Maine’s still-popular moose lottery has some problems. For years, a major source of revenue for operating the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W), the moose lottery has seen its application numbers free falling. In fact, the number of moose lottery applications is now about half of what it was a decade ago. While this may mean less competition in the drawing for those die-hard applicants who apply faithfully year after year, it is not good news for a cash-strapped Fish and Wildlife Department.

What’s the cause of all this? It appears that the decline started when MDIF&W, in an attempt to save on postage costs, stopped mailing moose lottery applications. That measure obviously was “penny wise and pound foolish.” Of course, hard economic times may explain a small part of the decline in applications, but it is hard to imagine an aspiring Maine moose hunter unwilling to chance a $7.00 bet on a Maine moose hunt easily worth a $1,000.00. No, there is another more likely culprit: human behavior. The Maine lottery has a public relations problem that is rooted in a public perception — real or imagined — that something just isn’t right with the lottery selection process.

A growing number of would-be moose hunters who have, for years, taken part in the moose lottery have simply become discouraged and given up.This is probably predictable even though preference points are offered to longtime lottery participants, specifically to mitigate the discouragement factor. What really discourages many applicants, especially those who have never been drawn and have piled up preference points, is when they see a neighbor draw a moose permit for the third and fourth time!

If the Maine moose lottery, once a $5 million revenue source for MDIF&W, were being operated by Hollywood Slots, there would be a lot of “think tanking” in an effort to stem the decline in applications and re-energize the moose lottery.

Since this may be a marketing issue, pure and simple, it might behoove the Fish and Wildlife Department to conduct an in-depth interview and opinion survey of former moose lottery applicants. The pivotal issue or question would be really quite straightforward: ” What changes need to be made in the moose lottery to get you back in the game?”

Like any lottery, the moose lottery is a numbers game involving odds. When you gamble your $7.00 to draw a moose permit, the odds going in are not very good, somewhere around 100 to 1, depending upon your preference points. When 50,000 hunters compete for 3,000 moose, there will be far more losers than winners, so you can’t make everybody happy, no matter how “fair” the system devised. According to MDIF&W’s Mark Ostermann, who runs the lottery, the computerized lottery software is as random as you can get mathematically. Ostermann points out that the odds are much better for those who have applied year after year since the moose lottery began: “The odds of winning are getting better every year. In the early 90s, when the lottery was just starting, the odds of winning were 1 in 93. This year the odds were 1 in 16. And the preference points have increased the odds of the resident who has applied every year since 1998 to 1 in 7. “

The public relations aspect of the moose lottery comes into play BEFORE the names are placed in the computerized barrel. It may be time to revisit the issue of whose names make it into the computerized drawing. Once MDIF&W conducts its marketing study of discouraged former moose lottery applicants, it may find that some of these changes are worthy of consideration in an attempt to invigorate the sluggish moose lottery.

1. Get creative with the preference point system. Perhaps eliminate preference point accumulation for those who have already drawn a moose permit, or some innovation along these lines.(My wife and I have each drawn a moose permit).

2. Introduce an age factor into the preference point system. For example, applicants between the ages of 60-70 get additional preference points, and so on.

Most of us are acquainted with aging friends who have been trying most of their adult life to win in the moose lottery. For some it has become a race to get in on just one Maine moose hunt before the body gives out or worse. Over the years, our Maine Fish and Wildlife licensing policies have always given some deference to senior citizen sportsmen and women. Why should the moose hunt be any different?

3. Allow residents to purchase an unlimited number of “chances” in the moose lottery, which is currently the case with non-resident applicants, some of whom spend thousands of dollars on moose lottery chances.( This was discussed last year at the legislative level but went nowhere).

4. Set aside 10 percent of the allotted moose harvest permits for guides and outfitters. These could be auctioned off to the highest bidder or sold at a premium rate on a first-come-first serve basis. (This is done in the West as a way to support the guides and outfitters’ industry.)

Related to all of this is another concern. Maine doesn’t have reliable census data on its moose population. If the moose lottery revenues continue spiraling downward that means less money to properly inventory and manage our Maine’s remarkable moose herd.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal and has written his first book, A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].