Vermont issues just 14 moose permits for last ever hunt

This will probably be Vermont’s last moose hunt, as they cut permits to the lowest number in the modern era.

Vermont Director of Wildlife Mark Scott told Associated Press reporter Wilson Ring that the department will issue only 14 permits, and if the moose population continues to decline, this is likely to be the last time for moose hunting in that state.

Vermont started hunting moose in 1993, with a gradual increase to a high of 1251 permits in 2007 and 2008.

The decline in Vermont’s moose population is blamed on warmer weather that has increased the ticks and brain worms that are killing moose. The state’s moose population is now estimated to be just 2000. Last year the state issued 80 moose hunting permits.

Ten of this year’s permits will go to rifle hunters and four to archery hunters, and those hunters will be limited to just two wildlife management zones in northeastern Vermont.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.