Maine Free Hunting, Trapping and Fishing Licenses for Disabled Veterans

Maine's sportsman benefit for disabled veterans is one of the widest in this catalog, and the threshold is 50 per cent rather than the total disability most states require. The licence is free to a Maine resident veteran, and to a nonresident veteran where reciprocal privileges apply, who has an honorable discharge and a service-connected disability rating of 50 per cent or more. It is a combination licence and the permits that ordinarily cost extra come with it: bear hunting and trapping, muzzleloader, migratory waterfowl, pheasant, spring and fall turkey, coyote night hunt, and one expanded archery antlerless deer permit and one expanded archery either-sex deer permit. Two permits are not automatic. Antlerless deer permits outside the expanded archery allotment and moose permits still require an annual application, so a veteran holding the free licence has to enter those lotteries like anyone else. Applications go to the Bureau of Veterans' Services at Camp Keyes in Augusta rather than to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, in person, by mail or by email. The moose hunt is a separate and unusual benefit. Maine runs a controlled moose hunt for disabled veterans in Aroostook County with logistical support provided, open at the same 50 per cent threshold. It is one time only: a veteran who tags a moose in that hunt is permanently ineligible for it afterwards. There is also a lottery that distributes permits donated to disabled veterans by other permit holders, at the same threshold. The saltwater side is often missed. A Maine resident veteran with an honorable discharge and a 50 per cent or greater rating may obtain free noncommercial scallop, lobster and crab licences. Those are applied for through the Department of Marine Resources licensing system rather than through inland fisheries. Free camping at Maine state parks is a related but separately gated benefit, and the gate is much narrower. It goes to a disabled veteran holding a Maine disabled veteran licence plate, which requires a 100 per cent total and permanent service-connected rating, and it exempts the veteran, spouse and unmarried children from reservation and camping fees. The request is made in writing with the motor vehicle letter confirming the plates, to be added to the Disabled Veterans' Camping List. Two more provisions cover serving members. A Maine resident on active duty permanently stationed outside Maine may buy a combination licence for $3, with a spouse or dependent combination licence at $20 or hunting only at $10, on return. A nonresident service member permanently stationed in Maine, and their spouse and dependents, may buy at resident prices. And a Maine resident on active duty permanently stationed outside the United States who is on leave is exempt from the hunter, archery and crossbow safety course requirements. A moose permit can now be passed to a disabled veteran. Public Law 2025, chapter 563, effective July 29, 2026, added 12 M.R.S. section 11154, subsection 16: a moose permit holder may transfer the permit to a disabled veteran who meets the eligibility requirements of section 10853, subsection 4, or return it to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to be reassigned to a disabled veteran under its rules. Both the giver and the recipient lose any accumulated lottery points.