As one who hunts in Maine from time to time I was interested in a story on the Black Bear Blog about the decline in Non Resident Hunting License Sales and a task force being put together to figure out why. The economy is a huge factor I’m sure with unemployment at a high rate nationwide who has the extra money to make out of state hunting trips? I would also offer the decline in Maine’s deer herd is pretty well documented ( Maine’s Game Plan for Deer March 2011) so why plan a hunt in an area where there isn’t a good deer population? I would agree that on the surface the Moose Tag Lottery is not responsible however allowing non residents purchase as many chances for the lottery certainly sent a message that Maine is more interested in the well to do individual rather than the blue collar hunter.
I would be interested to see how other states are doing with their non residential sales I suspect they are down. A task force will just be flushing $ down the toilet which government is pretty good at. While Maine holds a special place in my heart I’m not sure it is a true premier hunting destination anymore.
