Berwick, Ronald C. Ramsay, Addison, Ronald E. Richards Jr., Windham, Richard E. Saxon, Bowdoinham, Mary F. Sheehan, Dallas Plt., Donald B. Smith, Byron, Nathan M. Staires, Roxbury, Fred E. Swift, Prospect, Luke Thiboutot, Topsham, Merrill L. Tompkins Jr., Enfield, Mary J. Tufts, New Gloucester, Brody T. Valley, Holden, Doreen M. Watson, Richmond, Jerome M. Watson, Boothbay, Lawrence O. White, Avon

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.