George Smith today says fewer adult Maine resident deer hunters will have fewer chances at being drawn for an “Any-Deer Permit” because the Maine Legislature decided that 25% of those permits be set aside specifically for junior hunters.
According to Smith:
Twenty five percent of the any-deer permits currently go to landowners, 15 percent to nonresidents, and 2.5 percent to Superpack licensees. With the new requirement that 25 percent go to junior hunters, only a third of the permits will be available for resident adult hunters.
Not unlike the continued allocation of moose permits to special interest, why is Mr. Smith seemingly upset by this announcement and yet hasn’t said much about the announcement to take a percentage of moose permits away from Maine resident hunters and give them to another special interest group; one established mostly by a person’s ability to pay more money while subsidizing private business?
Here’s a damned novel idea! Being that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) states that the utilization of an “Any-Deer Permit” system is for the purpose of manipulating the deer populations within Wildlife Management Districts (WMD), then make the number of permits necessary to achieve the population management goals available to any licensed hunter….period. No special interest, nothing. PERIOD! Whether you are a senior, a junior, cross-eyed or bowl-legged; whether you hunt with a rifle, a pistol, black powder, or throw rocks, all licensed hunters should have the same odds of being drawn for an Any-Deer Permit as the next guy. PERIOD!
Next year I’m proposing special treatment for blue-eyed, overweight, gray-haired, crabby old men. We deserve a percentage of those permits…….right?
