Contributors to this thread:
I have been a bowhunter for over 50 years and have always supported anything to do with bowhunting I have been a member of both Pope & Young for almost 20 years and a member of 2 organizations in VT ,The Green Mountain archers and Vermont Bowhunters Assc. since it started ,Which I am now a director in, We as a group have been working for a number of years to improve bowhunting in VT. The VBA has had many success in what they have worked on and have been instrumental in getting the moose hunt in VT, extending he bow season and things we are still working on are to get it extended further ,expanding bear hunting opportunities ,A youth bowhunting weekend to name a few,what I don't understand is how anyone that loves bowhunting in this state cant be bothered to support VBA and its goals,you know the more numbers we have the louder the voice in Montpelier!! We Average 22,000 bowhunters in VT and as of today we have a 140 members our membership is usually $20 a year and at our 3D shoots usually run a $15 special.What brought this rant on was yesterday had 2 VT bowhunters at our 3D shoot which we do to try build membership said they didn't want to join,I am sure it wasnt because they couldn't afford it as they both sported over a grand in archery equipment then later overheard them complaining what is wrong with bowhunting in VT,I just don't understand it can someone explain it to me!!!
As a Vermont native, born and raised there I can feel your frustration. I'm now a resident of Colorado and cannot believe how deer hunting in Vermont has gone from bad to worse since I left. 2 buck tags, doe tags and the ability to hunt archery, muzzy and rifle seasons and kill multiple deer to me is absurd. How can you grow a deer herd with such liberal tags to kill multiple deer per season? The winter kill, loss of logging, habitat and the rampant poaching alone takes it's toll on the deer herd without even factoring in a harvest for hunters. Even when I was young the deer hunting wasn't that good but now it's pathetic.
With that said, big buck I commend your desire and the time you spend to help. Those 2 VT bowhunters that came to shoot 3D are pathetic . Unfortunately your frustrations seem to be typical of Vermont hunters today. Even though I never plan to hunt VT again my $20 is spent to join VBA. I will also pay for the first person to reply to this thread to join the VBA if they feel they can't afford $20 to join. Seems like a very small donation to a good cause. It has to start somewhere. Something needs to be done.
Our Colorado Bowhunter's Association is also light on members compared to the amount of bowhunters in our state but significant enough to have a presence and say in what happens with the CPW. Without state bowhunting orgs like ours we'd never get what we have.
PM me if you're to ashamed to post here and I'll sign you up for VBA.
Paid. Glad to be a member and help the cause.
Who's next?
Damn my inbox is full of guys wanting a free VBA membership. JK
Bigbuck,
I really wish the VBA could get established in VT as it's really the only way bowhunters will be able to get favorable outcomes when it comes to deer management from the Vermont Fish and Game. It's not a good sign when Vermonters won't even sign up for a free membership to join. I've had 0 people take me up on my offer to pay for them to join. I wish you the best and appreciate your desire to try and make the dismal VT deer hunting better even if it's for gun and bow. It seems like the only way to make it better is to develop better habitat on your own piece of heaven if you have it and be satisfied with possibly shooting a 6 point buck once every 3 years. My best to you.
I’m from NY but am spending more and more time at my place in Tunbridge and my in-laws in Sharon. I’ll proba only hunt a weekend or two a season but I’d love to support the VBA. I just submitted my application. The deer hunting doesn’t seem to be nearly as bad as I’ve been led to believe but I do think Archery season gives you a huge advantage before deer feel the pressure of gun season.
At the very least the VBA should be able to keep an active post on bowsite.com? no takers on the free membership I offered? Sad.
Sorry to say but VT is probably the worst state in the US to deer hunt in and the residents don't seem to care one bit? This sucks as I grew up in VT. It's pretty sad that 95% of the deer hunters in VT are happy to shoot a 1.5 year old spike buck and call it a successful season.
VT has no hope if this is the current approach VT'ers have to deer hunting. Sad. It used to be so much fun hunting deer in the hardwood forests of VT even as challenging as it was.
Too bad Vermonters seem to be happy with the current state of affairs. Can you still kill 2-3 bucks a year? Hmmmmm may that's problem ya think?
hey Quinn, maybe you should look at the proposed changes being put forth by fish and wildlife . How about you also step up and do some volunteer work on a state wma somewhere .it never hurts to get out and do something for everyone
Hello just in case anyone checks out this page before April 7 join my group as we are doing an apple tree release on state forest land in Bolton . pm me for details
Hey Ron. It's a 36 hour drive one way for me to do the volunteer work you mention. That's why I offered up paying for memberships to help out.
Wow, I'm not too surprised why the VBA has next to zero members with posts like yours. If you're their spokesperson I'd suggest remaining silent in an attempt to draw new members.
Since not one person has PM'd me for their free membership to your "organization" I'm pretty confident in saying I won't fund any in the future and it will not hurt your organization since no one seems to want to join anyway.
As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, etc......... Go ahead and bite the hand that feeds you. Good luck on your apple release.
I think you got me wrong I am not a spokesperson for them .I do belong to the association and have since they began .They have worked with F&G to expand archery opportunities and it looks like it will happen in 2020. I do the habitat work because I can and have worked to get more people involved .We are in a tough spot in Vermont as it is even hard to get people to attend a firearms bill hearing to make sure we don't get stripped of our current rights
guys though our membership is small we have had some success with working with VT F&W ,the biggest thing is we have worked to get archery season extend and looks like 2020 season will be from Oct 1 to Dec15 with archery season closed for the 2 weeks of rifle season ,will still be able to bowhunt then just have to abide by the firearm laws.At this time we really attempted to get a youth bowhunting weekend but that was shot down ,we still will be working to get that to come to fruition.Our request for expanding bear hunting opportunities for bowhunters was also put on hold.We will continue to represent the interest of bowhunters in the state and work to create more opportunities for them.Still would be very helpful if we could even get a t least 10% of the bowhunters in the state to join it does make a difference!! We do have a website Vermont Bowhunters Association and also have a facebook page under the same!
