Vermont Rules
11-17-2006 | 10:08 AM
#21
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 533
Likes: 0
From: Allston MA USA
RE: Vermont Rules
ORIGINAL: CAVermonster
Hi guys. First post, so take it easy on me.......
I grew up in Vermont, my family still lives there, and I still return every year to hunt there. I will actually be flying back tomorrow and hunting first thing Sunday Morning.
My opinion, as a 20+ year hunter in Vermont, is that I don't like this rule at all. Vermont hunters are a different breed. Alot of the state is still the old breed of hunters that hunt for comraderie, fun, and most importantly, food. These hunting restrictions are only needed to increase the size of the antlers, nothing more. If you say it's for the overall health of the heard, I say no way. i have been all over the northeast and through OH, PA, WV, etc., and I can tell you, our deer have always looked great in comparison. The deer are always healthy, strong, etc. And this rule wasn't really made by the hunters. it started with a small group of guys, who travel every year to other southern areas and get bigger bucks, and thought it could work in Vermont. They sent out a survey, and got a decent amount of responses, but nothing more than a fraction of the 80-90,000 that hunt there.
Vermont's heard was weakened in the 80's by massive amounts of doe permits. Before you start accusing me of being one of the old time "Don't shoot does" people, I assure you, I am not. I believe in shooting does, but in a controlled way. The late 80's saw the heard dip. The heard rebounded, and is once again strong. This had nothing to do with the size of the antlers.
As someone said before, it has more to do with weather, etc. The antler restriction may work in Texas, or areas where you don't have to worry about the winters, and you have a huge deer heard, it's great. You have the ability to see 4 or 5 buck a day, and pick and choose which to shoot. In Vermont, the success rate over the years has been about 1 in 7 gets a buck. If i am going to only see a buck to shoot every 7 years, I feel I should have the right to shoot it, wheter or not it's a spike. Also, the funny part is, that spikes only make up part of the 1 1/2 yr olds anyway. Any decent food year will push a yr old deer to a forkie, maybe even a small six.
I have gotten a spike, a 4 point, and a 6 point in my years of hunting there. I valued every single one as a trophy. If you think we need people to pass up smaller bucks, fine, there are those that do it. I just don't think you should tell me or anyone else what a trophy should be.
On a side note, my dad had a legal (in pastyears)spike walk by his stand each of the first 2 mornings......
All this aside, i value everyone's opinion, and glad to see such a discussion. I like the looks of this site, and can't wait to join in more..... Good luck to all this fall.......
Hi guys. First post, so take it easy on me.......
I grew up in Vermont, my family still lives there, and I still return every year to hunt there. I will actually be flying back tomorrow and hunting first thing Sunday Morning.
My opinion, as a 20+ year hunter in Vermont, is that I don't like this rule at all. Vermont hunters are a different breed. Alot of the state is still the old breed of hunters that hunt for comraderie, fun, and most importantly, food. These hunting restrictions are only needed to increase the size of the antlers, nothing more. If you say it's for the overall health of the heard, I say no way. i have been all over the northeast and through OH, PA, WV, etc., and I can tell you, our deer have always looked great in comparison. The deer are always healthy, strong, etc. And this rule wasn't really made by the hunters. it started with a small group of guys, who travel every year to other southern areas and get bigger bucks, and thought it could work in Vermont. They sent out a survey, and got a decent amount of responses, but nothing more than a fraction of the 80-90,000 that hunt there.
Vermont's heard was weakened in the 80's by massive amounts of doe permits. Before you start accusing me of being one of the old time "Don't shoot does" people, I assure you, I am not. I believe in shooting does, but in a controlled way. The late 80's saw the heard dip. The heard rebounded, and is once again strong. This had nothing to do with the size of the antlers.
As someone said before, it has more to do with weather, etc. The antler restriction may work in Texas, or areas where you don't have to worry about the winters, and you have a huge deer heard, it's great. You have the ability to see 4 or 5 buck a day, and pick and choose which to shoot. In Vermont, the success rate over the years has been about 1 in 7 gets a buck. If i am going to only see a buck to shoot every 7 years, I feel I should have the right to shoot it, wheter or not it's a spike. Also, the funny part is, that spikes only make up part of the 1 1/2 yr olds anyway. Any decent food year will push a yr old deer to a forkie, maybe even a small six.
I have gotten a spike, a 4 point, and a 6 point in my years of hunting there. I valued every single one as a trophy. If you think we need people to pass up smaller bucks, fine, there are those that do it. I just don't think you should tell me or anyone else what a trophy should be.
