Prepare For The Twin States’ Youth Deer Hunting Weekends
By Gary Moore
New Hampshire’s youth deer hunting weekend is Saturday and Sunday October 25–26. It is the perfect time to take a young person hunting. The special weekend gives youth aged 15 and younger the opportunity to go deer hunting with an adult mentor without the pressure of competing with adult hunters.
Accompanying adults must be licensed hunters and are not permitted to carry a firearm.
Prospects for this year’s youth season are excellent, according to Becky Fuda, Deer Project Leader for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. “New Hampshire’s deer population is healthy and will provide excellent opportunities,” said Fuda. “Last year’s adult buck harvest was the sixth-highest on record, and deer numbers remain strong throughout the state.” In 2024, young hunters took 361 deer during the weekend, a 45 percent increase from the year prior.
Vermont’s youth deer hunting weekend is also October 25-26.
A resident or nonresident youth, 15 years of age or younger on the weekend of the hunt, who has successfully completed a hunter safety course may obtain a free youth deer hunting tag to hunt during this season. The youth must also purchase a Vermont hunting license at a license agent by either showing proof of satisfactorily completing the hunter safety course or proof of having held a valid hunting license previously. The youth hunter’s parent or guardian must sign the hunting license application in the presence of the license agent.
When hunting, the youth hunter must be accompanied by an unarmed
adult over 18 years of age who holds a valid Vermont hunting license. The adult may accompany no more than two youth hunters at any given time.
The adult must have direct control and supervision, including the ability to see and communicate with the youth hunter without the aid of artificial devices such as radios or binoculars, except for medically necessary devices such as hearing aids or eyeglasses.
It is important to remember that Vermont law requires landowner permission in order to hunt on private land with a youth deer tag
during youth deer weekend.
Landowners are not exempt from the requirement to purchase tags to
hunt on their own property on youth weekends.
A Vermont youth deer hunting tag is valid for one deer of either sex on youth deer weekend, and the antler restriction that applies in other deer seasons does not apply.
I especially like the fact that the amount of fine will be doubled for a violation on Youth Deer Hunting Weekend, and the fine shall be assessed against the licensed adult who has the youth hunter in his or her charge.
Youth weekend offers hunters a chance to pass on a tradition to a new generation and make sure they learn to hunt safely and ethically.