BARRE, Vt. (WCAX) – Rifle season is underway in Vermont, but hunters may have a harder time finding a place to weigh their deer. The state estimates there are one-third fewer weigh stations than there used to be just 15 years ago.
Deer hunting will always be a part of Mark Izor’s life.
“It’s always been a tradition in both sides of my family,” said the South Barre hunter, who was taking a break from the woods Wednesday to stock up on supplies at R & L Archery in Barre before heading back out. The sporting goods store is not just for supplies, it’s also one of the state’s deer weigh stations.
“People like to come here. We take their pictures, post them up on our website, on our Facebook. We are really celebrating the hunting tradition,” said the store’s Chris Sanborn.
A weigh station is a must for hunters to report their deer so the state can get biological information. It’s also a place for hunters to gather and show off their deer. “A meeting place like that was really common back then when I was young, I know that,” Izor said.
But the number of stations has dropped. There used to be 150 deer reporting stations back in 2010. This year the number is down to 100. The most are in Rutland County and Chittenden and Grand Isle each have two.
“We really do want to make this as easy as possible for hunters but that’s going to take some work and we gotta find some new reporting stations,” said Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s Nick Fortin.
Ace Hardware in Colchester is one of the remaining weigh stations in Chittenden County. ”Yeah, we are definitely getting comments that they couldn’t find a more local place,” said the store’s Peter Casselman. He says they are paid $1 for every big game animal report. That payment has not changed since 1971. “It’s a time-consuming process. It’s a messy process at times. Not everyone wants to do it and there’s not a major reimbursement from the state for us to do it so you do it more for the support of the hunting community than you do for the economics of it.”
It’s a tradition hunters like Izor hope will continue. “Made new friends, gather around, look at this and look at that,” he said.