Fish & Wildlife: Vermont bear hunting Sept 1; fishing digest earns top honors

Vermont Bear Hunting StartsSept. 1
Vermont's bear hunting season startsSeptember 1, and hunters can improve their chances if they scout ahead of time to find fall foods such as wild apples, beechnuts, acorns, and berries -- where bears will be feeding.

"Fall foods for bears are more abundant than they were last year," said Vermont's bear biologist Forrest Hammond. "Bears will be feeding along power lines and in forest openings and old fields where berries and apples can be found as well as in forested beech and oak stands. They also are likely to be feeding on standing corn, ."

Vermont Bear Hunters To Aid Wildlife Scientists
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is reminding successful bear hunters that a regulation now requires them to submit a bear tooth so wildlife managers can collect important information on Vermont's bear population.

Teeth submitted by hunters are used to determine the ages of bears. Wildlife biologists use age and sex data to estimate the number of bears in Vermont and to determine the status and health of the bear population. Envelopes for submitting teeth are available at all big game check stations.

VT Fishing Regulation Digest Named Best in Nation
In its first year as a stand-alone publication, Vermont's fishing regulations digest has earned top honors among regulation publications from throughout the United States.

The contest, which is the only one in the country exclusively for education, information and public relations professionals who specialize in conservation, recognizes excellence and promotes craft improvement through competition.

Click here to read more...

peregrine falcon chicks
Peregrine Falcon Nesting Cliffs Reopened
Vermont Fish & Wildlife has reopened the cliffs closed to hiking and access earlier this spring to protect nesting peregrine falcons.

"The young peregrines have fledged, and nesting data suggest Vermont falcons had a good year," said Vermont Fish & Wildlife's migratory bird biologist John Buck. "A final report will be issued later this year.

Source: Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department

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