The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board has voted to make some changes to Vermont's hunting and fishing regulations.
Under the change, hunters over 50 will be allowed to use crossbows during the regular archery season. And in an effort to prevent chronic wasting disease, the board voted to ban natural deer urine lures.
There's still one more vote on the issue, but if it's approved the changes will take effect next year.
Natural Urine Lures
Scott Darling, a biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Department, say the urine lures are come from 25 captive cervid facilities, used by a handful of manufacturers that then distribute them across the country.
"The concern we have is that chronic wasting disease, which is a 100 percent fatal neurological disease effecting cervids, deer and moose for example, often the source of that disease comes from captive cervid facilities, whether it be white-tailed deer or elk," Darling explained.
Chronic wasting disease is similar to scrapies in sheep, or mad cow disease in domestic animals.
Two Canadian provinces and 22 states are dealing with chronic wasting disease infections, the nearest is in Pennsylvania.
Once an infection occurs, Darling said there's almost no way to deal with it. There is a protocol in place to "depopulate" areas infected with chronic wasting disease.
"One of the problems with this disease is that it can infect the soil for years and years, if not decades at a time. Once you have it there, it's almost impossible to get rid of it. And so you end up with these little sparks across the state where it can infect wild animals and move across the range." - Scott Darling, biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Department
"One of the problems with this disease is that it can infect the soil for years and years, if not decades at a time. Once you have it there, it's almost impossible to get rid of it. And so you end up with these little sparks across the state where it can infect wild animals and move across the range," Darling said.
States with chronic wasting disease have to implement procedures where after harvesting a deer, hunters are required to have the animal tested for the disease before consuming the meat.
There are synthetic deer lures that hunters can use instead of the natural urine-based lures, but Darling said traditionally, hunters prefer the natural lures, assuming they work better.
"We're hopeful that by banning the natural-based lures, we will enhance the market for synthetic products here in Vermont and across the country."
"We're hopeful that by banning the natural-based lures, we will enhance the market for synthetic products here in Vermont and across the country," Darling said, adding that surveys show just under 20 percent of Vermont deer hunters use lures.
Cross Bows
An earlier proposal before the Fish and Wildlife Board would have allowed all hunters to use cross bows during archery season. The approved measure would allow hunters over the age of 50 to use crossbows whenever a regular bow and arrow can be used for big game hunting.
After six public hearings on the proposal, Darling said they heard that the public was very concerned about the impact of crossbows on the archery harvest and the uncertainty around how many people will take up crossbows if they were allowed in archery season.
"We felt it was best to take a step-wise slower progression here and we recommended that the board consider limiting it to our original proposal of 50-year-old or older hunters. What we have found from our data is that we do begin to lose archery hunters at about that age and the speculation there is that it gets harder at that age to pull back on a bow and the crossbow provides them an opportunity to continue to participate in bow hunting," Darling said.
Both proposals need one more vote from the Fish and Wildlife Board. If approved, they will take effect in 2016.
