CONTACT:
Linda Verville: (603) 271-2461
Henry Jones: (603) 744-5470
May 5, 2023
Concord, NH – If you want to hunt moose in New Hampshire this fall, now is the time to enter the 2023 moose hunt lottery and try your luck on the adventure of a lifetime—hunting moose in the rugged woods of the Granite State. The lottery entrance fee is $15 for New Hampshire residents and $25 for nonresidents. A total of 33 permits are proposed to be issued this year. An overview of the 2023 Moose Proposals can be found by visiting www.wildlife.state.nh.us/hunting/documents/season/draft-rules-moose.pdf.
To enter the New Hampshire moose hunt lottery, visit www.huntnh.com/hunting/moose.html where you can enter online or print out a mail-in application. You can also call 603-271-2461 to have an application mailed to you, or you can pick one up at any New Hampshire Fish and Game Department licensing agent.
Applicants are encouraged to apply online and early, so there is less chance of having an incomplete application. Moose hunt lottery applications for 2023 must be postmarked by Friday, May 26, 2023, submitted online by midnight Eastern time on Friday, May 26, 2023, or delivered to the Licensing Office at NH Fish and Game Department headquarters in Concord before 4:00 p.m. that day. Winners will be selected through a computerized random drawing and announced on June 16.
Applicants may enter the moose hunt lottery once per year. A bonus-point system improves the chances for unsuccessful applicants who apply each consecutive year. Each point translates into a chance in the drawing. For example, last year the overall odds of a resident applicant being drawn were 1 in 96, while resident applicants with a total of 19 points had a 1 in 33 chance of being drawn. For nonresidents, the odds increased from 1 in 410 overall to 1 in 157 for applicants with 19 points.
In 2022, 6,033 people entered the lottery for the chance to win one of 40 permits. More than 1,190 people continued to accrue bonus points because they submitted an application exclusively to preserve their accrued points. Hunters from five states besides New Hampshire 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%, 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.
New Hampshire’s nine-day moose hunt starts the third Saturday in October. This year’s hunt runs from October 21–29.
New Hampshire has had an annual moose hunt since 1988, when 75 permits were issued for a three-day hunt in the North Country. Moose hunting permits are issued when the harvest will not affect the long-term viability of the moose population and when consistent with objectives set in the Department’s long-term Game Management Plan. Objectives in this plan incorporate both biological information and public input.
To learn more about moose hunting in New Hampshire visit www.huntnh.com/hunting/moose.html.