Testimony in Support
LD 22, An Act Regarding Maine’s Moose Lottery
LD 558, An Act to Improve Moose Hunting
March 23, 2017
Senator Cyrway, Representative Duchesne, distinguished members of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, my name is David Trahan and I am representing the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine testifying in support of LD 222, An Act Regarding Maine’s Moose Lottery and LD 558, An Act to Improve Moose Hunting.
We would first like to thank Senator Davis for sponsoring SAM bill, LD 222 and Rep. Hilliard, the original sponsor of legislation to reduce the hunting age, for introducing these two bills. Both LD 222 and 558 accomplish our main objective of increasing the age in which a child can apply to harvest a moose to 8 years old.
When the original legislation to lower the age to hunt in Maine was proposed, our organization testified that our preference would be to allow 8 year olds to hunt for small game with firearms that are more suitable to younger age classes.
Although that was not the final legislation, we did support the version that passed the last legislature and believe this change should be closely monitored. Because we did support the change, we feel some responsibility to fix the law. We did bring to the attention of bill supporters, including James Cote and the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, that elimination of the age requirement to hunt would create problems with the moose hunt and lottery system. We were told it would be fixed, but obviously, it wasn’t.
Allowing a child still in diapers to apply for a moose permit is unacceptable. In reality, the change went much further. In addition to allowing parents to have more chances to be drawn for a moose permit, the change also allowed both parents of the same child a second chance to kill a moose as a sub-permittee and an individual lottery winner.
Current law doesn’t allow a person to shoot two moose as a lottery winner and a sub-permittee, but there is nothing stopping a person from shooting their child’s moose as a sub-permittee and then also being drawn as a permit winner and have a sub-permittee on their permit shoot another moose.
For that reason, and many others, we believe this law gives unfair advantage to parents with children and one of these bills should be passed to fix this problem. We do encourage the committee to make this an emergency bill and pass it so it can be in effect this upcoming season.