Act No. 159 (S.201). An act relating to best management practices (BPMs) for trapping
Act No. 165 (S.281). An act relating to hunting coyotes with dogs
Best Management Practices for Trapping (Act No. 159)
This act requires the Fish and Wildlife Department to work with the Legislature and the Fish and Wildlife Board to establish rules that implement best management practices that modernize trapping and improve the welfare of wildlife taken with the use of traps.
Timeline:
November 2023 -
- Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) met on 11/16/2023 to vote on revised furbearer rule (11.13.2023)
- Revised furbearer rule was filed with Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) on 11.13.2023 following the 11.1.2023 Fish and Wildlife Board meeting.
October 2023 - Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) put forth several requests to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department to provided additional information/clarification on the proposed furbearer rule. Below are LCAR's memos, the department's responses and the revised proposed furbearer rule.
- Read the revised proposed furbearer rule (11.1.23) - annotated (presented to the FW Board on 11.1.23)
(The language highlighted in yellow is responsive to the LCAR 10.6.23 memo and the language in green are changes recommended in response to the LCAR 10.26.203 memo.) - Read the memo from LCAR to the department in response to the department's 10.16.23 memo (10.26.2023)
- Read the letter from LCAR to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (10.6.2023)
August 2023 - Proposed furbearer rule submitted to Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR)
- Read the LCAR proposed furbearer rule - annotated
- Responsive Summary for Act 159 (Department's responses to public questions/comments received during the comment period)
June 20 - 22, 2023 - Two in-person and one virtual public meetings were held. Below is a recoding of the department's presentation as well as public comments received at the two in-person hearings.
Furbearer Presentation Made at the Public Hearings
- Focus Questions from Public Hearings
- Public comments from the June 20, 2023 public hearing (~5 minutes)
- Recording of public comments from the June 21, 2023 public hearing (~20 minutes)
Recording of the June 22, 2023 public hearing
May and June 2023 - The department will accept public comment on new proposed regulations on trapping and will make additional recommendations to the proposal advanced by the board on April 5, 2023. As drafted, the proposal will:
- Create a safety buffer between public highways, trails on most state lands, and places where most traps can be set, to reduce the risk of pets or people encountering traps.
- Prohibit the use of body-gripping traps on the ground except when certain safety criteria are met, to reduce the risk of pets or non-target species being killed in traps.
- Require that all traps used in Vermont meet mechanical standards that reduce the risk of harm to trapped animals.
- Require that meat-based baits used to attract animals to traps be covered from sight, to reduce the risk of attracting birds of prey.
- Require that live-trapped animals be killed immediately by the trapper, with a firearm, muzzleloader, bow, or crossbow, to give the animals a more humane death.
February- March 2023 - The department began the rule making process with the Fish and Wildlife Board. It is expected that new rules from this process will be finalized and become effective during the 2024 trapping season. No changes to trapping regulations will be made during the 2022/23 season.
January 17, 2023 - A report to the Legislature was submitted
November 29, 2022 - A public meeting to collect feedback was held
- View video of the Public Meeting to Collect Input on the Department's Recommendations for Trapping BMPs ( + 1 hour)
- Furbearer BMP Public Meeting Focus Questions - 11.29.2022
November 22, 2022 - A first set of draft recommended rule changes became available
- VFWD Trapping BMP Draft Recommendations and Stakeholder Recommendation Synopsies-11.22.2022 - updated 12.27.2022
August 4 – September 27, 2022 - The department convened a stakeholder working group to identify potential areas of common ground for updated regulations
- 8-4-2022 Meeting minutes and video (3 hours)
- 8-23-2022 Meeting minutes and video (+3 hours)
- 9-8-2022 Meeting minutes and video (3 hours)
- 9-27-2022 Meeting minutes and video (2 hours)
June 1, 2022 - The process to establish these best management practices was initiated
See also:
- Wildlife Conservation Depends on Regulated Trapping (Op-Ed 4/24/2023) | PDF
- VT Residents’ Attitudes Toward Furbearer Management - The department contracted with a leading natural resource survey firm to conduct a survey of Vermont residents’ knowledge and opinions of the department and our furbearer conservation efforts.
- Act No. 159 Summary
- Act No. 159 As Enacted
Hunting Coyotes with Dogs (Act No. 165)
This act creates a moratorium on hunting coyotes with dogs, effective July 1, 2022, with some exceptions. 
What Has Not Changed Regarding Hunting Coyotes
- There is no closed hunting season on coyote.
- Coyotes may be hunted at any time under natural light. Artificial lights and sighting devices that project a beam of any kind of light are prohibited when shooting at a coyote.
What Has Changed Regarding Hunting Coyotes
- Coyotes may not be pursued with the aid of dogs, nor trained to pursue coyotes, until the Fish and Wildlife Board passes a rule that regulates the hunting method. A draft regulation is being developed.
- An exception to the current moratorium: Hunters may pursue and take coyotes with the aid of dogs if they are on their own property and acting in defense of a person or property, or if they have signed permission from a landowner who has a legitimate defense of persons or property concern.
Timeline:
November 2023 -
- Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) met on 11/16/2023 to vote on revised furbearer rule (11.13.2023)
- Revised furbearer rule was filed with Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) on 11.13.2023 following the 11.1.2023 Fish and Wildlife Board meeting.
October 2023 - Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) put forth several requests to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department to provided additional information/clarification on the proposed furbearer rule. Below are LCAR's memos, the department's responses and the revised proposed furbearer rule.
- Read the revised proposed furbearer rule (11.1.23) - annotated (presented to the FW Board on 11.1.23)
(The language highlighted in yellow is responsive to the LCAR 10.6.23 memo and the language in green are changes recommended in response to the LCAR 10.26.203 memo.) - Read the memo from LCAR to the department in response to the department's 10.16.23 memo (10.26.2023)
- Read the letter from LCAR to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (10.6.2023)
August 2023 - Proposed furbearer rule submitted to Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR)
- Read the LCAR proposed furbearer rule - annotated
- Responsive Summary for Act 165 (Department's responses to public questions/comments received during the comment period)
May and June 2023 - The department will accept public comment on new proposed regulations on hunting coyotes with dogs advanced by the board on April 5, 2023. As drafted, the proposal will:
- Create a 100-permit limit on the number of hunters licensed to hunt coyotes with the aid of dogs in Vermont, to track the scope of this practice.
- Establish a season from December 15 through March 31, and a training season from June 1 through September 15, to define the time of year when this practice may happen.
- Require that hunters register their coyote hunting dogs, and limit the number of registered dogs each hunter may use to four or fewer, to ensure a standard of fair chase.
- Require that all dogs wear GPS and a control-collar units at all times during a hunt, to allow hunters to track and call off their dogs to minimize the risk of dogs trespassing on posted land.
- Require that all coyotes killed during hunts with dogs be reported to the department.
- Require that coyotes hunted with dogs must be killed with a gun, muzzle loader, bow, or crossbow.
View a table comparing the legislature’s directives and the board’s proposal
January 10, 2023 - the stakeholder group meeting to provide comment on the draft rule, prior to the draft being finalized for the Fish & Wildlife Board’s consideration.
Recording of 1/10/2023 Working Group Meeting (+2hours)
October 2022 - A stakeholder group was established and surveyed for on their regulation preferences to inform the development of a draft rule.