AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine’s moose hunters have set a record for the second consecutive year.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said Wednesday that 2,971 moose were taken during the 2013 season. That broke the old record of 2,895 moose set just the year before.

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Chandler Woodcock said Maine has a thriving moose population and that the annual hunt provides the opportunity for “the hunt of a lifetime.”

All told, the department issued 4,110 permits this past season, with 72 percent of the hunters bagging a moose. Seventy-eight percent of hunters bagged a moose the year before.

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