On a side note, my dad had a legal (in pastyears)spike walk by his stand each of the first 2 mornings......
All this aside, i value everyone's opinion, and glad to see such a discussion. I like the looks of this site, and can't wait to join in more..... Good luck to all this fall.......
Here's my rant. Take it easy on me too...
Just discussin'I hear the VT80'sdoe permit commentoften and wonder how 20+ years later it can still be claimed as the cause for the current deer herd. And wonder how does that relate to the high harvest %of spikes before AR.
My father hunted centralVT for decades starting in the late 50's and quit hunting there for good after the 1983 season because of the poor hunting. There where hardly any doe permits used in his area over all that time. In fact, I have talked to him about it an he felt thatthe actuallack of doe harvest in the 60's and early70's contributed to the eventual decline of thecapacity in his area. Seeing 20-30 does for every buck was just not good for the habitat, especially one that was already maturing.
You are right about 1.5 YO deer being anything from a spike to basket racked 8's. But with spikes beingthe vast majority of the buck harvest, the law at least allows some deer another year to gain some experience at evading harvest.I felt the spike rule was a compromise, as there was no way it would have passed with a 3 or 4 pt a side rule. VT had to start somewhere, as what they where doing before was not working. I don't understand why so many guys complain about VT deerhunting but don't want to change anything.While hunting is about camp life and being with friends and family in the outdoors.I still findallot ofVT guys are now hunting NY or Maine instead.
If the majority of the guys where against the regualtion, then why didn't they send in the surveys? Maybe if the malepopulation was bettera guycould have more opportunities than once every 7 years. Maybea guycould have that chance to pass up smaller bucks because there are larger deer available like in other states. VT has had it in the past, it could have it again.
I agree that the winters are a major factor in limiting VT deer. For any program to work, wether its AR's or herd growth. The habitat has to be there. Otherwise its just spinning wheels. Places like Montana and portions of Canada have similar if not worse winters than VT, but still have quality hunting because the winter habitat is there.
11-17-2006 | 11:20 AM
#22
Fork Horn
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 309
Likes: 0
From: Montana
RE: Vermont Rules
There are several factors that have caused deer hunting in Vermont to decline. Loss of habitat is one of the biggest ones. I grew up in Salisbury (Addison County) and when I go back there today there are houses in more than half the places I used to hunt. Just the completion of the interstate system itself removed thousands and thousands of acres of prime deer habitat (say nothing about making the state much more accessible to people from Boston, New York, etc.). Once the interstate system was completed people from out of state started buying up property for vacation homes as it was a very short, easy drive compared to the old highway system, so the interstate impacted the deer herd in several different ways.
Then you have the coyote problem on top of the loss of habitat. It's difficult to say how many deer a pack of coyotes kill during the course of a year but I think it's fair to say they take quite a few.
Winters have always been hard in Vermont...some harder than others and that's a cyclic thing that really shouldn't affect a deer herd over the long haul. Here in Montana we have blue tongue hit every few years. Ithit here about 5 years ago and the F&G estimated it wiped out 70% of the whitetails in the area I hunt. You would never know it today....our numbers are back to pretty much what they were 5 years ago.
Vermont hunters are different, as a previous post mentioned, but they are different for a reason. All they have ever known is shooting the first legal buck they see because it's rare to see more than one or two legal bucks in a season (and many times none!). Yes, they enjoy the meat but when that's all you have that's what you take. And don't kid yourself......there's not a hunter in Vermont who doesn't dream of shooting a buck with a big rack. If a person could shoot any deer they wanted to, put a big fat doe next to an old run down buck with a rocking chair rack but tastes like shoe leather and I'll guarantee you there isn't a hunter in Vermont who would pass up the buck and shoot the doe. As far as the comradarie goes, yes that's a big part of hunting for sure but walk into any deer camp where they haven't killed a buck (or even seen one)after a week of hard hunting and tell me how happy the follks are there.....you'll hear a lot of grumbling and complaining.
The bottom line is that the vast majority of hunters would like to shoot a mature buck, but most will not agree to what it takes for that to happen. We live in a "I want it right now" society.....we don't want to wait for anything and managing a deer herd that has never really been managed is going to take some time.
Then you have the coyote problem on top of the loss of habitat. It's difficult to say how many deer a pack of coyotes kill during the course of a year but I think it's fair to say they take quite a few.
