VT Deer Hunting Survey

[johndeere540]

the state wont bring in big bucks from elsewhere with the excuse of cwd! The real reason is someone in the waterbury office may have to take a pay cut to pay for the project!

[ICE WANDERER]

yikes you are brave to post this here.  and pro boards new england chat you may want to also check out and post this on.

Thats because no one in Vermont post much on My Hunting Forum, check it out. I know you guys hunt over there because there were over 15,000 deer taken in Vermont. Get on the stick & join Green Mountain Hunter, vermoner & John Deer 540 & get involved.

[Leafmountain10]

On the heels of my first "unsuccessful"...  (getting in the woods is always a success)  deer season for over a decade, I couldn't be any more in the mood to talk about deer hunting and management in our state.

Thank you for posting and for everyones patience on this subject on an Ice Fishing forum!

Here's what I would change ...for the better? ...just ideas..

-Better habitat in the state ...yes including GMNF and state reg. paper land
-Tougher poaching laws ...$250 fine and no license for a year??  these guys aren't using there license anyways...  Quick tangent: A guy in our area of the NEK who's a known poacher for many many years...maybe 100's of deer??  Finally got caught last year.  He represented himself in court and got out of it!!! Amazing!! No wonder the Game Wardens don't return my phone calls when I find a poached deer or see illegal actions in the woods.  The laws are not on there side for sure!   Put these guys in the paper...fines start at $1,000 take away 4-wheelers, trucks, guns, ...it costs us hunter too much in just Game Warden man hours to have this handled like this.
-incentives for landowners to not post there land,  saw a figure that 20% of private land in Vt was posted in 1960 and now it's over 65%
Youth day Restrictions  ok before everyone starts saying how there "6 year old can read at a 11th grade level and shoot a red squirrel at 200yds with a  30-06" ...there is nothing I hold more dearer to my heart than passing on this wonderful pastime to the next generation.  I have two boys 7 and 4yrs and won't let them pull the trigger on an animal until at least 11yrs.  There are too many uncles, fathers, neighbors filling youth day tags, killing deer that could go to a legal hunter and more importantly passing on "poaching" deer as an ok think to do to young hunter.  This year I overheard two guys in the NEK talking to each other by the beer cooler in a mini-mart how one of them shot a deer on youth day and had to go and wake up his daughter to tag it. SAD I bet it is like 50% of the deer shot this weekend are by the kids.  How about  (1) youth day deer from 0-16yrs ... then you are hunting with rest of us ...congratulations you are a successful deer hunter! Join the big boys.

have to go to the store now and buy red meat.

[bradroy55]

Would love to see better incentives for keeping private land open!

[1Badboy]

Would love to see better incentives for keeping private land open!

definitely ^^^ something overlooked !

[fishingidjit]

You'd have to kick all the flatties out to see unposted land. Also Texas and N.H. have rescinded rules to protect spikes as they are genetically inferior deer. We are shooting 4 and six point 18 month old deer but don't shoot 18 month old spikes ,go figure ?

[DyingBreed]

Amen Leafmountain.....1 day for those that PASS hunter saftey in THAT year. Then on with the big boys to hunt.

[VTtrophychaser]

I will agree that we have seen the overall racks looking really good this year, but we may be at the peak of the antler regs working.  Obviously not every spike is a bad genetic deer, it is just a younger deer in many cases,  rather than 18 months it is more like 16, a deer that was dropped late.  If we shoot all the bigger, older deer early during rifle season and there are only these younger deer left for late rut, they are the ones breeding the doe that came into heat later.  Most likely these late heat does are a younger deer as well.  Now you have two younger deer breeding late in season which will produce a smaller deer that is also dropped later in the year.  This new offspring is going to be younger and smaller heading into winter, increasing the likelihood that it would fall victim should there be a harsh winter.  As far as the harvesting of doe.  For what reason do we use a muzzy for this?  Many doe are wounded and not recovered because people only get one shot at them and don't look nearly as hard as if the deer had some head gear.  Some people may wound two or three doe before they get their tag filled.  Now these doe run off and die, but the hunter just never bothered to look all that hard for them.  If they want to harvest doe in a manner where they are not running off and dying without ever being accounted for, let the hunters use a rifle.  Make it similar to NH where people who just want a deer can go out and take one the first 2 days with their rifle, and that's their tag.  Issue with that of course is that the state isn't going to get their $10 from each of 50,000 hunters all applying for the tags.  What if we harvest some spikes with archery?  How about some form of bounty on coyotes?  Why do they want such few deer, so they don't eat all the turkey food?  They seem to let those run rampid...don't ya think we could kill a few more of those?  Archery season 9/15-12/15 is a terrific idea. 

