A Standing Fund That Buys Disabled Veterans Days in the Field
The Hunting Opportunities for Disabled Veterans Fund is a nonlapsing fund administered by the director of the Bureau of Veterans’ Services for the purpose of supporting hunting opportunities in this state for disabled veterans. The director, with help from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, requests proposals from organisations that provide disabled veterans with hunting opportunities, and funds those judged most effective.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
The Hunting Opportunities for Disabled Veterans Fund is a nonlapsing fund administered by the director of the Bureau of Veterans’ Services for the purpose of supporting hunting opportunities in this state for disabled veterans. The director, with help from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, requests proposals from organisations that provide disabled veterans with hunting opportunities, and funds those judged most effective.
What it's worth: Funded guided hunts run by organisations, not a payment to the veteran
- The fund pays ORGANISATIONS on proposals. A veteran does not apply to the fund and does not receive money from it.
- The section names no sum. Its income is transfers under 12 M.R.S. §10201(7) plus gifts, donations and other contributions the director accepts, so the amount available varies year to year.
- The section does not define "disabled veteran" or set a rating threshold — the organisations running the hunts set their own criteria.
Who is entitled to it
- The fund supports hunting opportunities for the disabled veteran.
- You are in this state.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Ask the bureau which organisations it has funded this year, then apply to those organisations. The bureau requests proposals; the organisations run the hunts and pick the participants.
- 2Ask the organisation what it means by disabled, because the statute does not say. There is no rating threshold in §516 and no definition of disabled veteran in it, so each funded programme sets its own.
- 3Ask the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as well. The section has that department assisting the director, so its regional staff often know which programmes are actually running.
- 4The fund is nonlapsing, so money not spent in a year stays in it — a lean season does not mean the fund is gone.
- 5It also takes donations. The director may accept and deposit monetary gifts, donations or other contributions from public or private sources, which is the route for a club or a family that wants to add to it.
- 6This is separate from any licence exemption. Whatever the fund pays for, the licensing question is answered by the fish and wildlife statutes, not by this section.
- 7If the process is opaque, ask for the rules: the Commissioner of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management may adopt routine technical rules governing how proposals are accepted and funds disbursed.
- Form
- No application by the veteran — apply to the organisation running the hunt
- File with
- The organisation whose proposal the bureau funded, with the Bureau of Veterans’ Services behind it
- Confirm with the office
- We have not verified the renewal behaviour.
Sources
Why only one source type: Read from the Revisor’s own chapter 7 PDF of Title 37-B in full. The section states the fund, its purpose, its income, the proposal process and the rulemaking power in terms; no bureau operating page for it was reachable this session.
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.