The House Committee on Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife has taken up a bill that would prohibit hunters, trappers and anglers from failing to salvage meat or fur from wildlife they have killed.
Sportsmen could lose 10 points on their hunting licenses if found guilty.
The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife opposes the bill, H.357, arguing that the issue of “wanton waste” is better addressed through rules for individual species. The legislation has become the latest flash-point between sportsmen and animal rights groups over hunting regulations.
Rep. Mollie Burke, P-Brattleboro, co-sponsor of H.357, said during the bill’s introduction that the prohibition would ban what she deemed “unethical” practices in hunting.
“I have a 15-year-old grandson who is a very responsible hunter, and I think this kind of behavior really gives hunting and hunters a bad name,” Burke told committee members while introducing the legislation last month.
Lawmakers amended the bill to add an exemption if the carcass is stolen, damaged by an animal or unretrievable due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances or if the hunter is defending a person or their property.
Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter said that while the department condemns wanton waste of wildlife, he feels the issue is better addressed through “species by species” rules set by the [14-member Fish and Wildlife Board].
“It’s very difficult to make a simple, one-size-fits-all regulation or law that covers everything,” he said in an interview earlier this month.
Wanton waste provisions are already in the rules for bear, moose and waterfowl, said Porter. For example, hunters are required to field dress bears before reporting them to reduce the likelihood of meat spoiling. Additionally, the state requires big game animals be reported — meaning it is illegal not to retrieve them — and the department is looking to add wanton waste provisions in the overhaul of deer hunting rules.
Porter said that while game wardens occasionally encounter wanton waste, it has not had a detrimental impact on any species’ population. He feels staff time and limited department money is better spent on enforcing rules already on the books.
Proponents of the bill, including Barry Londeree, Vermont state director for the Humane Society, believe the rules for specific species should be part of a broader standard prohibiting the purposeless killing of wildlife.
“I think that’s a fair standard to put in place for all wildlife, regardless of species,” he said in an interview Friday.
Dylan Bruce, a hunter from Montpelier, told committee members he feels the bill is positive for the “optics” of hunting.
“I think the wanton waste rules are simply reinforcing the ethics that the hunting community already has,” he said.
Protect Our Wildlife, another one of the groups advocating for a wanton waste prohibition, has been more blunt, posting photos of raccoon carcasses lined up in a field and a screenshot of a hunter holding a coyote with a bloodied head on social media as examples of wanton waste.
Porter questioned whether the bill was not actually aimed at severely curtailing crow and coyote hunting — something the advocacy groups pushing for it have not denied. Protect Our Wildlife and others successfully pushed for a ban on coyote killing contests last year.
Coyotes, in Vermont and many other states, have an open season, meaning someone with a hunting license can take them at any point of the year. Londeree said he did feel the wanton waste prohibition would set up a “de facto” closed season on coyotes during the spring and summer, when pelts are not desirable.
“What is the ethical reason we’re allowing hunting of them during that time period?” he asked.
Mike Covey, executive director of the Vermont Traditions Coalition, argues that while the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation prohibits killing wildlife for “frivolous reasons,” there are reasons to kill wildlife — such as population control — beyond obtaining food, fur or protecting property.
“The hunting of coyotes and other species is not frivolous,” said Covey. “In the case of coyotes, it’s a metering tool, it’s not a negative population driver.”
Covey also argued that, as the state has seen a decline in hunting licenses in recent years, the state should be promoting, not discouraging hunting.
Committee members remain divided on the proposal. Chair Amy Sheldon, D-Middlebury has set up a working group to reach a compromise on the bill.
Rep. Kari Dolan, D-Waitsfield, said during a committee meeting earlier this week that the bill needs more work to ensure fellow lawmakers and members of the public that the intent is not to “go against” hunting.
“The intent is to provide our game wardens the opportunity to ensure we are giving them the tools they need to address those actions that go against the public trust doctrine as it pertains to wildlife,” she said.
Rep. Thomas Terenzini, R-Rutland, remained skeptical of that.
“There are people in this room that are really against anyone going out in the woods with a gun and shooting anything,” he said during the committee meeting. “They’re trying to change the rules of hunting in Vermont…so that’s why I oppose this.”
