Vermont deer population dwindles

Author: Joshua Carson

Big game hunting is more than just a sport in Vermont - "It runs thick in the blood," said Stephen Waller, gunsmith at Pidgeon's Gun Shop. But the declining numbers of white-tailed deer, Vermont's most popular game, are threatening an industry which has deep cultural and financial roots in the state.

Waller can trace the tradition of hunting and gaming to the founding of Vermont. The state constitution is the only document of its kind that explicitly guarantees citizens the right not only to free speech, religion and assembly, but also to hunt.

But there is rising resentment in the hunting community toward the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (VFWD) which regulates the sport by issuing licenses, establishing hunting limits and enforcing regulations. Hunters and those who depend on the sport, like Waller and David Pidgeon, owner of Pidgeon's Gun Shop, believe the VFWD is not doing enough to support and maintain the dwindling white-tailed deer herd.

According to Waller, hunters have noticed a significant decline over the last five years and blame the VFWD for poor policy and loose regulations during the hunting season. The VFWDs own statistics document a notable decline in herd size, falling from a high of 160,000 in 2000 and now estimated at 100,000 to 130,000 this year. This decline has been reflected in harvested deer which also fell from over 20,000 in 1999 to just 11,195 in 2004. While official statistics are not yet available on harvested deer for the current year, Pidgeon estimates that hunters bagged only 1,050 deer in November's rifle season, a period which typically accounts for around half of all harvested deer.

"We know there will be few deer taken this year because of several changes in deer hunting regulations," said John Buck, a biologist at the VFWD. But Pidgeon and Waller believe the problems lies with the VFWD policy of not restricting the number of does killed in a given season. Without a strong doe population, the herd of white-tailed deer will be unable to sustain itself. Pidgeon recommends that rather than having a lottery for licenses to take does, the VFWD should limit buck hunting to one per year and eliminate doe season entirely for at least five years to rebuild the herd. Last year, 27 percent of all deer harvested were does.

Many VFWD programs receive federal aid, but they also obtain funding from the sale of hunting licenses that cost $16 for Vermont residents and $90 for nonresidents. The department is able to augment its inflow further by having a lottery for licenses to hunt moose and antlerless deer, a policy Pidgeon views as counterproductive. He believes that rather than attempting to raise more money to support their staff, the VFWD should limit license sales to promote rejuvenation of the herd.

"The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is hard up for money and is selling its deer. If I sold every gun and never replaced them, I would have an empty rack - now Vermont has an empty rack of deer."

Representatives from the VFWD did not return phone calls, but the 2004 white-tailed deer harvest report cites causes like declining hunter numbers and effort, poor hunting conditions, declining deer habitat and reduced access to private lands as other factors which can lower a harvest.

Tim Williams, a Vermont hunter, also points to the changing deer habitat. In the last 60 years, the number of small farms has dramatically decreased, limiting opportunities for deer to feed on crops left out after the harvest. Moreover, the thriving logging industry of the past allowed deer to eat branches and twigs from fallen trees in the winter. But now, as Pidgeon notes, "Deer cannot eat a 60 foot oak tree!"

This decline may have significant economic implications, as anecdotal evidence suggests that hunters are leaving Vermont in search of more game in other states and across the border in Canada. According to Waller, the herd size has been declining for about the last five years leaving hunters discouraged. This year alone, business at the gun shop has fallen at least 40 percent because disheartened hunters simply lack the desire to spend money to buy or maintain their equipment. Waller estimates that nearly half of his business this year will come from outfitting Vermont hunters for out-of-state trips to areas where the deer population is more robust.

This does not bode well for communities which benefit from the significant revenues that hunting brings to their economy. "Many [hunters] make their purchase at a time of year when tourism is at a lull - after the leaves are off and before the skis are on - and they make their purchases throughout the state, including our most rural communities," said John Hall, information manager for the VFWD.

Statistics published in the VFWD do not capture where hunters may be going, but they do suggest that hunting license sales have declined over the last five years from over 100,000 in 1999 to about 85,000 in 2003.

The state has been successful, however, in integrating the wild turkey into Vermont's range of big game species. The black bear population has also been maintained and new laws which restrict baiting have been successful in promoting the population.

Efforts to lobby for better doe protection have gone largely unnoticed despite the work of groups like the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Club which acts to protect and restore wildlife and other natural resources in the state. Pidgeon and Waller believe the VFWD must recognize the concerns of hunters and implement new restrictions to promote the regeneration of the white-tale herd if one of Vermont's oldest traditions is to survive.