Winters have always been hard in Vermont...some harder than others and that's a cyclic thing that really shouldn't affect a deer herd over the long haul. Here in Montana we have blue tongue hit every few years. Ithit here about 5 years ago and the F&G estimated it wiped out 70% of the whitetails in the area I hunt. You would never know it today....our numbers are back to pretty much what they were 5 years ago.
Vermont hunters are different, as a previous post mentioned, but they are different for a reason. All they have ever known is shooting the first legal buck they see because it's rare to see more than one or two legal bucks in a season (and many times none!). Yes, they enjoy the meat but when that's all you have that's what you take. And don't kid yourself......there's not a hunter in Vermont who doesn't dream of shooting a buck with a big rack. If a person could shoot any deer they wanted to, put a big fat doe next to an old run down buck with a rocking chair rack but tastes like shoe leather and I'll guarantee you there isn't a hunter in Vermont who would pass up the buck and shoot the doe. As far as the comradarie goes, yes that's a big part of hunting for sure but walk into any deer camp where they haven't killed a buck (or even seen one)after a week of hard hunting and tell me how happy the follks are there.....you'll hear a lot of grumbling and complaining.
The bottom line is that the vast majority of hunters would like to shoot a mature buck, but most will not agree to what it takes for that to happen. We live in a "I want it right now" society.....we don't want to wait for anything and managing a deer herd that has never really been managed is going to take some time.
11-17-2006 | 12:37 PM
#23
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Vermont Rules
As far as the comradarie goes, yes that's a big part of hunting for sure but walk into any deer camp where they haven't killed a buck (or even seen one)after a week of hard hunting and tell me how happy the follks are there.....you'll hear a lot of grumbling and complaining.
11-17-2006 | 12:57 PM
#24
Typical Buck
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 857
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Vermont Rules
In the camp I hunt out of in Landgrove, it is not uncommon to go most of the season without seeing a deer, yet no one complains. This is because when we run across a buck it is usually a very good one and that's why we keep going back. It will take a few years of easy winters and reduced harvests, but eventually we may get our herd back.
11-17-2006 | 01:15 PM
#25
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 533
Likes: 0
From: Allston MA USA
RE: Vermont Rules
ORIGINAL: MikeVT
In the camp I hunt out of in Landgrove, it is not uncommon to go most of the season without seeing a deer, yet no one complains. This is because when we run across a buck it is usually a very good one and that's why we keep going back. It will take a few years of easy winters and reduced harvests, but eventually we may get our herd back.
In the camp I hunt out of in Landgrove, it is not uncommon to go most of the season without seeing a deer, yet no one complains. This is because when we run across a buck it is usually a very good one and that's why we keep going back. It will take a few years of easy winters and reduced harvests, but eventually we may get our herd back.
11-17-2006 | 01:44 PM
#26
Fork Horn
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 309
Likes: 0
From: Montana
RE: Vermont Rules
I think it's very sad that so many Vermonters really don't know what good hunting is like, but at the same time I think it's great that people can hunt for 16 days and never see a buck and still be happy. I can't do that. I love the outdoors and all types of hunting and fishing, but during deer season I want to see a buck. I have to question how happy a hunter can be after hunting hard the entire season and maybe only seeing a flag or two. ???????
There really is no reason Vermont cannot have better hunting (more deer and larger bucks). For those interested in shooting a mature buck (I'll leave whata "trophy" is up to the person hunting), Vermont is dead last according to a recent article I read. From 1991 to 2000 there were two bucks from Vermont entered into P&Y and B&C. For comparison purposes, New Hampshire, which is approximately the same size as Vermont, has similar georgraphy, etc., entered 65 bucks. That's roughly 30 times the number Vermont produced. Shoot, little old Rhode Island produced more than Vermont did (8)!
Vermont's deer herd has never been managed properly. NEVER! There are reasons for that also. At one time the state legislature managed the herd, if you can believe that. They called all the shots. Now that the F&G hascontrol because of political pressures they still haven't (or can't...I don't know which) managed the herd properly.
I just feel really badly for my friends and family back in Vermont who love to hunt. My wife's family has two deer camps up in the mountains there. There are about 12 guys between the two camps who take vacation the first week of deer season every year to hunt. These guys are good hunters.....really good hunters. As of yesterday, no one had seen or killed a buck yet.
I really don't believe protecting spikehorns is going to solve the problem, but if nothing else it has people thinking about the problem.
