2010 Maine Moose Lottery Is Today

[...] June 5, 2010 is misleading and the issues mentioned in it were never. … Read the original: 2010 Maine Moose Lottery Is Today : Moose Droppings Share and [...]

Moose – I’d like to give you an update on this. Through a reader, I found an article in the Bangor News written by John Holyoke stating that the Maine F&W had decided last minute to hold up the release of names until 9 p.m. that night.

While I am thankful for their consideration in this (they received numbers complaints I am told), I was very angry and extremely disappointed that MDIFW did not contact me of their change of mind. After streaming the event two years in a row, shelling out some serious money out of pocket to do so, along with repeated emails back and forth this spring to get MDIFW to hold up posting the results, and I didn’t deserve at least an email?

I sent a letter to several members of MDIFW as well as members of the Joint Standing Committee for Fish and Wildlife and some members of Legislature asking for an explanation as to why I couldn’t have been extended the courtesy.

I’ve held off posting any information about this until I’ve at least given all recipients of my inquiry a chance to respond.

So, far? Nothing! And it’s been three full days

I don’t have time to go down to the event but I would like to. The fact that the names are posted at 6:30 has no sway in whether or not I would attend the event. Those of us at home wait for the names and we have our own little celebration with the kids that night instead of waiting to the next day. If the only reason your going to the show is to get the results 3 hours early then you’re slightly misguided. The MDIFW has went high tech on everything and I don’t see why we’re complaining about this one.

I’m in the Maine Moose lotto but I live in Ohio, so for me, it would’ve been nice to be able to see the results the sooner the better. I know I only have an extremely low chance of drawing a permit but dang it is exciting! I have friends up there & would love to get a chance to do it, so I bought some chances! LOL! I’ll live till 9 tonight in extreme anticipation! LOL!

