Early sunny day and thoughts of nature’s balance
On the first warm sunny day of the month, my heart calls me to step outside and breathe in the fragrances of woodsmoke as it mixes with the mellifluous symphony of birds singing for the pure joy of another spring. The chickadees and nuthatches fly from branch to feeder to ground as the melting snow reveals the spoils of hasty winter meals, cardinals flutter in without caring that the blue jay claims his role as the thief of all good seeds.
A fat grey squirrel leaps off the ground to the bark of the maple and scurries up to the feeder, only to find that it does not provide him with solid footing, and he drops to the ground below as the downy woodpecker feeds on the leftover suet. The woodpecker is grinning at the squirrel’s greed and resulting embarrassment.
Walking into the backyard, the snow has a hard crust and appears to be able to support my weight. But no, those large helpings of comfort food all winter betray me and I break through the crust and sink into the soft snow under the surface, my low Bean boots allowing the cold snow into the boots. I laugh. I feel spring is coming, but like the squirrel, my hopes are delayed by the reality of a Vermont winter more like the ones we were used to a decade or two ago.
Without assigning any political belief to the concept, most of us now accept that things are changing in our state. The ice fishing season offered us plenty of solid surface but the fish seemed to have changed their patterns dramatically. That’s not to say that there were no good days. One of ours was a 105 fish day, for which we were grateful, but after that first good day, the bite disappeared.
We fished in a dozen separate locations that, in the past, were very productive, and we came off the ice shaking our heads in disbelief. Someone floated a theory that we had forgotten since the last time the lake had this much ice — alewife die-offs. These invasive species were brought into our lake by out-of-state anglers bringing in their “own bait” from Connecticut’s kettle ponds. The alewives reproduced like throwing gasoline on a fire.
However, their genetics did not allow them to live when the water turned to ice. Thus, massive die-offs have occurred throughout the lake. When the alewives die off, they eventually sink to the bottom, and in a magnificent twist of irony, the yellow perch who had to compete for forage with the more aggressive alewives, found that the decaying bodies of their arch-rival were transformed into their preferred source of protein, to the exclusion of any other bait presented by ice fishers.
It’s funny how nature works. Without advocating for introducing any more invasive species to our waters, it is fascinating that sometimes nature finds ways to repair the effects of our foolish actions or lack thereof. Witness, the decline in hunters in our state and the correlative increase in the deer population. This is proof that we, as animals ourselves, are a necessary component of the ecosystem that relies on our participation to manage and sustain healthy populations.
Our Fish and Wildlife Department recognizes the necessity of our participation in this process. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board has recently requested public input on some new proposals to manage the deer herd more effectively. The proposed changes aim to balance the deer herd to what available habitat can support by encouraging hunters to harvest more antlerless deer, primarily does, in certain parts of the state.
“Deer hunting is incredibly important to many Vermonters’ culture and sense of identity, and it is also absolutely essential for keeping deer numbers in line with what is sustainable for our habitats,” said Interim Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife Andrea Shortsleeve. “The updates our biologists are proposing will help hunters continue to balance Vermont’s deer herd with the available habitat as our forests get older, winters get warmer, and land use patterns change.”
The main proposed changes to Vermont’s deer hunting regulations would: 1. Allow hunters who obtain antlerless permits to harvest antlerless deer during the regular November rifle season. Currently, only antlered deer can be harvested during the November season. 2. Set the archery season as Oct. 1 through Dec. 15, including during the regular November season. Currently, the archery season closes during the regular November season. 3. Create special additional archery hunting zones with a Sept. 15 opening date in select areas where deer numbers are high. 4. Allow hunters to hold two antlerless permits from different wildlife management units at the same time. Currently, hunters can only hold one antlerless permit. 5. Allow hunters to harvest a second legal buck during the season if they have already harvested one buck with three or more points on one antler and one or more antlerless deer. Currently, hunters can only harvest one buck per year. 6. Reinstate an antler point restriction in Wildlife Management Unit D1 where mature buck numbers are low. 7. Return the state’s youth deer hunting weekend to the Saturday and Sunday prior to the start of the regular November season.
“In a nutshell, there are some very specific parts of the state, like the Champlain Valley, where we need hunters to harvest more does,” said Shortsleeve. “Doe numbers are one of the main factors that determine the deer herd’s ability to grow. In much of Vermont, the herd is already pretty well balanced to the available habitat, but in some areas, there are just too many deer. In those places, our forests are suffering as a result.”
In addition to the proposed deer regulation changes the board also invites public comment on proposals from department biologists on the moose and turkey hunting seasons, and on transporting wild game meat from out of state into Vermont.
Should you decide to hunt, fish or forage in our lovely state, please take the time to get informed and involved and help us maintain this balance intended by the Great Spirit.
(Bradley Carleton is the founder and director of Sacred Hunter.org which teaches the public respect and empathy through hunting, fishing, and foraging. More of Bradley’s writing can be seen here.)