Lucky Day for 2016 NH Moose Hunt Permit Winners

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Leon Nelson of Deering, will be using this thumb - along with the rest of his digits - when he goes moose hunting this seasons.
Leon Nelson of Deering, will be using this thumb – along with the rest of his digits – when he goes moose hunting this seasons.

CONCORD, NH — The adventure of a lifetime is in store for 71 people who have been offered permits to hunt moose in New Hampshire this October. They are the lucky winners in the state’s 29th annual moose hunt lottery drawing, held today at New Hampshire Fish and Game Department headquarters in Concord.

Ten-year-old Hannah Verville of Loudon had the honor of pushing the button to start the computerized random selection and launch the traditional reading of names on the winners list. An enthusiastic audience filled the room, enjoying doughnuts, swapping backwoods stories, and listening in hopes of hearing their name called for a permit for this year’s hunt.

It was a lucky day for Leon Nelson of Deering, who was in the room to hear his name drawn for the 2016 hunt.  “I’m on top of the world!” said Nelson, as the crowd of hopeful hunters cheered.

No hunters from Manchester made the primary list, although Girard P. Boisvert of Manchester is among the alternates.

Good turnout for the June 17 Moose Lottery winners announcement.
Good turnout for the June 17 Moose Lottery winners announcement.

Winners were selected from a pool of 8,116 applicants. In addition, more than 1,400 people submitted an application for a bonus point only, but are not included in the lottery. The bonus point system improves the chance of winning for each consecutive year entered and not selected. The overall odds of being drawn this year were 1 in 75 for state residents and 1 in 327 for nonresidents.

You can read the names of the 2016 winners and alternates here.

Winners will be offered permits to hunt moose in a specific Wildlife Management Unit during the 2016 N.H. moose season, which runs October 15-23. Each permit winner is assigned to one of 22 wildlife management units (WMUs) in which he or she can legally hunt.  Winners are allowed to enlist a guide and one friend or relative to help on the hunt as a “subpermittee.”

In addition to many New Hampshire residents, winners hailed from New York, California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania.  Nearly 85% of the winners were New Hampshire residents; this percentage is based on the resident/non-resident ratio of N.H. hunting licenses sold the previous year. A description of the lottery process and table of applicants and odds can be found at www.huntnh.com/hunting/documents/moose-lottery-stats.pdf.

Hunters whose names were selected in today’s drawing will be notified by mail. Lists of successful applicants and alternates are available at www.huntnh.com/hunting/moose-winners.html; at Fish and Game headquarters in Concord; and at the Department’s regional offices in Durham, Keene, Lancaster and New Hampton.

Last year (2015), New Hampshire hunters took 74 moose, for a statewide success rate of 69 percent.New Hampshire has had an annual moose hunt since 1988, when 75 permits were issued for a three-day hunt in the North Country.

For more information on hunting moose in New Hampshire, visit www.huntnh.com/hunting/moose.html.

About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!