There really is no reason Vermont cannot have better hunting (more deer and larger bucks). For those interested in shooting a mature buck (I'll leave whata "trophy" is up to the person hunting), Vermont is dead last according to a recent article I read. From 1991 to 2000 there were two bucks from Vermont entered into P&Y and B&C. For comparison purposes, New Hampshire, which is approximately the same size as Vermont, has similar georgraphy, etc., entered 65 bucks. That's roughly 30 times the number Vermont produced. Shoot, little old Rhode Island produced more than Vermont did (8)!
Vermont's deer herd has never been managed properly. NEVER! There are reasons for that also. At one time the state legislature managed the herd, if you can believe that. They called all the shots. Now that the F&G hascontrol because of political pressures they still haven't (or can't...I don't know which) managed the herd properly.
I just feel really badly for my friends and family back in Vermont who love to hunt. My wife's family has two deer camps up in the mountains there. There are about 12 guys between the two camps who take vacation the first week of deer season every year to hunt. These guys are good hunters.....really good hunters. As of yesterday, no one had seen or killed a buck yet.
I really don't believe protecting spikehorns is going to solve the problem, but if nothing else it has people thinking about the problem.
11-17-2006 | 02:21 PM
#27
Typical Buck
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 736
Likes: 0
From: vermont
RE: Vermont Rules
hey guys im a local vermont hunter as well and i think that the new restrictions are very good i saw 3 spike horns last year and this year one has become a very nice 4 pointer that i saw in the car hea dlights the other night and one of the others has become a 6 pointer i belive. i also have seen alot more deer around my area more fawns and does. i have seen alot more deer in the woods ive seen 18 so far this season when last year i had only seen i believe 5. all those ppl who didnt go out this year because they are so stuburn and wnat the rules changed should get over it because if they were true hunters they would stick threw it and accept the challenges that come along with being a new england hunter and the restrictions thats all i got to say good luck to all those vemront hunters keep me updated on your results this year
11-17-2006 | 02:32 PM
#28
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 533
Likes: 0
From: Allston MA USA
RE: Vermont Rules
Whitetails:
A Deer Season To Remember
It is all about habitat
By Wayne Laroche
I am expecting the deer season of 2006 to be “THE deer season to remember.” There will be more “racked” bucks in the field this year than in any year in my memory.
Oh yes, deer numbers will vary around the state. What’s new about that? When I was a boy, there were no deer to speak of in Franklin County where I grew up. Nobody griped about it then because there hadn’t been any deer in Franklin County for the previous hundred years. On the other hand, there were a ton of deer in the southern half of the state. That situation is now reversed.
It was all about habitat then. It is all about habitat now! Most of all, it is about winter deer yards. You will be hearing a lot more about deer yards in the coming year. We need to know how much winter deer habitat exists today. We need to know how good it is, and we need to know where we are losing it and gaining it. We need to manage so that we can avoid “boom and bust” deer populations.
I plan to head the Fish and Wildlife Department into a comprehensive deer yard assessment next year. Once we get an inventory of the current condition, we will be better prepared to decide how best to manage deer and deer habitat in Vermont.
I have high hopes for the deer seasons of 2006. The commissioner’s job does not let me spend as much time in the field as I would like. Still, in the little time that I have had this fall, I have seen more “racked bucks” than I have ever seen during any fall in my life time. Deer numbers seem to be up in most parts of the state. Last winter helped by being very mild.
More deer is good for the hunting opportunity this year. But, we have to be careful. Too many deer will be bad for future deer hunting if we fail to balance deer numbers with enough winter deer habitat to handle them without destroying it during bad winters. We only issued 8,915 antlerless permits for 2006 out of the 9,150 that were available. Only six years ago in 2000, the Department issued 20,673 antlerless permits. That means that more than 10,000 hunters didn’t apply for a permit this year.
Why are hunters not applying when most people are seeing more deer? The word that I hear at gun shops and country stores is that hunters are not applying for antlerless permits because of the two deer limit. They don’t want to invest in three tags if they only have a chance of getting two deer.
This year we did not have enough antlerless permit applicants in WMU A, F1 and Q. Land posting in these areas may also be contributing to our inability to issue permits. We will need to talk about land posting. We will also need to talk about getting the three deer limit back.
We need the tools necessary to manage the deer herd for both quantity and quality. We may also want to adjust the buck:doe ratio further in favor of bucks. This could both increase the legal buck population and help prevent major fluctuations in deer numbers.
I plan on spending some time at check stations in November. I hope to see you there with the best buck of your life. I hope that you have a deer season to remember for years to come. Good luck.
