Four Vermont Fish and Wildlife regulations have been amended and will go into effect on September 19.
"The Fish and Wildlife Board and Legislature have approved the amendments that we recommended to regulations regarding requirements for reporting big game, the use of leashed tracking dogs, crossbows, and the requirements for tagging and transporting big game," said Commissioner Jason Batchelder. "These are basically house-keeping measures to simplify, update or improve these regulations, in some cases based on public input."
Big game is defined in Vermont statute as deer, bear, moose, wild turkey, caribou, elk, and anadromous Atlantic salmon taken in the Connecticut River Basin.
10 V.S.A. 10 Appendix 2 Reporting Big Game – Now clearly requires that no hunter shall knowingly make a false statement or include false information related to their name and the date, time and location of harvesting big game. The Commissioner is also now enabled to reimburse an authorized reporting agent no less than $1.00 and nor more than $5.00 per report submitted, to be determined by the Commissioner for each report.
10 V.S.A. 10 Appendix 12 Leashed Tracking Dogs – Now allows the use of a licensed leash tracking dog to recover big game that is dead or wounded at any time of the year, rather than during a hunting season and the 24-hour period following the last day of a hunting season.
10 V.S.A. 10 Appendix 5 Bow and Arrow and Crossbow Standards – Now requires that a person using a crossbow to hunt big game must use a crossbow arrow or "bolt" with a broadhead that measures at least seven-eighths of an inch in width with at least two sharp cutting edges. This is consistent with the longstanding requirements for arrowheads.
10 V.S.A. 10 Appendix 2a. – Big Game Tagging – Clarifies that the hunter's name and tag or permit number be on the appropriate tag and that the tag shall remain on the carcass until the animal is processed for consumption. It now clarifies that a landowner taking big game on their property must place a tag on the animal with their name, the address where the animal was taken, and a permit number if a permit is required. It now requires person transporting parts of a big game animal, prior to it being processed for consumption, to mark each part or container with just the name of the person who harvested the animal while repealing a former address requirement. It also now requires a person who takes big game in another state or country to retain the tag required to be attached to the carcass by another state or country while repealing a former requirement for each package of meat to be marked with the hunter's name, tag number, date, and state or country of origin.
The full annotated text of the rules can be viewed on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife website under "Newly Adopted Rules."