Vermont: Anti-Hunting Measure Pending Action in Montpelier

Please Stand-Up and Make Your Voices Heard!

Senate Bill 113, sponsored by State Senator Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden), is currently in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy.  Senator Lyons, the bill sponsor and Committee Chair, plans to move this bill forward in Committee.  

S113 would ban coyote contests (similar to a buck hunt contest).  If the precedent is established to ban one type of competition, deer pools or fishing derbies could be next. 

Coyotes are predators.  They kill farm livestock and deer and can attack children.  Research has shown that coyotes routinely prey on deer fawns. This process is part of the natural ecosystem but coyote populations must be actively managed through hunting and trapping in order to ensure that they do not take an unacceptably high toll on the state's deer herd as it continues its recovery phase. Varmint competitions provide hunters with an additional incentive to get out and do what hunters do best - assist the state with its wildlife management efforts.

Make no mistake, the radical interest groups that support this legislation are the same groups that want to ban all hunting in America. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is one such group and its President, Wayne Pacelle, has said, "We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States... We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped..."

Please contact Senator Lyons and Senate President Peter Shumlin (D-Windham) TODAY and respectfully urge them to protect Vermont’s longstanding hunting traditions by withdrawing S113.  Senator Lyons can be reached by phone at (802) 863-6129 or email vlyons@leg.state.vt.us.  Senate President Shumlin can be contacted at (802) 387-4447 or via email at senprespt@leg.state.vt.us.