2023 Wildlife Bills

Legislative Updates

SENATE

S.111 - Senate version of a bill to restrict recreational trapping. Scroll down for the details.

S.21 - This prohibits firearms’ discharge within five hundred feet of any occupied house, residence, other building or camp that human beings occupy, or any barn, stable, or other building used and connected with an occupied building. https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/S-0021/S-0021%20As%20Introduced.pdf 

S.22 - This makes it easier to post private land in Vermont. https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/S-0022/S-0022%20As%20Introduced.pdf

HOUSE

H.191 - House version of a bill to restrict recreational trapping

About the Recreational Trapping bill (House and Senate):

We are working on a recreational trapping bill. Today, recreational trappers can trap an unlimited number of animals and can set traps near public trails. Two Vermont dogs have been killed in traps since October of last year. One was walking with its owner, who could not get the trap off in time to save her dog.

It is important to note that trapping would still be allowed for conservation, public safety, and to protect property. Farmers would NOT be impacted by this bill. Again, this bill is to stop trapping for recreational purposes, which is the vast majority of trapping.

To help our members understand what recreational trapping entails, we have put together a compilation of videos made by trappers. Warning: this can be disturbing, but trust us when we say we do not share the worst of it! Five minutes of trapping: a compilation of trapper videos posted online

Vermonters want to end recreational trapping

The UVM Center for Rural Studies does an annual Vermonter Poll, which is a scientifically-run survey that covers the entire state and is statistically representative. In their 2017 poll, they included a question on trapping. A whopping 75% of Vermonters said trapping should be prohibited. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department did their own survey using Responsive Management, a corporation that also does a lot of marketing and communications for state Fish & Wildlife agencies. Even with some questionable internal exchanges about how to ask the questions to get more "positive" results, their survey still revealed that 68% of Vermonters oppose trapping for recreation and 62% oppose trapping for food.