AUGUSTA -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials confirmed this week that they are investigating an allegation that Department of Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan used his personal airplane to help moose hunters spot their prey last fall.

McGowan said the allegations are untrue. Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Diana Weaver said that her department is looking into allegations that McGowan violated the airborne hunting act. She said she could offer no further details because the investigation is ongoing.

McGowan said he took some friends on a fall foliage flight on Sunday, Sept. 23, in northern Maine. He said a game warden approached him to ask if he was participating in a moose hunt, and he said he was not.

Hunting on Sundays is illegal in Maine and it's illegal to use an aircraft as part of a hunt.

"It was a foliage flight; it had nothing to do with hunting," McGowan said. "No. 1, it was a Sunday. It's so full of holes it just blows my mind." McGowan said the allegations were brought forward by a "disgruntled former (state) employee."

He said he had no firearms with him and was not part of a hunting party. Since then, a federal investigation was launched into the allegations that McGowan used his Cessna 180 float plane to help hunters on the ground find moose. "It's not true, period," McGowan said.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife also conducted two reviews of the allegations and found that McGowan did nothing wrong, said Deborah Turcotte, spokeswoman for IF&W.

"We found no wrongdoing on the part of the commissioner and no wrong doing on the part of the warden," she said.

Weaver, who works for the federal department, said she could offer no timetable for when the investigation would be completed.

McGowan said Thursday that he had not been contacted by federal officials investigating the claims.

McGowan took over at the Department of Conservation in 2003, shortly after Gov. John Baldacci took office. He had served seven years as regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration in New England.

He also served 10 years in the Maine House and is a graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington.

Susan Cover -- 623-1056

scover@centralmaine.com