Hunters were scouring the list of winners on Thursday after the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife released its 2025 antlerless deer permit lottery results.
You can see the complete list here on the Bangor Daily News website.
The state has issued 123,695 permits this year for hunters to pursue antlerless deer, which includes does and deer with antlers less than 3 inches in length.
If you were chosen for an antlerless permit, all you need to do is go to the DIF&W website to claim it and pay the $12 fee (plus a $2 agent fee). Once you have completed that process, you will receive your antlerless deer permit number, which will look something like this: 23R1001001.
You will need to attach that number when registering your antlerless deer at an authorized game tagging station. The first two digits represent the Wildlife Management District for which you have been drawn.
Permit lottery winners have until 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 11 to claim their permits. Otherwise, they will be forfeited and sold to other hunters.
If you weren’t selected for a permit, all is not lost. Starting on Sept. 16, the state will make available for sale extra permits in WMDs where there were fewer applicants than permits claimed.
They will be offered online at mefishwildlife.com on a first-come, first-served basis. Both hunters who already have a permit and those who did not receive one are eligible to buy one.
Then, if unclaimed antlerless deer permits remain after the start of the regular firearms season (Nov. 1 for Maine residents), DIF&W will notify hunters of that opportunity on its website and you may buy one additional antlerless permit in WMDs where they are still available.
However, remember that under the new antlerless permit system, hunters are not allowed to swap or transfer their permit with another hunter.
Each permit allows the hunter to harvest an antlerless deer in the WMD to which it is assigned. Those hunters also may shoot an antlered deer statewide during the 2025 season.
