Antlerless deer permit lottery opens June 25
Applicants are ‘highly likely to receive a permit,’ state says. Plus, town-by-town data on the 2025 deer hunt.
June 23, 2026
By Staff
Maine’s deer population is more than double what it was 60 years ago. Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
Summer may only have just begun, but the 2026 Maine antlerless deer permit lottery opens this week for the upcoming fall hunting season.
An antlerless deer permit allows a licensed hunter to harvest one antlerless deer in the district for which the permit is issued, in addition to an antlered deer statewide. An antlerless deer in Maine includes any doe, or a buck with antlers less than three inches in length.
The lottery will be open from June 25 through July 30. Applications must be completed online, and there is no fee to apply.
Maine’s deer population has fluctuated throughout the past several decades due to predation from animals such as coyotes, the severity of winter weather, and state management policies, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fish & Wildlife.
In the 1960s, there were an estimated 141,000 deer in Maine. The agency says on its website that “Maine's deer population grew prolifically through the 1990s as a result of the regulatory system that limited doe harvest, plus a series of mild winters. During this time, Maine's deer population grew to an estimated 331,000 deer.”
Various estimates today put the deer population at between 300,000 and 360,000.
The state also issues town-by-town data on the 55,876 deer harvested in 2025, an all-time high that beat the previous record set in 2022 by a wide margin of 12,000 deer.
Hunters who are selected in the lottery will need to pay a $12 permit fee plus a $2 agent fee to claim the permit. Applicants who choose Wildlife Management Districts 15–17, 20–26, 26A, or 29 as their first-choice district may pay for their permit at the time of application. The Blue Hill Peninsula and Deer Isle-Stonington are in WMD 26.
“These districts historically have sufficient permit availability, making applicants highly likely to receive a permit," according to a press release from the Maine Department of Inland Fish & Wildlife.
In the unlikely event that an applicant who chooses the pre-payment option does not receive a permit, their payment will be refunded in full. The drawing for the lottery will be held on Aug. 13.
The state allows a Mainers-only hunting day on Oct. 31. The regular firearms hunting season runs Nov. 2-28. The state has posted a list of all hunting dates for the 2026-27 season.
