Special hunts...

[bigbore442001]

There are some lottery hunts that cost very little to apply for speaking in relative terms. The chances of getting a tag can vary but I'll give you an example.

Each year my family applies for the moose tags for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. We eagerly await drawing results in the hopes of a special hunt. I apply each year to Kentucky and Pennsylvania for their special elk hunts. It would be a wonderful dream to take one of these animals with a specialty handgun. So far no luck.

I would like to know if there are some special drawings that I am unaware of? Are there some special hunts in other states that I am unaware of? I'd like to take a chance on something different.

Thank you for any replies.

[crs]

The NRA Whittington Center has annual hunt drawings for NRA members. These hunts include elk, turkey, mule deer, and bear. There is some minimal cost. $10-15 to apply and then the NM hunting license and travel expenses, but it can be a reasonable way to get in on a fun hunting experience.
Texas PWD also sponsors several such hunt drawings for a small lottery fee and those are a great value for Texas residents. Texas also has hunt drawings for various timber company and state properties and I have had good success with those in years past.
I bet you can find lots of hunts of this type if you keep poking about.

[Pete44ru]

[I'd like to take a chance on something different.]

Ya could always join the Border Patrol, and hunt banditos !

.

[stinson]

Hope you get your moose tag, Bigbore. I wrote and lobbied through the New Hampshire moose management bill in the mid-1980s, when I was executive director of NH Wildlife Federation. It included authorization, for the first time since the very early 1900s, for a moose hunt. Believe it or not, NH Audubon supported the bill, and without their support, it never would have passed the NH House. Of course, the anti-hunting crowd were hysterical, predicting the extinction of moose in NH within a very short time. According to my sources, then Governor John Sununu (you may remember him as an ethically-challenged staff member of the George Bush I White House staff - gov't limo ride to NYC and all that) was considering vetoing it - he was anything but a friend to NH sportsmen. I think that his fellow Republicans prevailed on him, and he let it become law without his signature. We could never have beaten a veto - it only passed by a few votes in the House. The first hunt was initiated a few years later, after a comprehensive management program was established. It has become a wonderful success, and yet one more validation of the legitimacy of wildlife management. I kinda thought I should have gotten a free tag for my efforts, though......

I haven't hunted moose for a while here in Alaska. Too many other animals to hunt, and too little time. They are fine eating, though. Particularly the small ones. Good luck.