Wayne Laroche is Commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
A Deer Season To Remember
It is all about habitat
By Wayne Laroche
I am expecting the deer season of 2006 to be “THE deer season to remember.” There will be more “racked” bucks in the field this year than in any year in my memory.
Oh yes, deer numbers will vary around the state. What’s new about that? When I was a boy, there were no deer to speak of in Franklin County where I grew up. Nobody griped about it then because there hadn’t been any deer in Franklin County for the previous hundred years. On the other hand, there were a ton of deer in the southern half of the state. That situation is now reversed.
It was all about habitat then. It is all about habitat now! Most of all, it is about winter deer yards. You will be hearing a lot more about deer yards in the coming year. We need to know how much winter deer habitat exists today. We need to know how good it is, and we need to know where we are losing it and gaining it. We need to manage so that we can avoid “boom and bust” deer populations.
I plan to head the Fish and Wildlife Department into a comprehensive deer yard assessment next year. Once we get an inventory of the current condition, we will be better prepared to decide how best to manage deer and deer habitat in Vermont.
I have high hopes for the deer seasons of 2006. The commissioner’s job does not let me spend as much time in the field as I would like. Still, in the little time that I have had this fall, I have seen more “racked bucks” than I have ever seen during any fall in my life time. Deer numbers seem to be up in most parts of the state. Last winter helped by being very mild.
More deer is good for the hunting opportunity this year. But, we have to be careful. Too many deer will be bad for future deer hunting if we fail to balance deer numbers with enough winter deer habitat to handle them without destroying it during bad winters. We only issued 8,915 antlerless permits for 2006 out of the 9,150 that were available. Only six years ago in 2000, the Department issued 20,673 antlerless permits. That means that more than 10,000 hunters didn’t apply for a permit this year.
Why are hunters not applying when most people are seeing more deer? The word that I hear at gun shops and country stores is that hunters are not applying for antlerless permits because of the two deer limit. They don’t want to invest in three tags if they only have a chance of getting two deer.
This year we did not have enough antlerless permit applicants in WMU A, F1 and Q. Land posting in these areas may also be contributing to our inability to issue permits. We will need to talk about land posting. We will also need to talk about getting the three deer limit back.
We need the tools necessary to manage the deer herd for both quantity and quality. We may also want to adjust the buck:doe ratio further in favor of bucks. This could both increase the legal buck population and help prevent major fluctuations in deer numbers.
I plan on spending some time at check stations in November. I hope to see you there with the best buck of your life. I hope that you have a deer season to remember for years to come. Good luck.
Wayne Laroche is Commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
11-18-2006 | 01:45 PM
#29
Fork Horn
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 309
Likes: 0
From: Montana
RE: Vermont Rules
ORIGINAL: jf5
Whitetails:
A Deer Season To Remember
It is all about habitat
By Wayne Laroche
I am expecting the deer season of 2006 to be “THE deer season to remember.” There will be more “racked” bucks in the field this year than in any year in my memory.
Oh yes, deer numbers will vary around the state. What’s new about that? When I was a boy, there were no deer to speak of in Franklin County where I grew up. Nobody griped about it then because there hadn’t been any deer in Franklin County for the previous hundred years. On the other hand, there were a ton of deer in the southern half of the state. That situation is now reversed.
It was all about habitat then. It is all about habitat now! Most of all, it is about winter deer yards. You will be hearing a lot more about deer yards in the coming year. We need to know how much winter deer habitat exists today. We need to know how good it is, and we need to know where we are losing it and gaining it. We need to manage so that we can avoid “boom and bust” deer populations.
I plan to head the Fish and Wildlife Department into a comprehensive deer yard assessment next year. Once we get an inventory of the current condition, we will be better prepared to decide how best to manage deer and deer habitat in Vermont.
I have high hopes for the deer seasons of 2006. The commissioner’s job does not let me spend as much time in the field as I would like. Still, in the little time that I have had this fall, I have seen more “racked bucks” than I have ever seen during any fall in my life time. Deer numbers seem to be up in most parts of the state. Last winter helped by being very mild.
More deer is good for the hunting opportunity this year. But, we have to be careful. Too many deer will be bad for future deer hunting if we fail to balance deer numbers with enough winter deer habitat to handle them without destroying it during bad winters. We only issued 8,915 antlerless permits for 2006 out of the 9,150 that were available. Only six years ago in 2000, the Department issued 20,673 antlerless permits. That means that more than 10,000 hunters didn’t apply for a permit this year.
