The NH Moose Hunt Lottery Deadline Is Friday, May 30

CONTACT:
Linda Verville: (603) 271-2461
Henry Jones: (603) 788-3164
May 8, 2025

Concord, NH – If you want to hunt moose in New Hampshire this fall, now is the time to enter the 2025 moose hunt lottery and try your luck on the adventure of a lifetime—hunting moose in the rugged woods of the Granite State. The lottery entrance fee is $15 for New Hampshire residents and $25 for nonresidents.

A total of 33 permits are proposed to be issued this year. Visit www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/moose-hunting-new-hampshire to enter the New Hampshire moose hunt lottery online or print out a mail-in application. You can also pick up an application at any Fish and Game license agent, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department headquarters, or at Fish and Game regional offices.

Applicants are encouraged to apply online and early, so there is less chance of having an incomplete application. Moose hunt lottery applications for 2025 must be postmarked or submitted online by midnight Eastern Standard Time on Friday, May 30. Applications can also be dropped off at New Hampshire Fish and Game Department headquarters, 11 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH, before 4:00 p.m. that day. Winners will be selected through a computerized random drawing and announced on June 20.

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 or those who wish to accrue a point but not enter this year’s lottery. One 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 116, and resident applicants with a total of 21 points had a 1 in 37 chance of being drawn. For nonresidents, the odds were 1 in 498 overall and 1 in 175 for applicants with 21 points.

In 2024, 6,105 people entered the lottery for the chance to win one of 33 permits. More than 1,221 people continued to accrue bonus points because they submitted an application for a point only to hold their already accrued points. Hunters from five other states won permits in the 2024 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 residents. 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 and will be released later this spring.

“A total of 33 moose lottery permits have been recommended by the Department and approved by the Commission for 2025, however this proposal must continue through the formal administrative rulemaking process, which will be completed in late May,” said Moose Project Leader Henry Jones. “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. You will then have the option to decline a permit if you are drawn for a unit you would prefer not to hunt in.”

New Hampshire’s 9-day moose hunt starts the third Saturday in October. This year’s hunt will be held October 18–26.

New Hampshire has had an annual moose hunt since 1988, when 75 permits were issued for a 3-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. Learn more about moose hunting in New Hampshire and the proposed 2025 hunting season at www.wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/moose-hunting-new-hampshire.