VermontHunter Posted June 3, 2005 Report Share Posted June 3, 2005 By Geeze I think they finally got it right..... ,,I'm rather pleased with this outcome as long as they don't restrict my zone for Does,,,we just plain have too many of them,,,but over all I think they got it right finally.... Board reverses deer rules The 14-member board significantly altered the direction of the management of Vermont's whitetail deer herd by approving sweeping revisions to the regulations hunters will have to follow when heading afield this autumn. The board reversed direction on three controversial provisions that it had passed at an April 21 meeting. Wednesday the board voted to: Allow hunters to take two in a calendar year, both of which could be antlered bucks. Put into place a statewide antler restriction that hunters must follow during the archery, rifle and muzzleloader seasons. The antler restriction essentially puts spikehorn bucks -- typically younger deer -- off limits. Hunters will be allowed to shoot only bucks that have antler racks with at least two points on one side of the head. Agreed to allow bow hunters in the October archery season to shoot two deer of either sex without needing an additional antlerless permit. However, the board will have the authority to specify some of the states 24 Wildlife Management Units as "no-doe" zones for archery, meaning bow hunters will not be allowed to shoot antlerless deer in those areas. "Big change, big change," said Fish and Wildlife commissioner Wayne Laroche. "Tonight everybody's been thoughtful and is considering all the elements of deer management." Laroche, who was critical of the April vote, told the board members "this is the most complex issue you're ever going to get while sitting on this board." The regulations that came out of Wednesday's vote are widely different from those the board approved in April. At that meeting, the board voted to allow Vermont hunters just one antlered deer in the autumn's hunting seasons and defeated a proposal by the department that would have put antler restrictions on bucks, essentially making spikehorn bucks off-limits. The board also voted to ban feeding and baiting of deer and voted to allow antlerless permits to be issued in the October archery season and December muzzleloader season. The board's vote came after a series of nine public hearings and meetings and more than a year of work by department biologists. April's vote brought an outcry from many hunters who opposed the regulations, but there was some support in Vermont's hunting community. "I know we're going to hear from a new segment now," said Joyce Wyman, the board representative from Bennington County. "It's going to start all over again." Board member Bob Shannon of Lamoille County voted against the two-buck limit and the statewide antler restriction. He said Wednesday that he was "frustrated with the process." Laroche said he expects part of the reason the board changed was in response to the public after the April vote. The Fish and Wildlife Department estimated that the one-buck provision the board initially approved would have cost the cash-strapped department nearly $2 million in revenue. A legislative oversight committee said last week that it would not approve the April rules package. "We were going to keep getting this thing until we got it right," Wyman said. The rules package still needs legislative approval and a third and adopting vote which is expected to come at the board's June 15 meeting. While several top Fish and Wildlife officials were at Wednesday's meeting, John Buck, the state's lead deer biologist, did not attend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted June 3, 2005 Report Share Posted June 3, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 Looks like, now, Vermont will be turned into the kind of trophy, monster-buck state that Pennsylvania has become. Good luck. Don't get yer hopes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted June 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 [ QUOTE ] Don't get yer hopes up. [/ QUOTE ] LOL...Hope is all I need Strut.... It still has to get final approval but it's a start and Im sure it will stay as is.... I for one will take my share of the Doe Population, and one nice Buck if one happens to come along....but will be happy with the Doe's for a couple of years if not.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted June 3, 2005 Report Share Posted June 3, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 [ QUOTE ] The Fish and Wildlife Department estimated that the one-buck provision the board initially approved would have cost the cash-strapped department nearly $2 million in revenue. [/ QUOTE ] I think if I had been the F&W Department, I would never have let that statement out into the public. It sure does indicate that their deer management policies are primarily driven by cash. That may be a very honest statement, but certainly is not the politically savvy thing to be saying to hunters and the rest of the public. That negative perception is already pretty weel understood in most states. It's probably not real smart to reinforce it. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr104 Posted June 3, 2005 Report Share Posted June 3, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 Sounds good to me. Anything is better than what was proposed before. At least I can take a deer during Bow and I'll still be able to hunt during the Rifle season. Any idea when they're meeting again to decide what zones will be buck only and what zones will allow hunting of does?