Why are hunters not applying when most people are seeing more deer? The word that I hear at gun shops and country stores is that hunters are not applying for antlerless permits because of the two deer limit. They don’t want to invest in three tags if they only have a chance of getting two deer.
This year we did not have enough antlerless permit applicants in WMU A, F1 and Q. Land posting in these areas may also be contributing to our inability to issue permits. We will need to talk about land posting. We will also need to talk about getting the three deer limit back.
We need the tools necessary to manage the deer herd for both quantity and quality. We may also want to adjust the buck:doe ratio further in favor of bucks. This could both increase the legal buck population and help prevent major fluctuations in deer numbers.
I plan on spending some time at check stations in November. I hope to see you there with the best buck of your life. I hope that you have a deer season to remember for years to come. Good luck.
Wayne Laroche is Commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
Whitetails:
A Deer Season To Remember
It is all about habitat
By Wayne Laroche
I am expecting the deer season of 2006 to be “THE deer season to remember.” There will be more “racked” bucks in the field this year than in any year in my memory.
Oh yes, deer numbers will vary around the state. What’s new about that? When I was a boy, there were no deer to speak of in Franklin County where I grew up. Nobody griped about it then because there hadn’t been any deer in Franklin County for the previous hundred years. On the other hand, there were a ton of deer in the southern half of the state. That situation is now reversed.
It was all about habitat then. It is all about habitat now! Most of all, it is about winter deer yards. You will be hearing a lot more about deer yards in the coming year. We need to know how much winter deer habitat exists today. We need to know how good it is, and we need to know where we are losing it and gaining it. We need to manage so that we can avoid “boom and bust” deer populations.
I plan to head the Fish and Wildlife Department into a comprehensive deer yard assessment next year. Once we get an inventory of the current condition, we will be better prepared to decide how best to manage deer and deer habitat in Vermont.
I have high hopes for the deer seasons of 2006. The commissioner’s job does not let me spend as much time in the field as I would like. Still, in the little time that I have had this fall, I have seen more “racked bucks” than I have ever seen during any fall in my life time. Deer numbers seem to be up in most parts of the state. Last winter helped by being very mild.
More deer is good for the hunting opportunity this year. But, we have to be careful. Too many deer will be bad for future deer hunting if we fail to balance deer numbers with enough winter deer habitat to handle them without destroying it during bad winters. We only issued 8,915 antlerless permits for 2006 out of the 9,150 that were available. Only six years ago in 2000, the Department issued 20,673 antlerless permits. That means that more than 10,000 hunters didn’t apply for a permit this year.
Why are hunters not applying when most people are seeing more deer? The word that I hear at gun shops and country stores is that hunters are not applying for antlerless permits because of the two deer limit. They don’t want to invest in three tags if they only have a chance of getting two deer.
This year we did not have enough antlerless permit applicants in WMU A, F1 and Q. Land posting in these areas may also be contributing to our inability to issue permits. We will need to talk about land posting. We will also need to talk about getting the three deer limit back.
We need the tools necessary to manage the deer herd for both quantity and quality. We may also want to adjust the buck:doe ratio further in favor of bucks. This could both increase the legal buck population and help prevent major fluctuations in deer numbers.
I plan on spending some time at check stations in November. I hope to see you there with the best buck of your life. I hope that you have a deer season to remember for years to come. Good luck.
Wayne Laroche is Commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
He is dealing with a very educated group of people when it comes to deer hunting. His political hyperbole will fool no one. He needs to quit honking his own horn and roll up his sleeves and get to work like he says he's going to. Talk is cheap...
11-18-2006 | 02:59 PM
#30
Dominant Buck
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 23,810
Likes: 5
From: On an Island in Paradise
RE: Vermont Rules
Wayne Laroche is a biologist and the head of our Fish and Wildlife Department. I attended many of hearings relating to antler restrictions. I believe they are in a 5 year plan to improve the health of our herd. My view is that something had to be done due to the vast majority of bucks being in the yearling age class and the poor B/D ratio. Breeding has changed and many of these smaller bucks are doing the breeding allowing some inferior genes to pass into the pool. When there are lots of dominant bucks around they do the breeding thus improving the herd. I live in VT and have huntedhere for 40 yearsand hunt at least one andsometimes two other NE state every year. I can safely say the huntingin VTis the worst of the neighboring states. This year there have been some nice bucks shot and I attribute that to the yearlings being able to see their second year. It will only get better over time. I am solidly behind Wayne Laroche and the improvements he is making to our state.