Sen. John Gallus's fondness for moose is evident on his desk in the State House, where he keeps a moose paperweight and a moose picture frame.

"I love moose," said Gallus, a North Country Republican who has sponsored a bill to auction off three moose-hunting permits a year. "Everybody does."

But not everybody loves the auction idea, which is supposed to help the cash-strapped Fish and Game Department. Hunters are divided about the proposal, which some blast as a plan to sell a state resource to the highest bidders.

Proponents in the Legislature said the auction - which could draw $5,000 or more per permit - would only supplement the existing moose lottery.

"We don't want to make it just an exclusive club by a long shot," Gallus said. "I never want all of the licensing coming out of some kind of auction."

But supporters may have suffered a setback last week when Gov. John Lynch said he wants to auction 50 moose permits a year, not three, as proposed by lawmakers, or five, as recently requested by the Fish and Game Department

Rep. Gene Chandler, a Bartlett Republican and lifelong hunter and fisherman, called the governor's plan "absolutely reprehensible" and "ludicrous."

"I don't care how many there are, even if it's just one. What are we going to do next? Deer and bear? Chipmunks?" Chandler said. "Hopefully the sportsmen of this state will rile up against that because this is wrong - as wrong as wrong can be."

A few hunters attended a hearing on the issue Friday, but all were also either lawmakers or Fish and Game representatives. The Monitor contacted several hunters across the state afterward; some opposed the idea entirely, while others said they could accept a plan to auction a few moose-hunting permits, but not 50.

John Williamson, who works at Skip's Gun Shop in Bristol and who accompanied a friend on a successful moose hunt last year, said he feared the auction idea might eventually lead to all moose permits being given to the highest bidders. "And then that leaves out the people that make up New Hampshire, the regular people that can't afford this auction stuff," he said.

Ed Drew has gone on two moose hunts in New Hampshire. He opposes any auction.

"I hate to see the money chase. The random lottery is pretty sweet," said Drew, an engineer who lives in Keene. "The guy that's just put 10 bucks in has the same chance as the guy driving the Mercedes."

Fred Allen, president of the Pemigewasset Valley Fish and Game Club, said politicians should defer to Fish and Game.

"I get upset when . . . people who sit in the city and think wildlife is pigeons and nightclubs decide what we should do for (hunting) laws," he said.

New Hampshire banned moose hunting for decades to try to revive a population that had thinned to an estimated 50 moose by 1950. Officials restored hunting in 1988, with the herd at more than 4,000. That year, the state offered 75 permits via lottery. Last year, with the moose population 7,000, Fish and Game offered 675 permits.

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