ST. ALBANS, Vt. (WCAX) – Youth and Novice weekend is an exciting time, not just for the young hunters, but the state as well.
Eli Naef has been hunting for 5 years, starting when he was 9.
“I just fell in love with it. Just the thrill when you get the harvest. You get an adrenaline rush, it’s just addicting,” Eli Naef said.
Eli brought a deer he shot while out with his dad, Christopher, to a biological check station .
“We hadn’t seen anything in the morning after sitting for a bit, so we decided to go up and walk in the woods, and all of a sudden, we stopped and it was just right there. It was a quick and easy shot,” Eli Naef said,
Vermont Fish and Wildlife examines the game that hunters bring to the stations to study deer populations.
“We’re taking the weight, we take antler measurements, both diameter of the main beam and number of points, and then we also estimate an age for every deer that comes through, and then we’ll take a front tooth that can be sent in to get a more precise age,” Andrew Bouton from Vermont Fish and Wildlife said.
They also look for ticks, and swab for covid. These measurements can help determine the population’s overall health and the state of their habitat.
The hobby isn’t as big as it once was, Christopher said, but it allows him to spend meaningful time with his son.
“I feel that there’s been a really big decline in hunting over the years, and I’m not sure what’s behind it all. Some people have the thrill for it, and some don’t,” Christopher Naef said.
Store owners said the yield so far has been about a third of what it was this time last year, but they hope to continue seeing youth engaging in the hunting hobby.