VT Rifle Season

jf5 · 11-19-2002, 04:10 PM

How did it go in VT on the opening weekend??

Rob in VT · 11-20-2002, 07:28 PM

They say the kill is up by about 200 over last year's opening weekend. About 980 deer checked in so far. It was very cold Saturday with some snow. Sunday rained all day and Monday was heavy snow with 20 mph winds.

. . . Rob

up-a-tree · 11-21-2002, 03:19 PM

There is a massive deer taken from vermont down here in the cooler The biggest one ive ever saw 12 point 245lbs the rack is big at the base it has to be9 or 10inches around and thick and spead all the way up, biggest one the cutter has ever sliced too.

jf5 · 11-21-2002, 03:39 PM

Up-a-Tree...That buck sounds like one of them monsters from the Kingdom!!

Good to hear these reports...as compared to last year.

jf5 · 11-21-2002, 03:42 PM

Also, what region of the state are you guys hunting?

up-a-tree · 11-22-2002, 03:25 PM

Im not hunting vermont but the second big buck in there came from J2 in NH over 200lbs and massive rack the guy was a new hunter and cut the hide all the way up to the lower jaw and took a big patch of hide out, No good mount to bad, He said It was his first and followed the dir, in the book.... A guy at work got one up in littleton NH, 250lbs massive rack second in the state right now, He said he should have waited the one behind it was even bigger with drop tines..... I took a 100lb doe with bow, and a 5pointer 125 with shot gun Southern NH.....IM looking for a camp to buy up there....

Rob in VT · 11-22-2002, 05:53 PM

I'm in central Vermont, H1 zone.

. . . Rob

jf5 · 11-25-2002, 03:58 PM

I almost hunted Vermont this year, but I had been hearing so much about how low the kill was last year and the heavy winter 1999-2000, that I decided to wait. That being said, I still saw a ton of deer in SW VT this year while fishing. Sometimes up to 12 animals in a day. Problem is the posted land there is crazy, and the little land that is open is swamped. I was seeing a few deer in the NEK, but mostly on CT river valley farm lands, and not in the large hunting tracks in towns like Victory and Ferdinand. Seeing more moose than deer there. I am looking to possibly hunt the Marshfield/Plainfield area next year, but I havn't scouted up there in a few years.

Good luck.

Rob in VT · 11-25-2002, 06:06 PM

jf5, save your time and money and look elsewhere. I'm from Plainfield. It's very discouraging around here. Although a few nice bucks are taken, you just don't see many deer. Most hunters here take the first spike they see, so mature bucks are far and few in between. In all fairness, the places I usually hunt are "big woods" for around here and you usually don't see many deer even in a good year. The 99/00 winter did take it's toll, a good 30% of the heard. It's still rebuilding and I feel the F&W have grossly overstated the heard at 140,000 deer.

I ususally also hunt Maine or northern NH. Decided to bag it this year and head south. I am going to south west NY this coming Saturday for a week. Got a buck tag and 2 DMP tags. Will be using my smokepole and hopefully get into some deer everyday. I am told we should see 20 to 30 deer a day . . . I love seeing deer! Time will tell how things workout.

. . . Rob

Grnmtn · 11-25-2002, 06:27 PM

I tipped a nice 7 pointer over after walking alot of ridges eairly the second saturday. Some areas contain deer but I don't feel the numbers are any where near great. I did put on a lot of miles where I saw little sign where there had been plenty in the past. Acorns have been the key and the does hot.