I think the first thing that should happen is for John Buck to resign. Buck is our biologist in charge of the deer herd. He either doesn't have a clue or has his hands tied and can't do what should be done.

If the rest of the winter is like the first two weeks of December, we won't have any deer left to manage. No apples, acorns, beech nuts, or berries going into winter and over 3 feet of snow so far. Not a good outlook for our wildlife.

. . . Rob

I live and hunt next door in NH. I have not heard anything official about our season, but I am estimating that the numbers are down. I spent about 2.5 solid weeks in the woods...took a 6 point, saw another 4 point (bow hunting)...and that was it. Had a deer cam out, got two pics of bucks during the season. Seems slow. I am in a big woods area, so no concentrated deer population.

Vermont is tough because the season is only about 2 weeks, correct? If you get bad weather in that time frame...you're done! It seems we had some bad weather for hunting, especially on the weekends, etc.

Historically, it seems that Vt has good deer hunting...as you know, VT and NH are about the same size, yet VT takes about 2 times as many deer as NH. Just an abundance of smaller bucks...

Perhaps VT needs better management, as suggested earlier.

Good luck!!

You would think that VT and NH would be similar, but there are some hugh differences.

First, you are allowed 3 bucks in Vermont. Not that very many people shoot three, but most will take the first deer with antlers that presents a shot because they can still hunt for another buck in the next season. If you were allowed only one, perhaps people would let younger bucks walk. Secondly, we have way too many doe. The states estimates we have a 1:3 buck to doe ratio. I think it's more like 1:5 or 1:6. NH does a nice job allowing the taking of doe during the rifle season and muzzleloader to reduce number of doe. Speaking of muzzleloader, it's a great idea that the ML season is before rifle and the rut. Doe can be taken BEFORE the rut and breeding and BEFORE they have an opportunity to eat up the habitat for 5 weeks before being shot (VT ML season is the first week of Dec). Not sure about NH, but VT needs to do a better job promoting habitat improvement and put some money into our deer yards.

Historically VT may shoot more deer, but NH has more quality bucks hands down.

Just my opinion. . . Rob