[Fish-On-VT]

116 Replies to the Survey so far 

[Jrmcd282]

i will have to agree with  the fact that the bucks taken are indeed better quality than we used to take but we (myself included) are killing too many deer per year.  I have 6 children living in my house so yes if i have a empty tag i am going to fill it. I have always been and always will be a "meat" hunter. I have been proud of every deer i have ever harvested!!! buck or doe . archery , rifle , or muzzleloader. I personally an not ashamed or embarrassed to shoot a 100 lb doe. i can proudly recite to you the story behind every deer i have ever harvested. that being said.  Longer archery season, early muzzleloader, 1 buck per year, any means any season PERIOD!  allow a doe to be taken in archery the first week. or do a doe day on the first of rifle in certain units. but make that your "firearm" deer. I personally would have no problem with taking a doe with my rifle and then sitting out the rest of the season. I would hunt where i know that there are plenty of deer to increase my odds. hence the heard could substain a doe season.  i also know that a lot of wives and kids would get a doe on that first day and dad would keep hunting. it is such a tough decision and touchy subject that there never will be a answer that makes everyone happy or allows everyone the chance to take a deer.  I am not a biologist, just a 38 year old guy who has spent the better part of his life in the outdoors and thinks he might know something.   .

good luck everyone and be-safe !!!!   

[cbice]

I'm not sure how many states around us have an archery season that stays open but it seems like most of them do.  I would support an early blackpowder season if they didn't shut down archery to do it.  I have spent a little time in other states around halloween into november and it's a great time to be in the woods.  I fear this state has to many people that allow tradition to cloud their views.  I hear people bashing archery hunters because they spook deer before rifle season but they then talk about doing drives all rifle season.  How does a guy in a tree spook a deer that 8 guys doing a drive doesn't.  Of course the lack of active logging operation are really not helping the forest in regards to new growth and food..  What happened in the GMNF is a shame.  The tree huggers saved the  trees but hurt the animals in the process. 

[Fish-On-VT]

I just saw one of the best phrases ever... "If you're against logging, then try wiping your ass with plastic" 

[VTtrophychaser]

Not to sound naive, but what exactly happened in the GMNF?  I haven't heard much about this topic.

[pikeaddict]

Not to sound naive, but what exactly happened in the GMNF?  I haven't heard much about this topic.

Wildlife Designation. Pretty much makes it off limits to everything, esp logging. At least where I hunt it is.

[Fish Hard]

"forever wild"; read, dead woods! Need more  logging

[dylan8351]

 I'm an advocate of logging but some species thrive in large unfragmented pieces of land. Just a thought...

[Fish Hard]

agreed; some species do; but not the deer that we all love to watch and hunt.

[dylan8351]

agreed; some species do; but not the deer that we all love to watch and hunt.

Also agreed. Also, there are a lot of people that don't hunt and enjoy the untamed woods and have an equal stake in the forest.

[rawrightII]

state could probably use some of the revunue of harvesting these woods.  have a management plan, no need to clear cut.  Then take that money and put it towards fish and wildlife.  Im sure every bit could help that departement.

[dylan8351]

F&W is funded solely through license sales. Things would be a lot more screwy for us outdoor enthusiasts  if money came through other funding sources as well...

[Champlain Islander]

