Vt. Fish and Wildlife opens moose permit auction
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Tired of coming up empty in Vermont’s annual lottery for moose permits? Here’s another way into the ranks of moose hunters in the state.
The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife is auctioning off some permits to hunt during this year’s archery season, Oct. 1-7, or the Oct. 20-25 regular season.
Bids will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. Aug. 21. Be prepared to spend some money. Winning bids are typically at least $4,000, and hunters still must pay hunting license and moose permit fees on top of that.
Winning bidders will be able to bring along an armed hunting partner and a third person who is unarmed.
Feds end Conn. River salmon effort
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The federal government is ending its conservation effort to restore Atlantic salmon in the Connecticut River basin because the nearly half-century old program that has stocked about 100 million small fish in tributaries throughout western New England is not working well enough to justify the continued cost, an official said Wednesday.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also is beginning a three-year evaluation of a similar program in the Merrimack River basin in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which could lead to the end of its participation in Atlantic salmon restoration programs there as well, said Fish and Wildlife Regional Assistant Director for Fisheries Bill Archambault.
The only bright spot for Atlantic salmon in the northeastern United States is in Maine where salmon, which were once common throughout the region, continue to return in relatively large numbers to the Penobscot River basin after growing to adulthood in the North Atlantic and returning to the small rivers and streams to spawn, he said.
