An Act To Give Certain Landowners First Priority for Antlerless Deer Permits
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0544
Committee: Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Sponsors: BRIGGS, JACKSON, AYOTTE, DAVIS, PETERSON
Amends: 12 MRSA §11152

Legislative Document 
No. 544 
H.P. 363 
House of Representatives, February 19, 2013 
An Act To Give Certain Landowners First Priority for Antlerless 
Deer Permits 
Reference to the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife suggested and ordered 
printed. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative BRIGGS of Mexico.  (BY REQUEST) 
Cosponsored by Senator JACKSON of Aroostook and 
Representatives: AYOTTE of Caswell, DAVIS of Sangerville, PETERSON of Rumford. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §11152, sub-§3, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 414, Pt. A, §2 
and affected by c. 614, §9, is amended to read: 
B.  No more than 15% of the antlerless deer permits issued available after issuance to 
junior hunters under subsection 4, paragraph B in any one district or in any one zone 
may be issued to nonresident and alien hunters. 
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §11152, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2007, c. 492, §4, is further 
amended to read: 
4.  Allocation to landowner.  An Except as otherwise provided in this section, an 
antlerless deer permit system adopted by the commissioner pursuant to this section may 
include a provision giving special consideration to landowners who keep their lands open 
to hunting by the public.  As part of the special consideration to those landowners, the 
commissioner shall must provide at least 25% of the all available antlerless deer permits 
in a wildlife management district to eligible landowners that who apply for an antlerless 
deer permit in that district.  For purposes of this subsection, "eligible landowner" means a 
landowner who owns at least 25 contiguous acres of land and keeps that land open to 
hunting by the public.  Any 2 or more areas of land owned by the same person that are 
open for hunting and that would be contiguous except for being divided by one or more 
roads are considered contiguous for the purposes of determining landowner eligibility for 
special consideration under this subsection. 
A.  If the number of eligible landowner applications exceeds the number of antlerless 
deer permits available in a wildlife management district, the commissioner shall 
establish a lottery system to issue those permits to eligible landowners. 
B.  If the number of antlerless deer permits available in a wildlife management 
district exceeds the number of eligible landowner applications, the commissioner 
shall issue the remaining permits to junior hunters who apply for an antlerless deer 
permit in that district. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the current antlerless deer hunting permit system to require that all 
antlerless deer permits available in a wildlife management district be issued to 
landowners who own at least 25 contiguous acres of land open to hunting by the public 
and have applied for the permit. 
It also provides that if the number of available antlerless deer permits in a wildlife 
management district exceeds the number of eligible landowner applications, the 
remaining permits must be issued to junior hunters who have applied for an antlerless 
deer permit in that district.