Act No. 165 (S.281). Fish and wildlife; hunting; hunting coyote with dogs; use of gun suppressors to take game An act relating to hunting coyote with dogs This act establishes a moratorium on the pursuit of coyote with the aid of dogs until the Fish and Wildlife Board adopts rules regulating the pursuit of coyote with dogs. During the moratorium, a person may only pursue coyote with the aid of dogs in defense of a person or property if the person is the landowner or has obtained a courtesy permission card from the landowner. The act provides that the intent of the Fish and Wildlife Board Rules is to reduce conflicts between landowners and persons pursuing coyote with dogs. The rules shall address a limit on the number of dogs used to pursue coyote; a prohibition on substituting a new dog for another dog during pursuit of a coyote; the legal method of taking coyote pursued with the aid of dogs; a definition of control to minimize the risk that dogs pursuing coyote enter onto posted land, enter land where pursuit of coyote is not allowed, or harass or harm people or domestic animals; provisions to encourage persons pursuing coyote with the aid of dogs to seek landowner permission before entering or releasing dogs onto land that is not posted; and required reporting of every coyote killed during pursuit with the aid of dogs. Once the rules are adopted, the moratorium is repealed, and no person may pursue coyote with the aid of dogs unless permitted by the Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife. The Commissioner shall not issue more than 100 permits a year. The number of permits that the Commissioner issues to nonresidents in any given year shall not exceed 10 percent of the number of permits issued to residents in the preceding year. The Commissioner shall issue permits to a resident for a fee of $50.00. The application fee for a nonresident permit shall be $10.00, and the fee for a nonresident permit issued under this section shall be $200.00 for a successful applicant. In addition, once the moratorium is repealed, a person shall not release a dog onto posted land for the purpose of pursuing coyote with the aid of dogs unless the dog owner or handler has obtained a courtesy permission card from the landowner allowing the pursuit of coyote with the aid of dogs on the land. A person also shall not release onto land a dog for the purpose of pursuing coyote with the aid of dogs if in the previous 365 days a dog had been previously found on the land, and the dog owner, a handler of the dog, or a person participating in Act No. 165 Page 2 of 2 2022 VT LEG #363435 v.2 the hunt has been informed by law enforcement that hunting dogs are not permitted on the property. The act also authorizes a person under both criminal and fish and game law to possess, carry, or use a gun suppressor in the act of taking game. The authority to use gun suppressors to take game is repealed on July 1, 2024. Multiple effective dates, beginning on June 1, 202