EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. -
With his camo Crocs and his compound bow, Glenn Gannon prepares for the upcoming hunting season.
"Not to brag, but every deer I've shot at I've killed," Gannon said. "I have a hunting license, fishing license, trapping license."
But it's his new permit that he's most excited about.
"Then when he said congratulations it was like, oh my goodness!" Gannon said.
Each year hunters wait with bated breath, hoping their name will be on this list.
"There are folks that have been waiting 10 years, 20 years. So it's a big day for folks who have been waiting for the opportunity," said Patrick Berry, the commissioner of the Vt. Fish and Wildlife Department.
He's talking about the annual moose lottery in Montpelier. Only 435 people are given a permit out of more than 11,000 that applied and 50 of those chosen have to hunt with a bow and arrow, like Gannon.
"We know there are plenty of Vermonters who live here their entire lives and they've never seen a moose," Berry said.
But Berry says in the Northeast Kingdom they're overpopulated, so hunting these rare animals is actually helpful.
"It's a management tool," Gannon said. "I'd rather see a deer or moose in someone's freezer than dead on the side of the road from a car crash."
Gannon has not only seen more moose than most Vermonters, he's won this lottery twice. Last time he took down a 400-plus-pound calf with his son-in-law, but that time he used a rifle. Now he's up for a new challenge, killing a quarter-ton animal with a bow and arrow.
"My wife thought I was nuts when I applied last year for the archery permit," he said.
But for Gannon it's a kind of peace he can't find anywhere else.
"You get to hear everything in the outdoors, wake up the first birds that sing," he said.
Gannon says he feels lucky for a number of reasons-- this year's lottery gives new meaning to the luck of the draw.
The hunting season lasts five days and starts Oct. 1. Click here for the permit winners on the Vt. Fish and Wildlife website.
