KITTERY – Zachary Provost of Sabattus didn’t plan on heading to the Kittery Trading Post on Thursday night. He had entered the state’s annual moose lottery seven previous times and hadn’t had any luck. He had other plans.

Then he decided to add another stop to the itinerary.

“My dad wanted to come down and I was going to look at a Harley on the way down,” the 18-year-old said.

The trip down went well. His name was drawn as one of 3,015 permit holders for the 2008 hunt … and after spending some more time at the lottery, he had plans for the return trip.

“I’ll be picking [the Harley] up on the way home,” he said.

Despite his new bike and his first moose hunt, Provost didn’t show much reaction when his name was read. His relatives made a point of pointing out the winner during a break in the lottery’s action.

“I didn’t want to jump up and make a scene,” Provost said with a grin.

Provost knows his way around moose – his family owns Sabattus Deer Processing – but had never been on a moose hunt of his own, or with friends.

“We cut moose in the fall and we cut deer all winter,” Provost said, admitting that his traditional plans might change this year.

“I might have to hire somebody to take my place for the moose hunt,” he said.

More than 300 people crowded into a tent in a Kittery Trading Post parking lot and dozens of others milled around outside during the event, which was held on a beautiful late spring evening, with temperatures in the 70s and a gentle sea breeze blowing.

The annual lottery was a more refined, glossy product than many of its predecessors, as the Kittery Trading Post pulled out the stops to create a fun environment during the first year a retail establishment has hosted the event.

A band named Blue Train played its country and rock repertoire in the hours leading up the lottery, a variety of vendors displayed and offered samples of their wares (two thumbs up for the Meat House, a butcher shop which was serving marinated steak tips) and kids could ride down a saber-toothed tiger inflatable slide.

Among the lucky winners: Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap of Old Town and Warden Maj. Gregory Sanborn of Sidney.

In a classic piece of moose lottery theater, Sanborn was one of the people who was handed a list of names to read to the public … and his name was on the list.

“Boss, can I get the last week of September off?” Sanborn asked, turning to DIF&W Commissioner Roland “Dan” Martin before reading his own name.

In truth, it’s hard to sneak something by a Maine game warden, and Sanborn’s … um … informants had already tipped him off.

Still, Sanborn was excited about the prospects of embarking on his first moose hunt.

“Me and my dad put in from 1980, the first one. I was in high school and I convinced him that I needed a 7 mm magnum [rifle] for moose season because we were going to get drawn,” Sanborn said. “He helped me out, financially, and we got the 7 mm magnum, and I’ve still got it to this day. Unfortunately, he’s not around to moose hunt with me, but I’m going to use that rifle and have at it.”

Mark Ostermann, a self-described “computer jockey” for the DIF&W who programs the computer that makes the actual selection of permit-holders, said that every resident who entered the lottery had a 1-in-119 chance of being selected. Nonresidents had a 1-in-682 chance for each chance in the lottery they bought.

Even before the list of permit-winners was read aloud, Ostermann could tell you how some of the permits would be awarded, thanks to the power of statistical probability.

“If they’d applied every year since 1998 [when the state began awarding an extra chance for each year a hunter’s name wasn’t drawn], about 10 percent will be a winner,” Ostermann said.

Ostermann went on to tell the crowd that they all had a chance to win … although most of them wouldn’t.

“He just wanted to tell you it wasn’t rigged, and that you still have a chance,” the DIF&W’s Regis Tremblay quipped after Ostermann explained the computer’s “thought” process to the crowd.

“That’s all we need!” one prospective hunter in the crowd bellowed.

The DIF&W began moving the lottery around the state in 1999. Since then it has been held in Phippsburg, Rumford, Presque Isle, Scarborough (twice), Bucksport, Old Town, Boothbay Harbor and Millinocket. Next year’s lottery will be held in Fort Kent, while the 2010 lottery is set for L.L. Bean in Freeport.

This year, in response to requests from the public, according to Martin, the names of both resident and nonresident permit holders were read aloud. In recent years only resident permit-winners had their names read at the lottery ceremony.

This year’s moose season will be split into three sessions – a departure from past two-session hunts. The first six-day hunt runs from Sept. 22-27, the second from Oct. 13-18, and a third, limited session will be held in four more southerly districts from Nov. 3-29.

Maine’s modern moose-hunting era began in 1980, when an experimental season was held and 700 permits were allotted. After examining that data, the hunt was reinstated as an annual event beginning in 1982.

The 3,015 permits handed out on Thursday night marked a high-water mark for Maine’s modern hunt. The previous record was 3,000 permits, in 1999 and 2000. Last year, a total of 2,880 permits were allotted.

This year, a total of 64,450 prospective hunters applied for the lottery: 2,720 permits went to the 46,313 Maine residents, while 295 permits were awarded to the 18,137 out-of-state applicants.

In 2007, a total of 65,090 prospective moose hunters entered the lottery.

jholyoke@bangordailynews.net

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