Talking Points on the Crossbow Issue
By Tony Robinson
It has been over forty years now since I bought my first bow, a recurve. I was eighteen then and just out of high school. At the time, modern bow hunting archery was in its infancy. There was little equipment available or affordable to us country boys. For the mountain counties of the state, seasons were short and deer were scarce, but that was about to change.
The seventies brought about an evolution within the sport of bow hunting. This was brought about by the invention of the compound bow. A compound bow uses a levering system, usually of cables and pulleys, to bend the limbs. In its early days, the compound bow was scoffed at and questioned as a legitimate bow for archery hunting. However, few could argue with its ability to shoot faster and more accurate than conventional bows. This of course resulted in less wounded game that failed to be recovered.
In only a few years the bow hunting market exploded with new equipment and gadgets to make bow hunting easier and more accurate for hunters. Clubs and organizations were created and the deer populations increased as well. Bow hunters had become a big part of the hunting population and contributed greatly to jobs and taxes. Today, not only is North Carolina at a crossroads with the issue of bow hunting but the nation as well. The next evolution of bow hunting now finds its future in the lap of the states lawmakers as they are caught in the crossbow crosshairs.
Last year North Carolina’s wildlife agency passed a rule change that would have treated the crossbow as standard archery equipment by all hunters. However, due to what is know as the “Ten Letter Rule”, this change was put on hold for a year and now requires the states lawmakers to decide what is best.
The so-called crossbow issue that North Carolina is now dealing with is not a new one nor is it unique to the state. A review of most of the nations hunting laws finds that most have dealt with this issue within the past five years. While there are no true standards being applied by the states other than with some of the equipment specifications themselves, some general patterns have emerged. It appears that all states allow some use of the crossbow as a normal hunting weapon. Some states treat it as a firearm with a few having specific crossbow only seasons. A few treat it as North Carolina currently does by allowing its use as a bow by handicapped hunters that can no longer shoot a normal bow.
However, in the southeastern region, the vast majority of the states now allow the crossbow to be used the same as a regular bow and arrow by the hunting pubic. All the states that border North Carolina allow this level of usage.
The use of the crossbow in North Carolina originated from the “Disabled Sportsman” statute 113-296, Chapter 557 of the 1993 session. It was ratified into law on May 24, 1994. While the use of the crossbow came from the concept of helping the handicapped that can no longer physically handle normal archery equipment, it’s end result has many shaking their heads at who ends up with the permit. Since then approximately 18,000 crossbow permits have been issued. This figure more than doubles the actual number of disabled hunting licenses issued for both veterans and non veterans in the state.
I personally know of several that have permits that I would never have guessed qualify. I know of an adult probation and parole intensive surveillance officer that has had one for years. There is no doubt in my mind that if I was the type of person that would do it, I could take the form to my doctor and ask him to sign off on it by simply telling him that I just can’t pull a regular bow back like I once could and he would do it. You probably know it your heart that you could do so as well.
Keep in mind that the current use of a crossbow is not for the actual disabled sportsman in the sense that most of us think of and for which most of the WRC’s handicapped sportsman program is geared for. In fact, missing both of your legs and being in a wheelchair does not within itself qualify you for the crossbow permit. A doctor signing a form that says you can no longer pull a bow back normally does.
According to most of the states sporting goods businesses, the vast majority of hunters in the state are in favor of allowing the use of a crossbow as a regular bow. In fact, last year the WRC held nine public hearings, and received over forty thousand comments regarding its proposed hunting and fishing regulations prior to deciding to allow the use of a crossbow without the handicapped permit.
In the past fifteen years, some 18,000 crossbow permits have been issued by the WRC. In addition, the states deer herd continues to grow with human interactions like vehicle accidents and depredation on the increase. In only its third year, the states new Urban Archery Season now has twenty-eight cities enrolled to allow the four week long, mid winter archery season within their town limits.
According to crossbow mfg rep Phil Rabb of Catawba, “All the retail sales outlets that I deal with tell me that the vast majority of their customers are in favor of allowing the crossbow by all hunters”.
Many in the industry see it as a win-win situation that has many positive aspects to it. Among those include; More hunters getting back into hunting, Allowing more youth to hunt during the archery season and at a younger age, A safer way to deer hunt in those areas that are now simply being surrounded by development and provide a much higher degree of accuracy in helping to insure a more human harvest of deer. This is evidenced each year by more parcels of land that support good deer herds but are not safe for firearm deer hunting. As a side benefit of allowing crossbows, as a regular bow is the huge amount of tax revenue it stands to generate.
With the average crossbow setup, costing $650.00 nationwide, current state sales tax rates on that amount would generate over $50.00. If you multiply that by the potential of several thousand new crossbow hunters, then the crossbows crosshairs may look more like dollar signs for the state.
An interesting note is that most of the compound bows that are currently being used by archery hunters have more killing ability at further ranges than a crossbow. In addition most avid archery hunters would prefer to use their bows than they would a crossbow.
If certain hunters oppose the use of the crossbow as standard archery equipment, then one must look at just what their motives might be. If it were a matter of choice between which one to use, like it should be, then what is wrong with that. They both are still much more limited in range and ability by the average hunter than firearms would be. Many archery hunters are much more accurate at long ranges than the average crossbow user. The standard arrow carries more kinetic energy at further distances than a crossbow arrow.
When given the choice, almost one hundred percent of the actual qualifying WRC handicapped sportsmen chose a standard firearm during the special disabled hunts over standard archery equipment, crossbows or even muzzleloader firearms. As a retired wildlife officer, now outdoor writer and VP of North Carolina Handicapped Sportsmen Inc., I know this to be a fact.
I spoke to a couple of very avid Bowhunters about the crossbow issue. They both told me that they really had no problem with what the person hunting the next ridge over was using. What they admitted feeling selfish about was the fact that they didn’t want to have any one else in the woods at all. They wanted it to themselves and felt that allowing the public to use a crossbow would entice more people into the woods.
Some would suggest that the crossbow should be treated as a firearm. Then the general public could use them if they want to but only when a fire could be used. The problem with this is that this concept would accomplish nothing. No one that I am aware of would want to purchase a crossbow when they already have rifles and shotguns that work better, at a longer distance and more effectively. Most people that oppose sharing crossbows by the public during the archery season would more than be happy with treating it as a firearm because they know what it would mean.

[...] received this comment from North Carolina from one of Skinny Moose Media’s bloggers. The last couple of years technology caught up and the radio broadcast was carried over the net by [...]