St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-11-27
Deer Hunting in Vermont


With the close of another deer
season there comes the usual drop
OF suggestions regarding the pres
-ent law ard what changes should
be made in it, also speculation as to
the effect of hunting on the supply
Of deer. We went deer hunting this
season in a natural deer country
that was open to all hunters and the
experience left some impressions on
our mind.
First as to the danger of hunting.
We hear from other sections OF the
state a great deal about the care
lessness of hunters in firing at any
thing they see moving in the WOODS.
This may be true in some sections
of the state but actual experience
in the woods convinces us that the
reports of criminal carelessness in
the use of fire arms during the deer
season are greatly exaggerated. We
attempted to do some still hunting
ana we're constantly coming on 9TH
err hunters who knew nothing Of our
presence in the woods until our mo-
ton revealed us to them. We were
not fred at nor did we fire at any
body. Most of the time man in
the woods is exposed to only short
range and the danger from stray
bullets is much less than person
outside the woods might suppose.
The fact that but one has been ac-
cidentally shot this season in mis-
take for a deer bears out the state
ment that Vermont hunters are not
so careless as some of the non
hunting population would represent
Not SO many deer were shot this
section as in former years and some
may argue that the supply of deer
is being depleted by too liberal hunt
ing Oh them. Possibly this is true
but we believe the scarcity is due to
other causes. First, we believe the
unfavorable weather of the spring
was fatal to an unusually large
proportion of the young deer drop
ped this spring. Then the deer are
undoubtedly more shy than in form
er years. In the territory we visited
there were plenty of signs of large
deer but we were unable to get sight
of any of them. The woods were
noisy and the deer evidently OF con-
siderable age seem to have learned
the art of evading the hunter. 1t
is our opinion that if next season is
more favorable for the rearing oil
fawns hunters will see more young
deer in the woods but if they OBJ
serve the law and kill only those
with horns three inches or more
long the catch will be small be-
cause the older deer will still be sly
and able to evade the hunter.
There seems to be an increasing
disregard of the law in shooting
doe, a very large number having
been found shot in the woods. Deer
are also shot out of season to quite
an extent. This disregard of law is
disheartening to those who believe
in the law and is really the most
serious menace to deer in Vermont.
A deer killed out of season Judici-
ously distributed among ones neigh
bors is a most eficacious method of
secreting this crime and so long as
the mans desire to slaughter is
stronger than his regard for law the
deer must suffer. The shooting OF
doe must be due to the same desire
and while the risk of detection is
greater it probably can never be
entirely suppressed by law but the
legal sportsmen should educate as
far as possible against this evil.
When the violation of deer laws
is compared with the violations of
the automobile laws, for instance,
one cannot doubt that there is less
violation OF the deer laws. There
are fewer people who disregard the
game law and there is much less
opportunity to violate it than the
automobile laws. So perhaps a gen.
eral education in respect for law
would go far toward reducing the
number OF violations of deer laws.
We see little opportunity to i'm
prove present laws and we view with
little apprehension the proposition
to make the open season the first
twenty-five days OF November. The
vvnoda Mt that time are noisy and