I attended the F&W meeting at Kehoe conservation camp last year and we never more embarrassed to be associated with that group of so called hunters, the majority that were so clueless on deer management and habitat..    I hunt all the season.. (1)    I am for a early muzzle loader it makes perfect sense not to have breeding bucks waste their energy on deer that will be harvested in 2 weeks.. (2)  I am for having the bow season run from Oct. 1  to the end of Muzzle loader  NON STOP!  sucks that we have to get out of the stands when the rut starts to kick in..  (3) I am for the increase of antler restrictions to 3 pnts  on one side to bump up our mature bucks to mature doe ratio  to help ensure these doe get bread the first time around for early fawn drop along with increased rut activity   (4) I am for returning to a 1 Buck a year.. there is incredible hunting pressure on these buck    (5)  I am all for the Doe harvest as we are doing now and stop listening to the cry babies..  we have poor winter habitat in the state and we can't have the number of deer running around in the woods that most of these old Vermonter think we should..   (6)  and I am all for getting the GMNF off their A#$   and log our forests,  but their hands are tied because all the lazy whiners don't go out and support them i was at the rutland 10 year planning meetings 3 years ago and this meeting was full of tree huggers and there were only 4 of us hunters there, so unless that ever changes you will most likely never see another tree cut in our national forests...  (7) Be thankfull the F&W manages our WMA and actively logs  them  they are not tooting their own horns because they don't want the problems the Forest department got, so the harvest timber and improve the habitat in a hush hush  fashion so just know that they are doing a great job...   also if you have access to land yours, your neighbors   get your chain saw and pruning poles and get out there this winter and help make it better ,, drop some brows , open around some apple trees, plant some food plots if your able to..  I am always around on here if anyone has questions on how to do things..    ok  guess I better get off my soap box  sorry Nick ya got me started LOL....         BE SAFE THIS YEAR ON THE ICE AND HOPE TO SEE FOLKS IN THE BAIT SHOP FROM HERE  SPEAK UP WHEN YOUR THERE ...  THANK BRIAN  WHB&T

I agree 100% with everything you say wipple except the AR. I just don't see how that improves anything in Vermonts game plan.

[rawrightII]

money could go anywhere. any department. how about to the unemployment department? just saying.
harvesting trees is good for a forest and regeneration.  Yes people like it undisturbed. well 70 years from now theres no new growth, nothing but huge canopies and falling trees everywhere. thatll be nice to look at. by not cutting anything your ruining future generations from enjoying it.

[dylan8351]

money could go anywhere. any department. how about to the unemployment department? just saying.
harvesting trees is good for a forest and regeneration.  Yes people like it undisturbed. well 70 years from now theres no new growth, nothing but huge canopies and falling trees everywhere. thatll be nice to look at. by not cutting anything your ruining future generations from enjoying it.

If state foresters put the time and effort into marking trees and timber sales I doubt they would give the money up. Everyone is hard up for funding. I hunt groton state forest... Theres not crap for deer and theres very limited food availability. I know exactly what a forest its like when it isn't managed!

[Fish Hard]

I think more people would "use" the forest if it was better hunting and had a better trail system for access.
 If it was better hunting there would be less pressure on some of the private property; and there wouldn't be such an issue with all the posted land.

[dylan8351]

Anyone know what percentage of Vermonters hunt? Better access just allows people to be more lazy! I hate it when I but a$$ to get to my spot and someone rode a fourwheeler in!

[Fish Hard]

I didn't say anything about wheelers; but what if the guy on the wheeler is 70 years old or even handicapped?

[Fish-On-VT]

F&W's 2010 Funding Break Down:

[dylan8351]

I didn't say anything about wheelers; but what if the guy on the wheeler is 70 years old or even handicapped?

You put trails in and they will be used illegally. We got a lot of dirtbags who don't care. I know older guys who hunt the off the beaten trail. Thanks for the breakdown fish-on

[azzlevt]

Wow azzlevt you  have some strong feelings huh?  I for one like the antler restrictions, think they are working great.  I wouldn't want to go back to the "old days".  But that's just my opinion.  I personally would rather bow hunt then rifle hunt myself.  Its more of a rush to have deer within 20 yards of you then it is riding around in a truck hoping to find a legal buck crossing in a corn field somewhere.  I am not saying that's how you hunt, but most of the people who cry about the antler restrictions are that type of hunter. I saw way fewer deer this year then a normal year, but like most people I blame it on the late snow last year not on the antler restrictions.

I haven't seen bigger deer! just more spike horn's! I like deer within 20yds myself with my hand gun. so when i close one eye they don't disappear! lol  That's not how  you said i hunt.. but it did come out of your mouth.
I didn't see that many deer this year either.  horn's don't mean crap too me. I just love venison. but were all different!   

[azzlevt]

I haven't seen bigger deer! just more spike horn's! I like deer within 20yds myself with my hand gun. so when i close one eye they don't disappear! lol  That's not how  you said i hunt.. but it did come out of your mouth.
I didn't see that many deer this year either.  horn's don't mean **** too me. I just love venison. but were all different!

I also catch too many fish and sell them. what do  you think about that?