Act No. 165 (S.281)

 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 Once the rules are adopted, the moratorium is repealed, and no person may  pursue coyote with the aid of dogs unless permitted by the Commissioner of Fish  and Wildlife.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 In addition, once the moratorium is repealed, a person shall not release a dog  onto posted land for the purpose of pursuing coyote with the aid of dogs unless  the dog owner or handler has obtained a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