I don't think poaching is that big of a problem here. I think alot of factors have a bigger impact on our herd. Coyotes, bear, dogs foxes all have a big impact on the fawn crop. When deer # are high so are the predators. 1 bad winter will do more damage to deer than to predators....so come spring we have a imbalance of deer to predator......including hunters in the fall. The only thing we can control is the hunter and what they take.
I think that when people say it is about the money they are correct.
Not all F+W fault....until the state starts to fund the department it's always going to be about the money!!!!! Hunting license sales should stay for HUNTING purpose ONLY. Find another way to fund the bird watching and leaf peeping. This would take some of the money problems away.

The rules now are at least a start in the right direction. We need more bucks in the population to breed the does that are going unbred. I don't care what the state says the buck/doe ratio isit's not 1/3 it's more like 1/5or6. No doe zones are great, but they need to redo the zones. Banning baiting is the biggest improvment. It has gotten way out of hand. What deer that were out there were all bedded around the bait pile and didn't have to move. When deer don't have to look for food they are not visable.

So I guess for all the complaining about the present hunting conditions we do( myself included ) we should look forward to the future of deer hunting in VT and improve on the new rules as we go.
We can't change the past only learn from it........

G