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An Act To Give Certain Landowners First Priority for Antlerless Deer Permits
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 issuedavailable 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.  AnExcept 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 shallmust provide at least 25% of theall available antlerless deer permits in a wildlife management district to eligible landowners thatwho apply for an antlerless deer permit in that district. For purposes of this subsection, "eligible landowner" means a landowner of record who owns at least 50 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. An eligible landowner may receive only one antlerless deer permit under this subsection, which may allow hunting only in the wildlife management district in which the eligible landowner's property is located. An antlerless deer permit issued under this subsection may be transferred pursuant to subsections 5 and 5-A.
 
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. If the number of antlerless deer permits available in a wildlife management district exceeds the number of eligible landowner applications and junior hunter applications, the commissioner shall issue the remaining permits as provided in this section.
 
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 of record who own at least 50 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. If the number of antlerless deer permits available in a wildlife management district exceeds the number of eligible landowner applications and junior hunter applications, the commissioner is directed to issue the remaining permits as provided in current law.