2011 Licenses

[TJR]

Just purchased my 2011 tags and couldnt help but notice, I am paying a bit more. the total cost for 2011 archery, muzzleloader, and combination license was $75.00.

The archery tag went from $17 to $20
The Muzzleloader tag from $17 to $20
The combination tag from $32 to $35
Couple this with a $10 fee for antlerless tag
AND $10 for a Moose application + a POSSIBLE $100 for the tag

MONEY WELL SPENT! I have no problem funding the F&W department and conservation efforts. As long as they are getting that money, I am a happy camper!

276 Days to VT Bow Opener

Happy Holidays

TJR

[Dan]

Probably no tags for me this year.  I'm sure F&W is doing a fine job, but I've got to see some results if I'm going to continue forking over the dough. 

My experience in Southeastern, VT where I've lived for the past three years is that I have not even seen a deer of any kind for the past three hunting seasons.  I have seen very few deer around in general and I live three miles down a dirt road.  I forget how much each combo costs, but it adds up.

I'm probably a below average hunter.  I hunted as a teenager ten years ago, and I know the basics, hunting funnels, food sources, stand, still, scent control, camo, preferred foods, etc. then took time off before trying to get back into it three years ago to try and provide some food for the family.  I found this website while trying to do some research as to why I am eating tag soup every year.  Enough is enough.  How many licenses will I buy only to fail?  10, 15, 20???

After reading harvest reports, etc. I've learned is that there are a lot of successful Vermont hunters, but I am not one of them. It boils down to the fact that Vermont is a competitive state to be a hunter.  I am just not good enough to even see a deer in this state. So why pay to fail?  I mean REALLY???

The guys and gals who know this game, have knowledge and education handed down to them, have access to great hunting grounds, time to scout, and are proficient with their tools will be successful, as long as there is a bare minimum of deer to be found.  Also I have found that people around here are not that willing to really share specific helpful info readily, maybe some vague generalities, and with good reason!  They don't want me to get their deer! People who don't have all these variables in place cannot expect to be successful, at least not here in Vermont. And that's too bad because I would love to pass this down to my children and be an enthusiastic hunter.  (My brother in law lives just outside Baltimore and sees huge bucks on a daily basis on his commute to work)

My plan going forward is to hunt on my own property, where I do not need a license.  I have planted about one hundred different mast producing trees and just finished clearing some land which I will plant some kind of ground forage to hunt over next bow season. As of now a few deer come through in the spring to browse the sprouts coming off the stumps of the trees I've cut, but hopefully in about five years the deer should have a major incentive to visit my property in the fall due to the mast, but even if they don't my family will have lots of fresh fruit and nuts.

Just saw the 2010 report and the harvest numbers are up.  Nice work!  All Vermont deer hunters have my respect, I have no idea how you even find deer.

[ZEEK]

I hear ya Dan! I know if not for youth weekend I would not buy a license. I have a small property myself.
But I have to tell you what Gene Wensel told me waaaaaay back. "VT, NH, Maine hunters are the best hunters in the country, if you can kill deer here you can kill them anywhere." The fees are getting out of hand. And guess what? It's not going to the fish and game dept. The general fund is getting a lot of it.

[Dan]

Yeah that Gene Wensel quote kind of sums it up.  Vermont is like the NFL of deer hunting and down in Mass where I grew up was like high school football, or maybe even pop warner.  Find a heavily used deer run, sit by it, bam. Food for the winter. Around here it seems every deer has such a huge territory they don't even use the same runs twice in a week or maybe they only use them at night.  I can't sit by a run for two weeks!  You can't hunt at night! I can't figure them out at all.  I'm trying to get better though, trust me.  Did a lot of scouting just after the season ended with an inch of snow on the ground and found some promising spots up on a ridge, so that gave me some hope for next year if they're not on my property.  I just don't like spending the money for something that doesn't seem to work.

[New England Hunter]

Dan/Zeek: I couldn't agree more - hunting in Vermont is tough and takes much more patience than most other places. I also hunt New Hampshire and I notice a big difference in the number of deer sightings just the other side of the river.

Dan: Where in southeastern VT are you hunting?

[kevjack6]

At any price, it is money well spent in my opinion. The State does the best job that they can. The entire hunting populous will never agree on the "right" way to manage the deer herd. If you think of the hours of enjoyment we get for what we spend compared to virtually anything else (I spend $40 to play golf for 4 hours!), it is a tremendous bargain.

[TJR]

Here is one of the ways I justify the license fees we pay: (As i previously posted I think they are more than fair, and my only desireed change would be for more, if not all of the fees to go back to the F&W department.)

My truck gets 17mpg. It has a 20 Gal Tank. the past few fill-ups with 87 Octane have cost an average of $3.25/Gallon. I drive 80miles/day to and from work.

okay, so the math is as follows: $65.00 to fill my tank to 20 gallons, that lasts approximately 335 Miles of driving (the last 5 miles im excluding because im on fumes!). That is 4.25 days of driving. so roughly every 4 days i fill my rig up.

IF i get a moose tag my total license fees are $295.00 to the state of vermont, or roughly 4.3 fill-ups. That only amounts to 1,462 Miles of driving. This is a small fraction of my yearly driving total of (340x50 assume i get 2 wks off) = 17000 miles. So, the Total instate license fees i pay accound for the equivalent of 8.5% of my total mpg expenditure for the year.

So joking aside, and clearly this uber-analytical approach is senseless, I fully support our F&W department, and have no problem paying to keep those men and women employeed and working in our favor. My real issue is that the state government takes a cut of this money to use for things unrelated and non-beneficial to those goals we have for our state and wildlife. Consider it a donation to the state in exchange for a free license. I think just the fact that we care enough to talk about these things and keep items like this and deer managment on this forum is proof that we do our part.

TJR

[ZEEK]

There is going to be a point when the cost of buying a license is not worth it. It's here for me now. Yes it's still cheep compared to things like golf. But I'm sick of handing over money to this state (my town taxes are due tomorrow so I'm in a bad mood) I need to feel like I'm getting somthing for my money, and the hunting just ain't justifing the constant in state fee increasing. Get it from the flatlanders.[:D]

[kevjack6]

Zeek, you make a good point about raising the fees for out of state licenses. Of course, we have to be careful not to raise them too much compared to surrounding states because they will simply go there instead.

I don't mean to sound disrespectful but I'm curious to know what the hunting should be like in order for you to justify spending the money on licenses? If my memory serves me correctly, you have shot a nice buck each of the last two years so I'm not really sure why you feel the way you do.

[ZEEK]

kev's been paying attention! Yes I have been fourtunate to take a couple nice bucks in the past couple years. Wow what else do you want man? I can hear you asking. Well I guess it's the rest of the time I didn't see a single deer. I hunt a farm that should produce some sightings. Even driving around in the summer we don't see the deer we used to in the early to mid 90's. Maybe I'm just sick of forking money over to this state. It seems like they keep comming to me for more and more money (now were going to have working people funded healthcare, watch out). I don't think out of state hunters come here for the hunting, I think they are former VTers that are comming home, or families that get together as a tradition. I know there are some good areas to hunt in the state, but I can't imagine someone spending their vacation time to hunt here instead of Ohio. I'm a lucky man no doubt. I guess it's not just the money but the days off from work that could be invested elsewhere, to see more deer. As much as I b#$%ch about the hunting it's home, my home and I'll probably always fork the money over,(and they know it) it just wouldn't seem right not being out somewhere in the Green Mountains come first light on opening day.