New Hampshire’s 2022 moose hunt lottery is now open. Hunters can enter the lottery online or print out a mail-in application. Applications are also available at any Fish and Game license agent, at Fish and Game Department headquarters or regional offices. The lottery entrance fee is $15 for Granite State residents and $25 for nonresidents.
Moose hunt lottery applications for 2022 must be postmarked or submitted online by midnight Eastern Standard Time on May 27, 2022. Applications can also be delivered to the Licensing Office at New Hampshire Fish and Game Department headquarters, 11 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH, before 4 p.m. that day. Winners will be selected through a computerized random drawing on June 17.
Applicants can enter the moose hunt lottery once per year. A bonus point system improves the chances for unsuccessful applicants who apply in each consecutive year. The point is earned for each year, and each point translates to a chance in the drawing.
As an example, last year the overall odds of a resident applicant being drawn were 1 in 98, and resident applicants with a total of 18 points had a 1 in 35 chance of being drawn. For nonresidents, the odds were 1 in 480 overall and 1 in 192 for applicants with 18 points.
In 2021, 6,195 people entered the lottery for the chance to win one of 40 permits. More than 1,150 people continued to accrue bonus points because they submitted an application for a point only, in order to not lose their accrued points. Hunters from six other states won permits in the 2021 lottery.
While people travel from all over the country to take part in the New Hampshire moose hunt, the majority of permits, almost 85%, are awarded to Granite State hunters. The number of permits available to nonresidents is capped, based on the prior year’s sales of nonresident hunting licenses.
The number of moose hunt permits that will be offered for this fall’s hunt has not yet been determined as harvest and survey data are currently under review. Final numbers will be released later this spring.
“While permit numbers may change in 2022, your chance of being drawn and offered a permit in the lottery will be improved if you rank all wildlife management units on your application,” said Henry Jones, Moose Project leader. “You will have the option to decline a permit if you are drawn for a unit you would prefer not to hunt in.”
New Hampshire’s nine-day moose hunt starts the third Saturday in October, running October 15–23.
The annual moose hunt has been offered since 1988, when 75 permits were issued for a three-day hunt in the North Country. The state’s current moose population is estimated to be about 3,000 animals. The annual harvest of moose provides valuable information on the physical condition and productivity of moose and provides a unique recreational opportunity.
To apply online or learn more about moose hunting in New Hampshire, click here.