Site host among 2,885 permit winners

PHIPPSBURG – When the herd of prospective moose hunters began arriving at Phippsburg Elementary School on Thursday evening, Douglas Alexander was likely the first person they saw.

Alexander, the president of the Phippsburg Sportsmen’s Association and one of the hosts of the annual moose permit lottery, stood outside, greeted everyone as they entered, asked a question, and made a comment.

Where are you from? Thanks for coming.

Before the first hundred names were drawn, Alexander was blushing a bit, sweating a little … and smiling a lot.

After applying for a moose permit every year of the modern moose hunt – 27 times over 28 years – Alexander was a winner.

“I’m one of the [8,800],” Alexander said, referring to the number of people who had entered every lottery unsuccessfully since 1998. “It’s kind of embarrassing now because of what they’re going to be saying. ‘The fix was in’ and all that.”

Note to Alexander’s pals: There was no fix. He was just luckier than you … this time. And after approaching officials of the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife years ago and asking if his hometown could host the moose lottery one day, he had probably earned a bit of a home-court advantage.

More than 200 people packed the small gymnasium at Phippsburg Elementary School in hopes of hearing their names drawn. Those who left hungry had no one to blame but themselves. The Phippsburg Sportsmen’s Association, which sponsored the event, gave away all of its food (donations accepted, bottled water costs a buck) and Sportsmen Against Hunger offered up deer, moose, and elk chili … also free.

This year a total of 2,885 permits were allotted, including five through an auction designed to raise money for youth outdoor education. In all, 65,087 people applied for the chance to win a moose permit. This year’s split-session moose seasons will be held Sept. 24-29 and Oct. 8-13.

Despite a trend of decreasing applications for the annual moose lottery, this year’s total was essentially unchanged from 2006.

One prospective hunter showed up in Phippsburg with a smile on his face and positive outlook. Recently retired, though still running a strawberry-growing operation, the aptly named Frederick Farmer decided to head north and witness the proceedings. He showed up early (probably chatting with Alexander on the way in) and took up a position in the middle of the front row of folding chairs.

Farmer lives in Pepperell, Mass., and has been entering the Maine moose lottery for years.

“Since it started,” he said. “I’m retired now. I wasn’t last year. Even though I’m a farmer-farmer, you know. It was raining back home and I said, ‘What the hell.’ I closed the strawberry business and came up here.”

Maine was Farmer’s first moose-hunting option but not his only one: He will head to Concord, N.H., next Thursday for that state’s drawing and will keep an eye on the Vermont drawing when it’s held on July 13.

Unfortunately for Farmer, Maine doesn’t read the names of nonresident permit-winners aloud. Roland “Dan” Martin, the commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, sidestepped that problem by providing Farmer with a copy of all nonresident winners, which he pored over for about five minutes.

His name wasn’t there, he reported.

“But my next-door neighbor’s is,” Farmer said, still smiling.

Maine’s modern moose hunt began in 1980 as an experimental season and resumed in 1982. It has been held annually since then.

Until 1999, the moose permit lottery was held in Augusta. Since then, it has been held at various locations around the state and has remained a popular spectator event.

In past years it has been held in Scarborough, Rumford, Presque Isle, Old Town, Boothbay Harbor, Buckport, and Millinocket.

Mark Ostermann, the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s computer expert in charge of the lottery system, said about 8,800 people entered this year’s lottery and had done so every year since 1998 – the first year “preference points” were accrued, giving unsuccessful entrants extra chances in the drawing.

Ostermann said that about 33 percent of the permits would go to those 8,800 longtime repeat entrants. By contrast, only about 3 percent of the 12,398 first-time entrants (about 333 hunters, in all) would end up being successful, Ostermann said.