New Hampshire’s 2019 moose hunt lottery is now open. The lottery entrance fee is $15 for New Hampshire residents and $25 for nonresidents.
To enter the moose hunt lottery online, or to print out a mail-in application, click here.
Applications are also available from any Fish and Game license agent, the Fish and Game Headquarters or Fish and Game Regional offices.
The deadline to enter is May 31, 2019.
New Hampshire has had an annual moose hunt since 1988, when 75 permits were issued for a three-day hunt in the North Country. The state’s current moose population is estimated at about 3,000 animals.
Moose hunt lottery applications for 2019 must be postmarked or submitted online by midnight Eastern Time or delivered to the Licensing Office, NH Fish and Game Headquarters, 11 Hazen Drive, Concord, before 4:00 p.m. May 31.
Winners will be selected through a computerized random drawing on June 21 at the NH Fish and Game Department in Concord.
Applicants can enter the moose hunt lottery once per year. A bonus-point system improves the chances for unsuccessful applicants who apply in each consecutive year. Each point translates to a chance in the drawing.
For example, last year the overall odds of a resident applicant being drawn were 1 in 76, while resident applicants with a total of 15 points had a 1 in 34 chance of being drawn. For nonresidents, the odds increased from 1 in 359 overall to 1 in 164 for applicants with 15 points.
In 2018, 6,142 people entered the lottery for the chance to win one of 51 permits. More than 1,200 people continued to accrue bonus points because they submitted an application for a point only in order to not lose their accrued points. Hunters from six other states won permits in the lottery.
While people travel from all over the country to take part in the New Hampshire moose hunt, the majority of permits, about 85 percent, are awarded to New Hampshire residents. The number of permits available to nonresidents is capped, based on the prior year’s sales of nonresident hunting licenses.
The number of moose hunt permits to be offered has not yet been determined. Harvest and survey data are currently under review according to Wildlife Programs Supervisor Kent Gustafson. Final numbers will be determined later this spring.
“While permit numbers may change in 2019, your chance of being drawn and offered a permit in the lottery will be improved if you rank all wildlife management units on your application,” Gustafson noted. “You will have the option to decline a permit if drawn for a unit you prefer not to hunt.”
New Hampshire applicants should note that the NH Division of Motor Vehicles started a new driver’s license number format in 2017. Because bonus points are tracked via your driver’s license number, applicants are advised to note if your license number has changed, to indicate it on the application.
New Hampshire’s nine-day moose hunt runs from Oct. 19 to 27.
To learn more about moose hunting in New Hampshire, click here.