Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

It's now official!

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board made changes to the proposed deer hunting regulation during a special meeting held Wednesday, June 1.
The board changed the annual limit of deer to two, both of which may be bucks. They placed a statewide antler restriction that defines a legal buck as a deer with at least one antler with two or more points. A point must measure at least one inch from base to tip to be legal. And, archery hunters may take an antlerless deer during the archery season without a permit, but only in the Wildlife Management Units open for antlerless harvest, as determined by the board.
The board will review the antlerless deer hunting rule to determine which WMUs will be open for antlerless harvest. Permits will still be issued for antlerless hunting. The current proposed antlerless rule would issue 16,634 permits to have 3,547 antlerless deer harvested. The permits would be issued in 13 of the 24 WMUs.

. . . Rob

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

Rob,

How do you feel about this? It won't effect me and I wouldn't be upset to see either Maine or New Hampshire go this route. I've been passing small bucks for a few years now and am seeing the diffrence but I don't think the general hunting public will be ok with it. I prefer to seek out and hunt mature animals and where I hunt there is almost a mentality that it's unsporting to shoot a doe and cause to celebrate when someone in the party shoots a spike. I'm all for people getting their deer but I don't agree with killing immature bucks.

I hope the hunting for mature animals improves for you over the next few years. If that's what it takes to turn the tide where I hunt then I'd be happy and welcome it with open arms.

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

If you guys up North are anything like the million hunters in PA then you will have a lot of fighting going on in the very near future.

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

I am very excited about it. Our heard was in need for some major changes due to the way it has been managed over the years. Quanity over quality for many years until loss of habitat and several severe winters took it's toll. In addition to the AR, there will also be about half of our units that you won't be able to take a doe. This is to build up the heard in these units. I don't agree with this as our buck to doe ratio needs to be trimmed down as well. The majority of hunters who made there comments public were in favor of the AR. There may be some that don't want it, but they didn't let there opinions be known. In 3 years we should start to see some nice results. Of course habitat improvement must be go hand in hand with this. Our woods are too mature and need to be cut inorder to produce more brows. The state has started to log some of our WMAs which is the first time in a long time.

Myself and a group of friends started the first Quality Deer Management Association branch here in Vermont. We are all very excited about the new regs. We are having our first Wildlife Habitat workshop this coming August. This will be co-sponsored with the NWTF. It will be a wealth of knowledge for all who attend.

. . . Rob

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

if im reading this right the only thing you cant shoot is a spike... to me that doesnt cut it.. i know its a start, but whats the difference between a spike and a scrub 3 pt.. really it should be an age group, i mean they all are a 1 1/2yr old.. plus again you are shooting the best buck in that age group... id rather have it not be able to shoot 1 1/2yr olds..
also i read that you can shoot 2 bucks, how many could you shoot last year????

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

PA Gobbler,

I agree with you, but how many hunters can really age a deer on the hoof? I would say not many. As you stated, this is a start which can be tweeked each year as needed. If you think about it, an ethical hunter won't be able to see that 3rd point which is an inch long unless the deer if right on top of him. I feel that many legal bucks will walk because hunters can't positively identify the 2 points on one side. With a 2.5 year old, there shouldn't be any question whether it's legal or not.

Last year you could take 3 bucks in VT. Really, the number of second and third bucks taken by a single hunter is so insignificant that it isn't going to make much of a difference.

. . . Rob

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

Vermont definitely had to do something as the herd, at least in the areas we used to hunt was in rough shape. I do think they should have a minimum of 3 points on 1 side vs the 1" 2nd point rule. My observations of Vermont deer hadover half of all1 1/2 year olds as forkers or spike's with 1" bumps. Not going to protect very many 1 1/2 year olds if you can shoot any little forker you see. But it is a start.

I don't think there will be as much of a fight in Vermont as there was in PA, as most hunters agree the hunting in Vermont hasn't been overly good in years.

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

Well, I guess the situation in VT is quite a bit different in that you're not planning to eradicate the deer herd. I will agree though that a high percentage of 1-1/2 year old bucks are Y'd on at least one antler....saving few deer based on your regs up there. In PA the biggest complaint isn't with AR.....actually it seems most are in favor of them now. It's the herd reduction that has soooo many up in arms here.

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

No doubt that some 1.5 year old bucks have more than spikes. If they are born early and have good habitat and brows, you can even see some 6 and 8 pointers in this age class. I have found sheds from an 8pt year and a half old. This is the exception and not the rule though.

Some stats from VT Fish & Wildlife. The VT buck harvest consists of an average of 60% 1.5 year old bucks over the past two years. Of these young bucks, they averaged 2.9 points and weighed 114 pounds. I think the current rule will allow more young bucks to get into the next age class than you might think.

. . . Rob

RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
 

It's about damn time.........

After seeing the buck quality improve drastically in PA on my land down there, I have been hoping VT would do something similar. The thing that bothers me is that you can still kill 2x bucks per year in VT...........hopefully we also see some major efforts to improve the habitat as well such as selective logging, etc. I still manage to take deer every year in VT but it is some tough hunting and there is no reason that it can't be MUCH better.

Where in Vermont do you live Rob? I grew up and have LOTS of family in the Rutland area (Chittendon, Clarendon, Shrewsbury) and am up there probably 2x weekends a month. I hunt and fish up there a lot still. I was actually up at Bomoseen this last weekend doing some fishing.