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted June 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 Huntr104,,,,Sorry I don't know your first name... The rules package still needs legislative approval and a third and adopting vote which is expected to come at the board's June 15 meeting. I don't think they really know which 2 ZONES it will be ,,but I'm confident it won't affect my zone here in Franklin County...I'm not exactly sure as to why they want this rule in the first place especially for Archery, hopefully they wash that out totally in their final tunning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr104 Posted June 4, 2005 Report Share Posted June 4, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 VH, my first name is Shane. Sorry, I don't know yours either. When you say 2 zones. do you mean only 2 zones will be effected for shooting does or the antler restrictions? IMO I can see a majority of the hunters accepting these proposals. I was up in VT the last 2 weekends and when I bought my hunting license, I didn't buy my archery tag just in case. I would of just hunted during the rifle season if those first rule changes would of went through. Thanks for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted June 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 The antler restriction will be enforced state wide,,and the 2 zones to be determined will be NO DOE area's....fro that season..... I agree I also think the majority of the hunters will accept this proposal.... Nice to meet you Shane my name is Luke.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr104 Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 Thanks for clearing that up for me Luke. Nice to meet you as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VtBowhunter Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 Doc, hunters in Vermont already know they are driven by love of money, that's why every hunter I know called, wrote, e-mailed, and faxed the board threatenin' to stop hunting in Vermont. Guess it worked. I, too, can live with these rules....a huge 180 from the last vote. I just hope K2 isn't a zone that they stop the doe hunting in. We need to keep hunting does to keep our own management program working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 Yes I know that everybody pretty much understands the money motive involved in the management of a lot of the herds in different states, but ot does take on a different significance when the state officials come right out and say it ....lol. It kind of removes the thought from the "rumor" category and puts it into the "fact" category. Not a real politically intelligent thing to do unless you just don't care what the public thinks anymore. It kind of smacks of a touch of arrogance. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 [ QUOTE ] Yes I know that everybody pretty much understands the money motive involved in the management of a lot of the herds in different states, but ot does take on a different significance when the state officials come right out and say it ....lol. It kind of removes the thought from the "rumor" category and puts it into the "fact" category. Not a real politically intelligent thing to do unless you just don't care what the public thinks anymore. It kind of smacks of a touch of arrogance. Doc [/ QUOTE ] Doc, your statement hit it right on the head.... ,,our state officials just plain don't care about what the public has to say... ,,,,they proved that fact after 5 seperate public meetings an what we as hunters and tax payers thought needed to happen and went back and just ignored every ounce of input we had,,,it wasn't until we all emailed and wrote and called, to tell them if they didn't fix what they broke we as hunters would be going else where to do our hunting, which would have cost the state millions each year in hunting fee's....So yes we knew all along it was all political ambition over practicality, and science and then when they knew they were going to lose millions they changed there tune and revised their so called proposal to fit the hunters needs.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 All I can do is.... Because its so... now.. I am quite sure that WMA "B" will not be one of the closed to doe hunting areas. Its always the WMA that gets the most doe permits for ML season. Even when other WMAs were getting zero ML doe permits, area B got more then the year before. We are all set Luke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 I sure hope that's the case, which Im sure it is we are all set..... ,,,,2 nice area's to hunt as to not overpressure the game and all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 [ QUOTE ] Put into place a statewide antler restriction that hunters must follow during the archery, rifle and muzzleloader seasons. The antler restriction essentially puts spikehorn bucks -- typically younger deer -- off limits. Hunters will be allowed to shoot only bucks that have antler racks with at least two points on one side of the head. [/ QUOTE ] That's interesting. In Texas, we're doing the opposite. Our regs, on the strong recommendation of the state biologists, are changing to promote the harvest of bucks that have at least one unbranched (spike) antler. Of course we have between 4 and 5 million deer in the state and the emphasis here is really geared toward increasing the quality of the bucks, not the quantity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VtBowhunter Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 All I can do is pray that K2 is not stopped from shooting does. If we can still shoot slick heads I'll be one happy hunter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 Re: Vermonts NEW Hunting Laws for 2005 Josh, even if they restrict your zone, you are more than welcome to come and stay with me I have plenty of room and hunt the farm for those baldies, Shawn and myself would love to have ya up for a weekend hunt..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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