MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Members of the House agreed Friday to auction five moose hunting permits off to the highest bidder.
The idea is to help raise much-needed money for the Fish and Wildlife Department, but critics said it was just a way for wealthy, out-of-state trophy hunters to buy their way into Vermont’s annual limited moose hunt.
“I believe the resource belongs to these sportsmen and women,” Rep. Nancy Sheltra, R-Derby, said of Vermont hunters.
The Fish and Wildlife Department wants to increase the number of permits issued for this fall’s moose hunt from last year’s 440 to as many as 800.
Those permits are awarded through a lottery. Anyone interested in hunting moose has to pay $10 to have his or her name entered into the lottery.
For the first time this year, the state also has proposed charging for a moose hunting license, which would cost $100 for Vermont hunters and $250 for those outside the state. Previously, hunters who successfully won a permit through the lottery merely had to have a valid Vermont hunting license.
If the Senate goes along with the House proposal, they now would also have to pay extra for a moose license.
But it was the idea of auctioning an additional five moose permits that drew opposition in the House. Opponents said it was an inappropriate way to manage the limited wildlife resource.
“What really bothers me about this auction is that moose will be used as a commodity,” said Rep. Janet Peaslee, R-Guildhall.
Supporters of the initiative said an auction could help the agency that is charged with managing the state’s wildlife resources. The Fish and Wildlife Department has been chronically underfunded and so it seized on an idea that has been used successfully in other states, including Maine.
The department has estimated that people would pay $5,000 or more to buy one of the five auctioned licenses, meaning at least $25,000 could be funneled into the Fish and Wildlife Department’s conservation and education programs.
Others said the state as a whole would be better off from the money additional hunters, including those from out of state, tromping through the woods for a few days in October.
“I can see that the department has been declining in revenue for the last decade or so,” said Rep. John Hall, R-Newport. “I believe by doing this we’ll be getting people from other states in Vermont and spending money.”
There was an effort in the House on Friday to kill the auction. It failed when Speaker Walter Freed voted against it to create a 58-58 tie. When a vote ends in a tie, the proposal dies.
The bill, which also sets fees charged by other departments and agencies, now moves to the Senate.
AP-ES-03-26-04 1955EST
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