Three Concord-area residents are among 40 people who won a chance to hunt a moose this October in the annual lottery held by New Hampshire Fish & Game.
The lottery, held every year since 1975, gives hunters the right to try to shoot a moose in a particular part of the state during hunting season, which this year runs from Oct. 15 to 23.
So Kevin Snow of Canterbury can hunt only in what is known as Wildlife Management Unit B, along the Connecticut River just south of Claremont; Joseph CloutierJr. of Andover can hunt in Unit C1, just west of Berlin; and Richard Levinus of Franklin in Unit D, around Whitefield.
Hunters were chosen for 13 of the state’s 25 Wildlife Management Units. The city of Concord, if you’re curious, is divided among no less than three units, but none were part of this year’s moose lottery.
About three-quarters of hunters are successful at killing a moose each year, according to Fish & Game.
The state’s moose population has fallen steadily over the past decade or so, largely because of the toll taken by winter ticks, whose population has soared due to climate change. Last winter those ticks killed 90% of the moose calves that biologists were tracking in the state. Moose have no natural predators in the northeast.
The moose lottery has declined along with the moose population. The first lottery issued 75 permits, a number that rose to 675 permits in 2007 and has fallen steadily since.
The lottery continues to draw interest both in and out of the state. Fish & Game says 6,033 people applied for the lottery and another 1,196 people submitted an application for a bonus point that improves the chance of winning in future lotteries.
The odds of being selected this year were 1 in 96 for residents and 1 in 410 for nonresidents. Permit winners hailed from Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Georgia. The full list of winners is online at https://wildlife.state.nh.us/hunting/moose-winners.html
