ThinkingAfield.org

Correctly processing your deer assures that you and your family will have many enjoyable meals ahead. VTF&W Photo

Vermont is one of the most rural states in the country, and Vermonters have a proud heritage of living close to the land. Hunting is highly regulated and provides a way to connect with the land, connect with nature and connect with a healthy, sustainable food source that is rooted in Vermont.

Making the most of the meals provided by deer taken in hunting seasons starts with processing them quickly and correctly which is why the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department has three online videos demonstrating how to process deer. Finding the videos is easy on the Fish and Wildlife website. Click on “Hunt” and then White-tailed Deer, Tips and Techniques, and then Processing Your Deer. Read more

Safari Club International commends the National Park Service for finalizing a rule that restores Alaska’s long-standing framework for hunting and public access on national preserves.

Published today, the final rule rescinds changes adopted during the past decade that SCI challenged in court or opposed in public comments. It reinstates a 2020 regulation SCI defended in a separate lawsuit and restores Alaska-specific closure procedures for National Park Service lands as required by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or ANILCA. Last year, SCI asked the agency to reinstate those procedures so public access could not be restricted without the legally required process. The rule also again allows the limited harvest of black bears over bait on national preserves, aligning federal regulations with state law and recent executive and secretarial orders that call for federal-state coordination and public access to federal lands.

“SCI supports the National Park Service’s decision to go back to the rules Congress established under ANILCA. This rule respects Alaska’s role in managing its wildlife, brings back transparency for federal closures, and removes overlapping restrictions on hunting methods already regulated by the state. Congress knew that Alaska is different, and this returns management of national preserves to the balance Congress intended—one grounded in science-based conservation, public accountability, and responsible access,” said SCI CEO W. Laird Hamberlin.

SCI supported the proposed rule issued in March and urged the National Park Service to restore the framework in place before the agency’s 2015, 2017 and 2024 rulemakings. The final rule adopts many of SCI’s recommendations. In its comments, SCI said earlier regulations had displaced Alaska’s wildlife management role, conflated lawful predator hunting with predator-control programs, weakened state-specific closure protections and given agency officials excessive discretion to restrict lawful use.

SCI will continue working to protect meaningful hunter access to federal lands and promote wildlife management grounded in science, lawful authority and state expertise.

Thousands of pheasants will be released this fall and winter in state game areas across the southern Lower Peninsula, providing ample opportunity to hunt the popular upland bird.

The pheasant release program, now in its seventh year, is a collaboration between the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Association of Gamebird Breeders and Hunting Preserves, which supplies the birds. The $25 pheasant license funds the program.

Pheasant hunting was wildly popular in Michigan in the mid-1900s, but the wild pheasant population declined dramatically over the years due largely to loss of grassland habitat fueled by large-scale agriculture practices and suburban development. The pheasant release program gives hunters the chance to experience the excitement and camaraderie associated with pheasant hunting.

“For many hunters, the program gives them a chance to relive the good old days of pheasant hunting, which at one point was more popular than deer hunting,” said Adam Bump, the DNR’s upland birds specialist. “It also gives younger people the chance to go hunting on public lands and exposes the next generation to pheasant hunting.”

Pheasant releases will occur Oct. 20 – Nov. 14 and again Dec. 1 – Jan 1 at 13 state game areas stretching from the southwest corner of the state through the Lansing area and into the Thumb and Metro Detroit.

A total of nearly 7,300 pheasants will be released in the fall and winter, coinciding with pheasant hunting seasons in the southern Lower Peninsula.

Pheasant release locations

Here are the locations of the state game areas for pheasant releases for fall and winter. Note one change this year: Birds will be released at the Gagetown State Game Area instead of at the nearby Cass City State Game Area.

• Cornish (Van Buren County)
• Crane Pond (Cass County)
• Crow Island (Bay and Saginaw counties)
• Dansville (Ingham County)
• Erie (Monroe County)
• Gagetown (Huron and Tuscola counties)
• Lapeer (Lapeer County)
• Leidy Lake (St. Joseph County)
• Pointe Mouillee (Monroe and Wayne counties)
• Rose Lake (Clinton and Shiawassee counties)
• St. Johns Marsh (St. Clair County)
• Stanton (Montcalm County)
• Townline 16 (Bay County)

For parking lot locations of the state game areas, visit the DNR’s pheasant release webpage.

Pheasant hunting season

Fall hunting season for ring-necked pheasant throughout the Lower Peninsula is Oct. 20 – Nov. 14, coinciding with the pheasant releases. In parts of the Upper Peninsula (all of Menominee County and parts of Delta, Dickinson, Iron and Marquette counties), fall hunting for pheasant runs Oct. 10 – Oct. 31.

In the winter, a pheasant-hunting management season is open only in the southern Lower Peninsula, Dec. 1 – Jan. 1, coinciding with the winter pheasant releases.