Fish & Wildlife bill gets mixed reviews

At Monday’s Legislative Breakfast, local hunting and trapping enthusiasts grilled Sen. Chris Bray on bill S.258, which proposes to transfer the authority to adopt rules for the taking of fish, wildlife and fur-bearing animals from the Fish & Wildlife Board to the Department of Fish & Wildlife.

I have served on the Fish and Wildlife for the past two years. Not once has Senator Bray or Hardy personally attended a board meeting.

Because there is quite a bit of misinformation circulating about this bill, I am urging you to look at the bill online so you can read for yourself what it does, and does not, do. 

I am writing in response to a recent letter from Fred Schroeder regarding proposed legislation to change the role and composition of the Fish and Wildlife Board and also to ban the practice of hunting coyotes with packs of hounds (hounding).

A recent letter to the Addison Independent included a great deal of misinformation about newly proposed legislation, S.258.

I am deeply disturbed by recent efforts by our local Senators, Christopher Bray, Bristol, and Ruth Hardy, Middlebury, to write legislation to remove the responsibility of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board in cooperation with our Vermont Fish & Wildlife De … (read more)

Despite a record-breaking November rifle season in which hunters had 676 bucks weighed locally, 2023 ultimately proved to be a below-average year for the overall number of deer killed and handled at Addison County wildlife reporting stations.

Vermont 2024 hunting, trapping, and fishing licenses, as well as the 2024 lawbooks for these activities, are now available on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s website and wherever licenses are sold.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing the sitting-in-the-woods-waiting-for-large-game-to-pass sort of waiting.

Hunters during the 16-day deer rifle season that concluded on Sunday brought what was, according to Independent archives, a record number of bucks — 676 — to be weighed at Addison County’s wildlife reporting stations.

Youthful hunters back on Oct. 21 and 22 had 93 deer weighed in Addison County during the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife’s  Youth and Novice Hunting Weekend. That total is below average historically. 

I’ve been spending a fair bit of time in the woods lately in my annual attempt to harvest local free-range, antibiotic-free venison.

The deer rifle season got off to a strong start this past weekend with an above-average total of 244 bucks handled at eight Addison County big-game reporting stations.

Hunters may take one legal buck during this season if they did not already take one during the archery deer season.

Vermont’s 16-day regular deer season begins Saturday, Nov. 11, and ends Sunday, Nov. 26.