Honey! We won the lottery! (*cough* the moose hunting lottery I spent our savings on *cough*)

There was big winners announced this past week in Maine. No, not that estimated $68 million Power Ball lottery, this one was for something money couldn't buy. This was for the chance, for one week only, to be the envy of all your friends (for something other then having the most teeth). That’s right, the Moose Permit Auction winners were announced..

From MaineToday.com:
AUGUSTA – Ten hunters this week won the privilege to hunt moose in Maine during the upcoming season by bidding a total of $109,111 in the 2008 Maine Moose Permit Auction, which benefits youth conservation education scholarships.

More than 30 people took part in the auction. The 10 successful bids ranged from $8,500 to $12,650.

All of the money derived from the 2008 Maine Moose Permit Auction goes to partial scholarships that will help send Maine youngsters to the Maine Conservation School in Bryant Pond and Conservation Camp at the Greenland Point Center in Princeton. At these five-day camps, boys and girls ages 10 through 14 take part in an array of outdoor and classroom activities. Students work with experienced instructors and counselors, as well as staff from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and other state and private conservation agencies.

I guess my first question would be, “How can one justify paying upwards of $12,000 to go out in the woods, drink Budweiser’s, wear obscene amounts of orange and be granted the authority to shoot a moose?” Yes, I have eaten moose meat in my lifetime, and yes, it is quite tasty… but is it $12,000 tasty? It is debatable.

Ah, “Only in Maine.” Sure, we’ll bitch about rising cigarette taxes, Governor Baldacci and the ease of illegal immigrants getting drivers licenses… but as long as we can hunt moose, we’ll do anything (and obviously pay anything) to do it.