A Matter of Life and Death: Hunting in Contemporary Vermont

Chapter 1. From Extinction to Tradition: Wildlife Management

15 1 From Extinction to Tradition: Wildlife Management No understanding of local hunting is possible without some reference to the state’s institutions and their power over the lives of ordinary citizens. Stuart Marks, Southern Hunting in Black and White (1991) If there’s one single subject on which every single Vermonter feels he or she is an expert, it is management of the deer herd. Brattleboro Reformer, November 30, 1978 In his richly textured analysis of hunting in rural Scotland County, North Carolina (Southern Hunting in Black and White), Stuart Marks discusses the varying amounts of influence that different constituencies of hunters have over game management regulations. This is a precious kind of influence to wield since, as Marks notes, “state laws circumscribe the boundaries within which game is taken” (1991, 65). The ways in which animals are taken, in turn, have a considerable influence on the kinds of experiences people have while hunting and the specific meanings that will emerge from those experiences. In the case of Scotland County, Marks describes a stratified (particularly along racial and economic lines) hunting community in which certain hunters (whether through wealth, social connections, organizational skill, or simply a deep and consistent engagement with the public aspects of wildlife management) have the ability to influence policy decisions. “Yet for many others,” Marks writes, “such regulatory protocols remain mysteries. For members of this latter group, hunting remains largely a traditional activity, local in content and context. Their prospects for transmitting their passions and traditions to succeeding generations seem as problematic as their access to surviving game” (65). Vermont offers an interesting contrast to the situation Marks describes. Whereas in North Carolina “local” practices and perspectives seem to oc- Chapter One 16 cupy a marginal political position, in Vermont the opinions of “locals” are still a powerful force in state affairs.1 Politicians are keenly attuned to local issues and will pay dearly at election time if they choose to ignore them. It should come as no surprise, then, that “regular people” still have a strong and influential voice in the process. By contributing to wildlife management discussions, rural Vermonters are assuring that control over one of the most important ingredients in the production (and reproduction ) of local rural Vermont culture—hunting—is not completely relinquished to the state. Indeed, it is hard to underestimate the importance of hunting to local identity for some rural Vermonters. I well remember when one hunter said to me, “Every Vermonter deserves a chance to get a deer.” I knew hunting was woven deeply into the fabric of rural Vermont; nevertheless, I was shocked by the extent to which this man was combining deer-hunting and state identity. His comment takes on even more ethnographic significance when one considers just how important local identity is to so many Vermonters. It also seems to imply that Vermonter’s have “always” hunted deer. As we will see in this chapter, however, the legendary Vermont deer-hunting tradition is actually of relatively recent vintage. Vermont Game Laws The creation of wildlife management regulations in Vermont is a complex political process that involves three separate governmental bodies: the Vermont State Legislature, the state’s Fish and Wildlife Board, and its Department of Fish and Wildlife (called the Department of Fish and Game until 1983).2 Unlike many other state legislatures, Vermont’s legislature possesses broad powers to create specific wildlife management laws. The Fish and Wildlife Board consists of fourteen members (one from each county) appointed by the governor; it is charged with adopting rules “for the regulation of fish and wild game and the taking thereof except as otherwise specifically provided by law”; the Department of Fish and Wildlife conducts scientific research and makes management recommendations to the Fish and Wildlife Board (Vermont Statutes, Title 10, chap. 103, sec. 4082). The board also takes into account citizen testimony at public hearings. In short, the board—a panel of political appointees—creates game management regulations based on the recommendations of professional biologists employed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife—that is, un- 17 From Extinction to Tradition less the legislature decides to take over the process. In that case, neither the board nor the department has any official control over the outcome, because their powers are granted by the legislature and can be overridden by it at any time.3 A prime example of the legislature’s overarching authority...