It’s time to apply for your 2024 antlerless deer permit in the state’s lottery

The application period for licensed hunters to enter Maine’s 2024 antlerless deer permit lottery is open.

The deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 1 for the application, which must be entered online at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website. The lottery drawing will be held on Aug. 15.

There is no fee to enter the lottery for one of the 128,030 permits available, which is an increase of nearly 20,000 more than in 2023.

The Wildlife Management Districts with the most permits allotted are in southeastern Maine. WMDs 21-25 offer permits totaling 15,700 for WMD 21; 13,810 for 22; 18,990 for 23; 10,325 for 24; and 18,470 for 25. No permits will be issued in WMDs 1,2, 4 and 5, which is the northwestern part of the state.

The permit allows hunters to shoot an antlerless deer in the specified district, plus an antlered deer statewide. Hunters may purchase extra antlerless permits if there are some left over from the lottery, starting on Sept. 17 , on a first-come, first-served basis.

Last year, the department had at least two rounds of bonus permit purchases after the initial lottery.

Youth and regular archery and crossbow hunters are allowed antlerless deer in any district without a permit. Antlerless deer killed without a permit by youth and bow hunters count toward their annual bag limit of one deer and they cannot legally take an antlered deer too.

Youth and bow hunters who have antlerless permits may kill an antlered and an antlerless deer.

Lottery winners need to claim and purchase their permits for $12, plus a $2 agent fee, by 11:59 p.m. Sept. 12. The fees help fund buying and managing deer wintering areas, mostly in northern Maine.

The state reports that a total of 38,215 deer were killed during the 2023 hunting seasons. There were 108,070 antlerless deer permits available last year. Of those, 58,166 were claimed and paid for from the lottery, 28,240 were purchased as bonus permits and 21,664 were not purchased.