Rick James

I grew up in Vermont and hunted there every year from 1990-1996. I then left the state and wasn't able to hunt it until last season. I hunted 120+ hours last season, and managed to see deer almost every day, but only 2x bucks, one of which I killed during rifle season. The hunting when I was a kid was better than it is today, but still cannot compare to what it is like in PA where I hunted for the last 10 years. The major difference as stated by others in this thread, it that the habitat cannot support many deer. To support more deer, more cropland needs to be grown, and more mature timber needs to be harvested. 90% of the woods in Vermont where I hunt is mature 75+ year old hardwoods that don't produce mast (i.e. maples). This doesn't produce any food for deer that is within reach of the deer. They need to cut a LOT of this timber to create new browsable growth in order to there to be more deer. The problem is all the liberal tree hugging hippies up there and how they cry when you cut trees down. They don't realize that the mature timber is killing the animals that inhabit the forest.

DeerWhisperer

Venison in the freezer and venison in my belly. Thats all i worry about. I won't let any deer pass if i have none in my freezer.

rybohunter

It definitely sounds like you guys have a HUGE lack of habitat as your number one problem up there. Good luck convincing them to timber more.

VT_Hunter1980

That would make things less pretty for the tourists. Besides, as was already mentioned, all the money is in softwoods right now.

jf5

Not to this tourist. I'd love to see VT come back as a prime deer state.

VT Ridges

I disagree. VT manged it's deer herd for license sales and not the quantity. They continued with doe permits after a couple of really tough winters that decimated the herd and still allowed people to take up to three deer a year. The ironic thing is that the plan has back fired. Everyone knowsall aroundNew England that the herd is way down and they (and their money) are going else where.

vtbuckrulrss

myself, i would rather have meat in the freezer regardless of the sex. who really cares about the difference in size of the racks? a deer is a trophy no matter what it is. unfortunately, we now have in power someone who worked with dr. alt( not a bad thing, really), and thinks that vermonters truly want what PA has. most of the people i know, don't. they are out for the meat, period. as far as the limit goes, perhaps they did need to cut back on permits in some areas, but there are still very few people according to the numbers that harvest more than one deer a year, let alone maxing out on three. i took a community college class a few years ago, an d the forester from washington county said pretty much what others have said ur trees are growing far faster than they are being harvested, resulting in a much more mature forest, 3 TIMES as fast as what they should be harvested at to ensure a healthy ecosystem. more mature woods equals less habitat for game such as deer. but it is doing wonders for the turkey population! also, the no-cutting law that limits people on the amount of land they can timber isn't helping, more cutting allows for more new growth, which equals more habitat. perhaps the dept could hook up with the energy suppliers, and replant powerlines, gas lines, etc. with food good for wildlife, the openings are already made, so why not invest some money into creating habitat, you know, put their money where their mouth is? and get ridof laroche.