Maine Antlerless Deer Permits Will Go On-sale Tuesday

After technical issues last week, the purchasing of Maine antlerless deer tags has been rescheduled to Tuesday.

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has rescheduled the "over the counter" sales of 2022 anterless deer permits. After the department's website crashed on what was to be the opening day of permit purchases, the new date has been set for Tuesday, October 11, at 11 a.m. The original plan was for permits to go on-sale October 5.

According to a mass-email from IFW sent last week, "The page which failed to load on October 5 has been optimized and is prepared to handle all the users that attempted to visit on Wednesday plus more." The process to buy a permit will be similar to the queue system used by Ticketmaster. Those in the queue will be given an approximate wait time, and will alert users to WMDs that have sold-out of permits.

Hunters seeking to purchase a tag should be prepared with their name and date of birth, MOSES ID, and preferred WMDs. IFW says to have 2-3 WMDs in mind, in case some are sold-out.

Unclaimed or leftover tags from the antlerless deer lottery will be available to purchase on a first come, first serve basis. The tags will be sold online on the MDIFW website. As is with all antlerless permits, they will be sold by designated WMDs around the state. A hunter may hold multiple antlerless permits. You do not need to fill your tag before you purchase another.

Tags cost $14 ($12 tag + $2 agent fee). The $12 will go to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Maine Deer Management Fund. The newly created program works to enhance deer habitat. The funds are used for predator control, and to acquire or enhance deer habitat. In addition to antlerless deer permit fees, $2 from collected deer registrations will go to the management fund. Doe tags are expected to fetch over $750,000 for the fund. The collected funds will be matched 3:1 with money from the Pittman-Robertson Act.

Maine resident hunters will get a jump-start on the rifle season October 29, for Maine Residents Only day. Youth Hunters also get a special day to hunt, October 22. Only junior hunters who hold a valid junior hunting license can participate in this specially designated hunting day.

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The season wraps up with a two week (in some areas) muzzleloader season. Week one, November 28 through December 3, is statewide. Week two, December 5-10, is only in WMDs 12, 13, 15-18, 20-26, 29.