BETHEL — Niilo Sillanpaa III, fresh off his second-place finish in a moose-calling competition at the Bethel Town Common, said he wasn’t going to stick around at the Bethel Moose Festival’s moose-hunting permit drawing to hear whether his name was called.
He works as a moose-hunting guide in New Vineyard, and while he has applied for a permit for 28 consecutive years, he has never had his name called at a permit drawing.
“I mean, they have that new law that says anybody who hasn’t received a permit by the age of 70 automatically gets a permit, so I guess I only have 32 more years to wait,” Sillanpaa joked, his grin nearly hidden behind several inches of beard.
Sillanpaa said he has hunted all his life, and at a certain point, he decided he wanted to become a guide to “bring a little money in.”
However, while a second-place finish in a moose-calling competition is nice, Sillanpaa said his heart is set on getting his first moose-hunting permit.
“When the drawing starts, I’m going to get into my car, start driving and listen to the radio as my name is not called for a permit,” Sillanpaa said with a laugh.
The Bethel Moose Festival kicked off Friday evening and will continue through Sunday.
Jessie Perkins, events and marketing director for the Bethel Chamber of Commerce, said the University of Maine 4-H Camp reached out to the chamber a couple of years ago about submitting a proposal for Bethel to be considered for the Maine Moose Lottery.
A committee consisting of local business owners, chamber members and 4-H camp employees was responsible for organizing the event, Perkins said.
The pièce de résistance of the festival was the permit drawing, at which 2,740 permits would be handed out to Maine residents and nonresidents alike. The drawing is randomized, with certain applicants being awarded bonus points based on how long they have gone without receiving a permit.
The drawing began at 3 p.m., and after several hundred names had been called, Harrison resident Carol Barker, 71, received her third moose-hunting permit in 25 years — an impressive feat considering more than 50,000 people from all 50 states and multiple countries applied this year.
Barker’s daughter, Kelly Silke, and Silke’s granddaughter sat next to her as she learned that her most recent permit would allow her to hunt in Wildlife Management District 4, a region in Northern Maine adjacent to Baxter State Park.
The first year that Barker went on a moose hunt was 1989. That year, she shot a 900-pound bull moose with a 63-inch rack.
While many of the officers with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife suggested Saturday that applicants who receive a permit this year hire a moose-hunting guide to take them on their hunt, Barker scoffed at the idea of hiring a guide.
“We’ve never had a guide when we went moose-hunting, and we’ve gotten a moose every year we went,” Barker said. “I’ve been hunting for 55 years, so I know a little bit about hunting.”
Steve Grey, treasurer and 10-year member of the Maine Bowhunters Association, was hoping his fourth time applying for a permit would be the charm.
“I’ve found that when people don’t expect to get a permit, that’s when their name gets drawn,” Grey said. “At this point, if I don’t get it, that’s OK with me — but if I do get it, it would make a great day even better.”
Prior to the drawing, people had the opportunity to visit dozens of vendors and demonstrations scattered throughout the downtown, including a beer garden tent at the Bethel Inn Resort and autograph-signing by the cast of “North Woods Law,” a television series on Animal Planet.
The Bethel Historical Society organized several games for children on the lawn between the Moses Mason House and the Robinson House, and demonstrations were held under the big tent at the center of the Bethel Town Common, including how to blood track big game with dogs from Lindsay Ware of UnitedBloodTrackers.org, and how to differentiate between different hunting dogs, by the Sebasticook Chapter of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association.
According to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 52,374 people from all 50 states, several Canadian provinces and countries as far away as Guam and New Zealand applied for moose-hunting permits this year. Maine applicants made up 34,288 of that count.
Maine residents had a 1-in-70 chance of receiving a permit, while nonresidents had a 1-in-994 chance.
The 2,740 permits for this year’s drawing was down from the 3,095 permits drawn in 2014.
- Chandler Woodcock, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, reads off the first one hundred names of winners of the 2015 Moose lottery on Saturday to a packed house on the Bethel Common.
- Don Kliner, executive director of the Professional Maine Guide Association, looks on as Niiko Sillanpaa, of New Vineyard, demonstrates his Moose calling skills. Shown here, he is scraping the trees with moose scapulas, to mimic the sounds moose make when scraping their antlers against the trees. Sillanpaa won second prize in the moose calling competition. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
- Liam Holabird, 8 years old, of Fort Kent, entertains the crowd at the Bethel Maine Moose Lottery Festival with a litany of moose calling tricks as Roger Lambert of the professional Maine Guides Association holds the microphone. Holabird quipped that “Today’s generation might like to call a moose with a text, but that just won’t do”. He then used a watercan and bowl of water to mimic the sound of a moose peeing in the water. All of these moose sounds are designed to bring moose closer to the hunters. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
- Chandler Woodcock, Commissioner of the Department of Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife reads the first one hundred names of moose permit winners to hopeful moose hunters at Bethel Maine Moose Lottery Festival on Saturday afternoon. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
- Carol Barker, 66, chats with her daughter Kelly Silke after winning a permit in the Maine Moose lottery on Saturday afternoon in Bethel. The two have gone moose hunting several times in the past twenty years and have even brought Kelly’s daughter with them for a three generation all female hunting party. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
- Marcie and Eric Charles, from Roanoke Virginia, join the throngs of Mainers waiting to see if they too will be lucky enough to win a moose hunting permit at the Maine State Moose Lottery. The chances for non-residents to win a permit are just over two percent. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
- David Ojeda encourages 4 year old Zenon Lewis to mug for the cameras as his pokes his head through a moose cut-out at the Bethel Maine Moose Lottery Festival on Saturday. The festival was well attended and there were outdoor activites for all ages. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
- Carol Pavan of Brunswick receives fly casting pointers from Lee Margolin founder and president of the Mollyocket Chapter of Trout Unlimited on Saturday at the Bethel Maine Moose Lottery Festival. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
- Reed Jenks, a member of the 4-H field staff demonstrates a bow drill, used for starting fire to onlookers Jacob and Barbara Hooper of Albany. The University of Maine 4-H camp had several primitive skills demonstrations set up at the Bethel Maine Moose Lottery Festival on Saturday on the Bethel common and surrounding lawns. (Andree Kehn /Sun Journal)
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